Saturday 20th Sept London

 Saturday 20th London 

No blue skies today, distinctly grey but not supposed to rain until later in the evening. took my light jacket - just in case. 

Today I’m booked for the Courthard Gallery at Somerset House. A bit of a walk from the tube Station so I end up getting there too early so a bit of a walk around 


Lovely gardens in the middle of the city, with trees too! St Mary Le Strand is the wee church.


I walked over Waterloo bridge and back 



A quick shot of The Savoy trying not to look too touristy.

Then it was time for the Gallery, climbed up to the third floor to the Post Impressionist  floor 


It was like living an art text book, with some beautiful paintings by all the greats, not too busy so time to take all in slowly. Great to start with a Dante Gabriel Rossetti.







there are more but you will get bored, the lower floors were for older stuff, Reynolds, Gainsborough and Rubens, Even a Botticelli 


I decide that I would walk towards the Tower of London, get something to eat and drink, a baguette and a hot chocolate, and book a ticket for The Tower of London, only a 3.2 km walk and mostly along the Thames river. Firstly through a small Art  Park and then onwards


                                    .



The Shard in all its glory! the Tower was really interesting, within the walls there was an installation of ceramic poppies in remembrance of 80 years since the end of WWII - perhaps a bit of a reminder that we don’t want another one. 







The red looks wonderful with the gras, especially when the clouds cleared for a while in the afternoon. The Crown Jewels were amazing and way over the top, there was no photos allowed. 

There are memories of the menagerie that used to be in the tower - I think it was 1838 - may have date wrong though when they were moved to the London zoo, 



Then there was this little guy, or rather large guy really, apparently ravens  can bite - yikes! Now I know that all the other black birds I saw in France last year and this are crows - these ravens are twice the size.


I climbed towers and walked along ramparts, looked at all the muskets, swords and canons, went into the tower where people were held prisoner before being executed. the tower where Sir Walter Raleigh lived with family, Inscriptions were left behind by some of the prisoners 


The visit lasted for nearly three hours, so well and truely ready to go back to the hotel, I’m getting quite adept at finding my way around on the tube, sometimes you walk quite a long way underground finding the right line, Just on 20 K steps today, i deserved that pasty ! 






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