It was a lovely day yesterday so we decided to visit some interesting tourist sites in London. We had a great time, and saw some historical sites, an exhibition, beautiful views, and an organic pub. Come with me as I take you on a tour of London!
We made sure we had a good start to the day with a delicious breakfast of fried egg and asparagus tips. I have to confess to slightly over cooking the egg, but the tips were succulent and just right.
We then headed on the tube to Monument. But would we be able to find
the Monument when we left the tube station? I picked up a map of the area just before exiting, but before I could even look at it - there it was! All 311 steps and 202 feet of it. Right in front of us, huge, pointing high into the sky. We walked round it quickly, before paying our two pounds and beginning the ascent. It's very spirally, and just when you think you must be almost there - you look up, then down, and realise you're only about half way! Fortunately the steps are just about wide enough for two people to pass ech other comfortably without feeling at great risk of falling down. I did wonder what the effects of a Harry Potter spell that made the stairs become a slide would be - the ultimate helter skelter! But it was too frightening prospect at the top of the Monument, so I decided not to try it!
When we got to the top - what views! I tried to take a panoramic photo from between the bars. Starting at Tower Bridge, we could see the Thames, with a number of boats and ships, including
HMS Belfast, either moored or whizzing down the river. There was Canary Wharf, with the new building with the blue tipped new skyscraping looking like a giant calligraphy pen. Further round were other interesting buildings, rooftops, cars, buses, minipeople, Monument tube station. Then we reached the other side of London - looking through the telescope we could see tiny people walking round the cupola of
St Paul's. Next was the
BT Tower, before we arrived back towards the river again, seeing the
London Eye in the distance, then other landmarks and bridges sweeping along the Thames, including
Tate Modern. What a beautiful view, and what an amazing city, with so much interesting architecture and history.
Soon, though, we decided we should go back downstairs, and thus began the long descent. As we left, we were presented with a certifacte to prove that we had climbed the 311 steps of the Monument - twice! When we left the building, we decided we would walk along the river to meet up with a friend near the Hayward Gallery. However, we were by now a bit disorientated. Which way was the river?! However, we found it, and crossed the bridge to the South Bank.
What a lovely walk, along the South Bank of the Thames in the sun. There is so much to look at, so much to listen to. We came across the
Golden Hinde quite by accident. This replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship is moored near some upmarket buildings, and has sailed over 100,000 miles - more than the original. We decided we should get on board, and had a great time wandering over the decks, sitting on Sir Francis' bed and chair, and shuffling carefully under low beams. Highly recommended.
Another place of interest that caught our eye was
The Clink, an old prison museum. We should visit it sometime, but since we were meeting someone, we decided to leave it for now. Instead we stopped for a bite of lunch at
Wagamama, which is always pretty good. I had a salad for a change, and to be honest, I expected it to be a warm salad, since it had courgettes, sweet potato, mooli, and other such vegetables in it. But it was cold. So that was a bit strange. Nice to be able to eat some of H's noodles! Overall, good, though.
We then wandered along to Tate Modern, where we were a bit underwhelmed by their "Global Cities" exhibition - I have a Geography teacher friend who would have loved it though! Then we met up with our friend and headed to the
Hayward Gallery, which is hosting the Anthony Gormley "Blind Light" exhibition. That was great. I enjoy Gormley's work anyway, but the experience of walking into a cloud room, like a cold steam room, that makes you cough, makes your nose run, and means that all you can see is whiteness, with dulled disembodied noises and voices floating to you from the cloud, is quite an experience. At first you can see the outline of your companions, but take another couple of steps, and it's just you in the cloud. Then occasionally a figure looms right by you. It's like being in a dream. Very strange, very good.
We also had fun trying to see as many of Gormley's
Event Horizon figures as we could. They got smaller and smaller, as our eyes gazed along the horizon, trying to see these tiny figures standing on the tops of distant buildings, in corners of balconies, one standing on the street. All of them looking at us, the Event Horizon. And the visitors to the galleries coming out and pointing up, gazing towards the Event along the Horizon. Very intriguing.
