London Day 10 A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

London Day 10 - A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

Well. it's my last day in London. I wonder where I will be this time tomorrow night. I have a few thoughts, but I'm open to just going wherever until I stop. Anway, that's tomorrow. Let's concentrate on today.

Me on Millennium Bridge

My hop on hop off bus was valid for 48 hours and I went past a few places yesterday that I wanted to go back to, but first thing this morning I had to do my housewifely jobs... Washing! Thank God for that machine which at last I mastered with a little help from my friends! Have to do it in the morning... that gives it 24 hours to dry. I have a clothes horse to hang things on, and some of my stuff dries pretty quickly, but I have to allow for the slower drying things. So I wanted as much of my clothes to be clean for tomorrow as possible, because once I'm on the road you don't know where the next laundry will be. In fact I had to buy some Persil tablets last night because I had run out of washing liquid...  I mean, does anyone out there really care whether I'm doing my washing or not..???? I suppose it's all part of my tales from the road!

I also wanted to look at the maps for tomorrow too, so I might have some idea about where I'm going. I have a few things locked in, but the first 4 days are pretty negotiable.

So I didn't leave my unit until about 11.30 which was quite a bit later than usual.

Anyway, the plan was to get back on that blue bus and go back to the places I wanted to go to... that was all well and good, but the bus stop after them was quite a walk back, so I again found myself at St Paul's Cathedral. As we stopped the driver said it was also the stop for the Millennium bridge, so I thought I  might as well walk over that while I  could, and then work my way back to these other places.

View from Millennium Bridge

View from Millennium Bridge

So that took me over to the South Bank, where there were a few more landmarks...

Tate Modern Art Gallery

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

 It was a lovely walk along the South Bank, especially when I came to the part that had all the autumn trees..

Autumn trees on South Bank

So I ended up doing a big loop around the River and came back to where I wanted to be.

The first thing I wanted to see from yesterday was Australia House

Australia House

The other place I was keen to visit was St Clement Danes which is a Church dedicated the members of the RAF who died in the war.

Info about St Clement Danes

More info about St Clement Danes

Outside of St Clement Danes

Inside St Clement Danes

RAF info

More RAF info

I was back into my candle lighting activities here. I hope my Protestant prayers are working. I'm amazed at how many Anglican Churches have images of Mary and candles burning in front of her. I thought Anglicans didn't  do that...? Maybe I need to re-study some of my Church History...

Another attraction about that Church was the fact that its exterior retained the marks of war. The outside wall still showed the pockmarks of the incendary bombs that fell in 1941..

Outside walls showing bomb damage

Outside walls showing bomb damage

Explanation of bomb damage

And the last thing that was unique about this Church was it was the source of the nursery rhyme..

Oranges and Lemons, the bells of St Clements

Nursery Rhyme origins

So... I just  had one more iconic place in London that I was conscious I had not visited, so I got back on my blue bus and took the whole journey around London (which took ages because of that the traffic) and I ended up at...

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

I think the Queen was home because the flag was flying, but she didn't pop out to say hello!

So, I  walked back through St James Park to the Tube, and once again I was surrounded by beautiful autumn trees

St James Park

So, that was my London. I've loved living here at Earls Court where everything is so convenient.

Here's the view out of my window showing how close the trains are...

And here's a view of Earls Court Rd just near the station..

Earls Court Rd

It's been so good to just be living in one place for 10 days. But now the wattle wanderings moves on... hopefully to more adventures and more learnings.

Thanks for sticking with me up until now!