- Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace: not particularly impressive (we even followed Rick Steves's program to the letter). John thinks we have been to too many of them.
- Reflections Flotilla (Thames Festival): I normally would find a parade of power boats stringed with lights too extravagant. This parade had crew boats with lit oars. I was thoroughly impressed.
- East End Transformations: The Museum of London is making its new home in the old Smithfield Market; Spitalfields Market area seems to be drawing lots of business; Brick Lane is now a tourist destination.
- The Barbican: we had only known about the Barbican Center as a cultural venture and were surprised to see the whole housing complex around it, with a highwalk connecting them - almost as good as walking on city walls.
- Soane Museum: It was so crammed full of objects, it's a museum to be experienced, not for browsing.
- Pub Visit: glad to get it done.
- And more....
We walked through a much-bigger-than-we-remembered Chinatown on our way to the Changing of the Guard activities.
We watched the flotilla from opposite the London Eye. Look close to see the rowers.
The Barbican Center and surrounds.
East End Transformations: Smithfield Market and Brick Lane.
Sir John Soane's Museum.
Drinks and eats at a pub to celebrate my 65th birthday!
And more: Our favorite Art Deco / Modernist building in London, the Former Daimler Car Hire Garage, was just a few hundred meters north of our hotel in Bloomsbury.
Westminster Cathedral.
Temple of Mithras archaeological site.
2 comments:
Happy birthday!
What was wrong with the pub?
I have never done the Changing of the Guard, even though I once lived in London.
The Barbican replaced a lot of war damage. I have thought it would be cool to live there. But no doubt pricey.
@Kathy, Thanks for the birthday wishes! Nothing was wrong with pub, we were just too busy (or tired) to visit one until our final evening.
Re: Changing of the Guard: We did not see the actual changing of the sentries at BP; we watched one of the guard units march down The Mall towards BP, and another march out of Wellington Barracks to BP. ;-)
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