After this event, we decided to head into Angel, where H's friend knew a good pub. After a short stop at
The Tinder Box for cheesecake and a coffee milkshake (the milkshake was tasty, the cheesecake was an American-style cooked one, quite cloying and heavy, which wasn't what I had been expecting), we headed towards the only organic pub in the UK, the
Duke of Cambridge, which was really nice and well worth another visit. I had an apple and ginger juice, which was delicious. The food all looked great, too, if a little on the more expensive side. However, I liked the rustic tables, the odd chairs and the homeliness of this local. We'll be back.
Then it was time for our friend to catch his train, so we headed home today. A lovely day!
The procession at the beginning of the Mass was a long one, with all the readers, Eucharistic Ministers and altar servers joining in. A young boy and his father brought the baby Jesus and laid him in the manger under the altar, and the scene was complete. 
Having readjusted our eyes to the bright light, we made our way towards the big cats, following the arrows. First, though, our path took us past the big gift shop and the penguin enclosure. By the size of the crowd, and the sign referring to peckish penguins (or something), we realised that we were fifteen minutes into feeding time. We wandered over - but I have to say, they were not as exciting as the penguins in Edinburgh! 
So we wandered on, past some interesting birds (did I mention the bright blue hyacinth maccaw last blog?) and towards the big cats. We saw a serval sunning itself, and wondered where the tiger was - then turned a corner and realised it was walking up and down next to the window where all the spectators were gathered. No one was going to move, so I got a bit fed up and wandered on - before pausing, looking up, and seeing a large reclining lion! I took a few pictures, then caught up with H, who complained that he hadn't seen any lions yet! So I pointed them out, and, as I did so, the male lion lifted his head and looked straight at us! I think he must have heard H.
This meant to get home we had to walk through Regent's Park, and what a lovely walk that was! We sat on a bench in the sun for a while, and as it began to get cooler, we wandered through the beautiful gardens.
Having left Regent's Park, we travelled to Islington, where we had dinner at Gufaa, and Indian Restaurant. It was very nice, but I was a bit too greedy - I think I should have stopped before the ice cream! So we rolled home, stuffed and happy, having had a very lovely 6th anniversary!
We then walked along the canal in order to cross under the road and tried to get on a canal boat. Unfortunately the canal boats at that side only do tour cruises, not trips to the zoo, so we had to go back to the market side where we found the waterbus. Soon we were on our way!
First up was the red river hog. Very pig like, and very big. Quite cute, and red, and stripey. We then wandered on to see the African Hunting Dogs, which looked very much like hyenas. They were golden, black and white and very speckled. Next in line were the warthogs, which reminded me of the family of warthogs I saw in Liwonde in Malawi.
The animals then began to get bigger. Hiding behind a tree we could see some white and black stripy legs, but they didn't look like they belonged to a zebra - in fact, it was an okapi, a strange looking horse like creature. Next door were the zebras, which looked all smooth and well toned, and were mostly enjoying a rest in the sun. Then were the most mentioned animals (or so it seemed to us) - the giraffes. They were both sitting down enjoying the sunshine as well, their long necks making them look proud and elegant. Unfortunately we couldn't see the tapir, since she was having a snooze in the shade.
We then went to visit the Biome, which had a sloth, a couple of giant rat but quite cute like creatures called "agouti", marmosets, some birds and other interesting creatures in a rainforest environment. It was fun watching them, especially when the two agoutis started chasing each other round in circles right beneath us! The sloth is well named indeed - he never moved the whole time we were there.
The next stop was downstairs to the Nightzone. This is where all the animals that move around at night are. Some great animals there. But my favourites, by far, were the bats. At first they all looked spooky enough, hanging upside down like mini Draculas, sleeping. Then one opened up his leathery wings to stretch, and then to flap around. That was quite a spectacle, his plasticy black claws still gripping the branch that he was dangling from. But then he began to pull himself up, with what would be his hands and arms. He held onto the wire mesh along the ceiling of the habitat, and then clambered along the way that any climber would if having to grip the underside of a rock and move forward to safety. He climbed right along to another bat at the edge, and they proceeded to have a conversation, of sorts. Later he hauled himself back, flung out his arms and leathery black cape, then drew his arms - and cape - back tightly around his body. Just like a miniature vampire! No wonder people have been inspired to think of them as blood sucking strange little people for so long!
We made sure we had a good start to the day with a delicious breakfast of fried egg and asparagus tips. I have to confess to slightly over cooking the egg, but the tips were succulent and just right. 
