More London Adventures

 On Sunday morning we headed to Covent Gardens, which is only a short walk from our hotel, for brunch at The Ivy.  It was lovely.

On our way back to the hotel we passed some beautiful gardens and the Horse Guards for Buckingham Palace.  We also encountered a very nice Palace Guard who took a photo with us.

There was a chess tournament going on at Trafalgar Square with quite a few participants.

We took Natalie to the airport and passed through Picadilly Circle on our way.

We had dinner Sunday night in Covent Gardens before seeing Lindsey onto the train headed home.  We are staying one more night to enjoy the hotel and hit a few more stops before we head back to Bury St Edmunds.

Lindsey enjoying some of the hotel amenities!

On Monday morning we headed to The Churchill War Rooms - very interesting if you like Churchill at all.

The Cabinet Room

The flag that draped Churchill’s coffin

A sample room - those who worked here stayed here 24/7.

Original door of #10 Downing Street

Churchill’s bedroom/study - where most of his BBC broadcasts were made from.

Electrical Room for all this area - they couldn’t afford to lose power.

Churchill as a young lad

The Map Room

The Typist Pool

The Enigma Encoding machine

This room housed a private phone line to the US President.

Our last adventure of the day was The National Gallery - a beautiful building with lots of old and rare art.  The building itself is amazing!

The National Gallery is the huge building with the red banners.

Mosaic tile floors

Van Gough’s Sunflowers

Here are a few last pictures from around London.

Changing of the Horse Guards

The blue/gray building is #10 Downing Street - home of the Prime Minister.

Our wonderful hotel - Trafalgar St. James - delightful in every way!

Brunch, Burough Market and Tea

 What beautiful weather we are having this weekend!  We started our day with brunch at The Breakfast Club.  It was delicious!

After brunch we wandered through the Burough Market.  Everything is so colorful and beautiful.  The markets here in England are really wonderful!

After the market we meandered along the Queen’s Walk that runs along the River Thames.  There’s tons of cool and interesting things to see along the way.

The Queen’s ship the HMS Belfast.

This is the London Bridge - nothing fancy or interesting!

 

The Tower of London where all the beheadings took place.

The Shard

This is Tower Bridge - often mistaken for London Bridge.

The highlight of the day was Afternoon Tea at The Shard.  It’s on the 33rd floor with amazing views.  The tea is Peter Pan themed.  It was a treat from Lindsey and was delightful!

Treats are served on a pirate ship!

The sweets!

Scones are served in a treasure chest.

The savories

The Peter Pan Tea Menu

After a brief rest at our hotel we headed out for the night - and yes it’s still light but it doesn’t get dark here til around 10:00!  We checked out Leicester Square where all the movies premier here in London.  Covent Gardens is always neat but also super crowded.  We finished our day with snacks and drinks at our hotel rooftop restaurant.

With Paddington Bear

And Mr. Bean

Charlie Chaplin

Rooftop View

Wonder Woman

The Iron Throne from Game of Thrones

Mary Poppins

From the rooftop

Covent Gardens

William Shakespeare

 

It was a full and lovely  day!