Day Out 4 - Maritime London

Well, so much for a day at home crafting again today... some twitter talk last night about journals from Cass Art (shop in Islington among others) and was I going anywhere near one ... no I said.. except then I got to thinking...

After I bought the required purchases I headed off for Cutty Sark at Greenwich.
I haven't seen it since they finished the restoration works

 the protective 'skirt' looks a bit like a glass  hovercraft, I think!

I stopped here for a bite of lunch

I popped into the shop from where you can see the hull.  As I'm on a cheapskate freebie holiday as far as possible I didn't go round it  - did it years ago, several times, it won't have changed!

 the river was looking good today.

 found another couple of book benches - this was the Railway Children ...

 though I'm not sure I'd have guessed from the front!
I suppose the red is meant to be the flannel petticoats they stopped the train with.

this is the Canterbury Tales.  I hadn't read the blurb by the side of them before, I didn't realise they're being auctioned off in October, I thought they were a permanent feature.

 the City from Greenwich

 information centre, lots of fascinating things inside.

the old Royal Naval College.

 National Maritime Museum - don't think I've ever been in here before, there were some interesting displays

 old figureheads from ships

 from the museum, I wanted to go on the Cable Car across the river, I started walking along the Thames Path, but it was further than I thought, so found a bus - the wrong bus as it happened and ended up walking a long way round to the O2 arena

 but I got there in the end - along with the dark clouds!

 it's quite a quick journey (ten minutes) but quite good - you get a commentary so you know what to look for, and a bit about the history of the area too.

 when I got off, I crossed the road to get the Docklands Light Railway back to Tower Gateway... so had to pop over and say hello to the poppies...

where it was a hive of planting activity again!

I really am having a day at home tomorrow, but I have had a great week, and you seem to have enjoyed the photos too!

Day 3 - Imperial War Museum

Ok, so I didn't have a day chilling at home - instead I took myself off to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, south London. They've recently re-furbished their World War I rooms, and in view of the 100 year anniversary, I wanted to see it.

I can't remember the last time I went there - probably in my not quite teenage years, one school holiday with Mum and my brother and sister - I know we went once at least. Not sure if I've been since.  I did however, remember the outside:

the British Naval cannons in front of the main entrance.

Inside, you are greeted by several fighter planes suspended from the ceiling

 there are 4 floors of war memorabilia and displays.

 Field Marshal Montgomery's tank from the desert campaigns of WWII

Spitfire, on the left,  my Mum was in the Wrens in the last war, she worked on these, we have a photo of her in her Wrens uniform sitting astride the cockpit

 there are a lot of stairs up and down to the levels of exhibits, (lifts too, but I climbed the stairs) so now my legs ache again!

Bombed out car.




Quite rightly, you can't take photographs inside the Holocaust memorial - who would want to - it was harrowing, as you can imagine.
The WWI rooms - for which on busy days (like today) they issue timed entrance tickets when you arrive - was very good, but with very dim lighting so again I didn't take any pictures inside.
It was very well laid out, lots of technology to add to the displays, films playing and sound effects, a good if thought provoking day out.

Not sure if I will go anywhere tomorrow - Friday is meant to be wet, so I am sure I'll be home then, getting ready for a weekend away crafting, but tomorrow may be nice - so there may be one more outing to come!

Day 2 - London

Today I went to London - I started at the Natural History Museum- yes in the school holidays! I don't think I've been since I left school..

I only remember the inside from the film "One of our Dinosaurs is missing" !

 fantastic ceiling

 A stunning space

 Charles Darwin, sitting at the top of the stairs overlooking the comings and goings

 giant sequoia tree trunk -  it lived over 1300 years (which is a baby for this species apparently)

 I wandered around for quite a while, but the queue for the dinosaurs was very long so I left them to it

 the main entrance

 I walked back round the side for a quick visit to...

 the Victoria and Albert museum - this is one of the courtyard gardens.  I didn't stay too long, but did wander through the fabulous jewellery and silver galleries. It was lunchtime by now, and I wasn't going to pay V&A prices so hopped on the tube to....

 the Tower - grabbed a sandwich, and had a look to see how the poppies are 'growing' - they've certainly spread along the side of the Tower moat facing the walk from Tower Hill tube station. No planting today, so I'm guessing they only have the volunteers doing that at the weekend.

 the weather wasn't as good as 10 days ago when I first saw them, but there were still big crowds!






I do love how every now and then, there are cascades down the Tower wall...

Sam asked me to take pictures of Tower Bridge and the river, so I obliged... black clouds adding a bit of drama, but luckily no rain!

 and after an American family asked me to take a photo of them, the father asked if I wanted him to take one of me, so I said yes please.

 Up on the bridge itself, full of traffic

 and another tube journey, to St Paul's Cathedral. shame the blue sky had largely gone now!

 Temple Bar, the oldest gateway into the City of London








Detail on the front facade of St Pauls

 and the clouds parted!  I walked round the side, to find the cut through to the "Wobbly Bridge (Millenium Bridge to give it it's proper name)

 giant metal balls for some good reflections/self portraits

 St Pauls from half way over the bridge

 shots of the City, complete with the obligatory London bus!

oops, those clouds look a bit more ominous - St Paul's from the other side of the bridge (thank goodness for the long lens!)

so with the clouds threatening, I decided to head for home, to several cups of restorative tea!