We then headed on the tube to Monument. But would we be able to find the Monument when we left the tube station? I picked up a map of the area just before exiting, but before I could even look at it - there it was! All 311 steps and 202 feet of it. Right in front of us, huge, pointing high into the sky. We walked round it quickly, before paying our two pounds and beginning the ascent. It's very spirally, and just when you think you must be almost there - you look up, then down, and realise you're only about half way! Fortunately the steps are just about wide enough for two people to pass ech other comfortably without feeling at great risk of falling down. I did wonder what the effects of a Harry Potter spell that made the stairs become a slide would be - the ultimate helter skelter! But it was too frightening prospect at the top of the Monument, so I decided not to try it!
When we got to the top - what views! I tried to take a panoramic photo from between the bars. Starting at Tower Bridge, we could see the Thames, with a number of boats and ships, including HMS Belfast, either moored or whizzing down the river. There was Canary Wharf, with the new building with the blue tipped new skyscraping looking like a giant calligraphy pen. Further round were other interesting buildings, rooftops, cars, buses, minipeople, Monument tube station. Then we reached the other side of London - looking through the telescope we could see tiny people walking round the cupola of St Paul's. Next was the BT Tower, before we arrived back towards the river again, seeing the London Eye in the distance, then other landmarks and bridges sweeping along the Thames, including Tate Modern. What a beautiful view, and what an amazing city, with so much interesting architecture and history.
Soon, though, we decided we should go back downstairs, and thus began the long descent. As we left, we were presented with a certifacte to prove that we had climbed the 311 steps of the Monument - twice! When we left the building, we decided we would walk along the river to meet up with a friend near the Hayward Gallery. However, we were by now a bit disorientated. Which way was the river?! However, we found it, and crossed the bridge to the South Bank. 
What a lovely walk, along the South Bank of the Thames in the sun. There is so much to look at, so much to listen to. We came across the Golden Hinde quite by accident. This replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship is moored near some upmarket buildings, and has sailed over 100,000 miles - more than the original. We decided we should get on board, and had a great time wandering over the decks, sitting on Sir Francis' bed and chair, and shuffling carefully under low beams. Highly recommended.
Another place of interest that caught our eye was The Clink, an old prison museum. We should visit it sometime, but since we were meeting someone, we decided to leave it for now. Instead we stopped for a bite of lunch at Wagamama, which is always pretty good. I had a salad for a change, and to be honest, I expected it to be a warm salad, since it had courgettes, sweet potato, mooli, and other such vegetables in it. But it was cold. So that was a bit strange. Nice to be able to eat some of H's noodles! Overall, good, though.
We then wandered along to Tate Modern, where we were a bit underwhelmed by their "Global Cities" exhibition - I have a Geography teacher friend who would have loved it though! Then we met up with our friend and headed to the Hayward Gallery, which is hosting the Anthony Gormley "Blind Light" exhibition. That was great. I enjoy Gormley's work anyway, but the experience of walking into a cloud room, like a cold steam room, that makes you cough, makes your nose run, and means that all you can see is whiteness, with dulled disembodied noises and voices floating to you from the cloud, is quite an experience. At first you can see the outline of your companions, but take another couple of steps, and it's just you in the cloud. Then occasionally a figure looms right by you. It's like being in a dream. Very strange, very good. 
We also had fun trying to see as many of Gormley's Event Horizon figures as we could. They got smaller and smaller, as our eyes gazed along the horizon, trying to see these tiny figures standing on the tops of distant buildings, in corners of balconies, one standing on the street. All of them looking at us, the Event Horizon. And the visitors to the galleries coming out and pointing up, gazing towards the Event along the Horizon. Very intriguing.
After this event, we decided to head into Angel, where H's friend knew a good pub. After a short stop at The Tinder Box for cheesecake and a coffee milkshake (the milkshake was tasty, the cheesecake was an American-style cooked one, quite cloying and heavy, which wasn't what I had been expecting), we headed towards the only organic pub in the UK, the Duke of Cambridge, which was really nice and well worth another visit. I had an apple and ginger juice, which was delicious. The food all looked great, too, if a little on the more expensive side. However, I liked the rustic tables, the odd chairs and the homeliness of this local. We'll be back.
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