Monday 16 September 2013

A Day in London

On Sunday, Mrs RC and I headed to London for the day to meet up with a blog friend.
 
When we set off, the sky was clear and the sun was shining, but by the time we reached London, things had changed - cloud had set in and there was the constant threat of rain, with drizzle in between.
 
We met up on Vauxhall Bridge.  The south bank of the Thames has seen a lot of development in recent years.  Mrs RC said that these made her think of a hillside shanty town.  Not sure the people who paid vast amounts of cash to live here would like that comparison, but I can see it too...
 
 
 
 
Looking up river, at least one of the old land marks is still standing...

 
 
And how about this one?  Agg79 (the blogger who we met up with) recognised this as the MI5 HQ...

 
Who says that James Bond movies aren't educational?
 
We grabbed some lunch in a pub and then went for a stroll along the south bank of the Thames.  We just ambled along, sharing stories, taking photos, commenting on what caught our eye.

 
The river was fairly busy, including site seeing trips in these old amphibious trucks (DUKWs, known as Ducks)...

 
They were OK going down stream, but we saw one having a real struggle when going up stream.  Still, at least it didn't sink like one in Liverpool did a few months ago!  (I told Agg that it was one of these London ones, but was mistaken).
 
 
Although Agg79 was technically the Tourist, it has been a long time since Mrs RC and I have been in London without having a specific reason for being there.  In fact it is the first time that Mrs RC and I have actually been to London together!  So we played tourists too, taking all the tourist photos, like this one...

 
 
There is some very quirky building going on, like this thing that looks like it fell off the bottom of a Zeppelin...

 
 
Food sellers were in various vehicles too...

 
There were other special ones too, but I will let Agg talk about those as they were closer to his heart.
 
 
Anyone remember playing Lemmings?

 
Luckily, no one exploded  :-)
 
 
And here is Agg79 in action...

 
This is the Millenium Foot Bridge - very unstable when it first opened, but now fixed.  Agg slipped into Engineer mode for a moment here, working out how it stayed up.  I live it when people have something like that - I guess it is like the musician in me, who unconsciously deconstructs songs to see who is playing what...
 
 
It was at this point that we decided to cross the river and head back to our start point...

 
Here you can see The Shard on the right and the Walkie Talkie Tower (with Death Ray disabled by the weather) on the left.  Tower Bridge is in the distance.
 
The south bank of the Thames is fascinating, all sorts of stuff going on - music, mimes, moving statues, various museums, art galleries, cafes, etc, etc -  and it just draws you along.  By the time we had completed our circuit we had walked 8 miles!
 
 
On the north bank, we found this Police phone - a sort of mini Tardis...
 

 
 
Nearing the end of the "stroll".  Damp, a little foot sore (OK, VERY foot sore for Mrs RC who had managed to wear a couple of blisters but not told me) but having had a good time playing Tourist...

 
Agg79 is holding the camera - I think he should have a pic of the 2 of us together.
 
After this, we returned to the pub for a final drink before heading our seperate ways.
 
Nice to meet you again, Agg!

15 comments:

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

I gotta get there one day.

Rock Chef said...

wReggie - Just don't rely on good weather!

CiCi said...

What a great time. First that you and Mrs RC had never been to London together. Sounds outlandish to us over here in the US, I have been in London and just think that people in the outskirts of London are in the city often. Having a fun day with a blog friend in your own back yard is a blast. So glad you had a good time. The photos say it all.

Rock Chef said...

I guess it must seem odd, but I don't really go to London just for the fun of it, only for specific things like meeting friends, visiting guitar shops, etc. It was fun just having a day out in the city, and think that we might do it again some time.

meleah rebeccah said...

"Who says that James Bond movies aren't educational?"

HA!!


I'm so happy you were able to meet up with Agg again! That is sofa king cool!


"Although Agg79 was technically the Tourist, it has been a long time since Mrs RC and I have been in London without having a specific reason for being there.  In fact it is the first time that Mrs RC and I have actually been to London together!  So we played tourists too, taking all the tourist photos."

How fun!!!

"On the north bank, we found this Police phone - a sort of mini Tardis…"

I totally LOVE it!

Abby said...

How fun! Tourists for a day with Agg! Seems like it wouldn't be authentically London without some drizzle and threat of rain.

ShadowRun300 said...

I was in London at the age of 12 or 13, and don't remember it looking anything like your pictures. Well, except the dreary skies and Big Ben.
How cool that you got to meet up with Agg again. And that Mrs. RC got to go also! I'm kinda surprised there's no pics of beer though.

Riot Kitty said...

I absolutely love London, and love the mini Tardis!

Funny, I thought the James Bond MI5 HQ was a joke.

Rock Chef said...

Meleah Rebecca - Glad you enjoyed the post!

Abby - We could have had fog - that would have been authentic London too! :-)

ShadowRun300 - the beer we had was OK but did not inspire photographs. London has changed a LOT in recent years.

Riot Kitty - MI5 a JOKE???? With some things the truth is funnier than anything you could make up...

agg79 said...

Hah! I've always told my wife that watching all those James Bond marathons was educational! As I was trolling on the Vauxhall bridge, that building looked familiar. Reminded me of a scene with Pierce Bronson in Tomorrow Never Dies (btw i was wrong - it was MI6).

Was outstanding to spend the day with you guys as well.! I will say you guys definitely walked my legs off but we got to explore the banks of The Themes in detail. Happy to play tourist with you guys, despite the rain, but it wouldn't seem like London without a little rain. Glad to see you posted up you pictures - i am having problems getting pictures to post from my iPad but I hope to have something up soon.

Great to be able to spend the day with you. Thanks for making the trip over to London for the afternoon. Hope the dogs got walked.

agg79 said...

BTW - I actually went over to death ray building and found the spot in question. And it was actually sunny at the time!!! They are not kidding about it being hot! Now I know what an ant feels like under a magnifying glass.

Rock Chef said...

Agg79 - I did a Google Image search for MI5 and got pics of that place, so who knows! Yes, the kids did the dogs for us, so no worries about them!

Glad you enjoyed the walk - I really did not realise how far we had gone, I would have suggested turning around sooner if I had!

Enjoy the rest of the trip! Looking forward to seeing some of your pics.

Rock Chef said...

Agg79 - Hah, guess they created a new tourist hot spot! :-)

terri said...

Sounds like London is to you what Minneapolis is to me. It's right there. We just don't have much reason to go there often.

How cool that you and Mrs. RC got to see London with tourist's eyes along with Agg. Great photos. Makes me want to visit someday too!

Rock Chef said...

Terri - If you do take a trip over here, make sure you let us know!