A Tourist in London

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!