Monday, July 1, 2013

Let me take you to London! - Day 4

From June 15 to 23 I was on a nine day trip to London! These posts are my slideshows of that vacation so you can all travel along with me and enjoy the sights. 

I also kept a journal while I stayed there which I will show completely when I'm done with the photographs. Enjoy!

LONDON DAY 4

The fourth day of my vacation was the most unpleasant one weather wise. Most of the week it was humid and warm, real sweaty weather, but on this day it was worst of all. I'm not much for warm weather, I was made for northern climates, and London in humid weather is kind of...well...yucky really.

The tube trip to Tower Hill was taken in the most busy time of the day and I would like to compare that little ride to a trip through hell. I was glad when it was over and I could get out.

My intention for that day was to walk along the southbank of the Thames from Tower Bridge until Lambeth Bridge and then end with a visit to the Tate Britain. Well...not everything goes according to plan as you will see. ;-)

Like I said I started at Tower Hill and that means The Tower of London of course. You can't tell, but it was swarming with people there.

I fled away as fast as I could, but I did feel obliged to take at least a few pictures of the building.

I love the Tower Bridge. There's something about it that makes me feel like, yes, I'm really in London!

This is why I really started here. On the other side of the bridge so close to the busy Tower of London ...

...there is the quiet haven of St. Katharines Docks. If I ever get rich I want a second home here.

Preferably in one of these cute houses. Now how can I make that happen? ;-)

Always impressive. I love crossing this bridge. Love it!

View at the Tower and the City from the southbank of the Thames. I find the contrast between old and new mildly insane.

This is Hay's Galleria. They did a lot of improvements on the southbank in the last years.

The walk along the Thames takes you past all sorts of sights and places. Like this beautiful pub.

And the Tate Modern, it's an old power station. I did not go in though, because that was planned for later.

The area around Waterloo Bridge has lots to do and see. My favorite of course being a little book market under the bridge.

But you could also hop on an old fashioned carousel.

Or a more modern one... ;-) (No I didn't, I refuse to wait in line that long and pay a small fortune for it.)

And of course no trip to London is complete without at least one look at the Houses of Parliament.

By the time I had walked to Lambeth Bridge and arrived at Millbank (where the Tate Britain is) it was already half past four. This meant I'd only have a very short time to visit the Gallery and I simply decided against it. I did go in for a moment and took a sneak peek at the smaller shop (I couldn't resist), but I left without buying anything or looking at any art.

I ended the day around Victoria Station where I bought some food and tried to get on a tube to the hotel, which proved a lot harder than you might expect. There were all sorts of troubles with trains not going and people blocking escalators. I can easily say that this was the most exhausting of all my London days, but I really did enjoy walking along the Thames and taking in so many different sights.

And that completes day 4 of my London trip.

You may wonder what I did at night. Well, usually I was at my hotel early in the evening and spent the evenings working in my journal, going through my photographs and going to bed early so I'd have enough energy the next day. I really don't care for the London night life (or any night life really), so there's nothing exciting to share there, haha.

See you tomorrow when we will actually go inside the Tate Britain!