London Day 2

On our second day in London we had a few things on our bucket list which Dorothy and Allen were happy to curate our day to work them all in. We headed out early and this time on our way we walked to Stave Hill. This is an urban ecological park that was 30 years in the making. It began in 1986 on derelict dockland and is a center for ecological research and important green space in a dense urban area.

Early Plans for the park

Now you can see that all the vegetation has filled in.

Current view from the top of Stave Hill

Then we were off to hop on a bus, this time a double-decker bus. Ira took the photo below of a double decker bus from the front of the top of the double decker bus. See what he did there? LOL

View from the top level of the double decker bus

When we got off the bus, we walked through the Admiralty buildings. It used to house the departments and residences of the Lords of the Admiralty. But since the Admiralty no longer exists as a separate department, the buildings now house separate government departments and a university.

View of the Queen's house from the Admiralty buildings

180° View towards the river and dock

The queen could arrive by boat and then be escorted through the grounds directly to her house. The portrait hall was closed but we were able to duck into the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul. They were having a recruiting meeting for prospective students in the music program.

Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul

From there we walked under the Thames river via a tunnel which was used historically by workers travelling from work to home. 

Pedestrian tunnel under the Thames

Once we got to the other side, it allowed us a pretty view of the Admiralty in all its glory.

View of the Admiralty from across the river

From here we jumped on the Overground for a short ride to get to the Uber boat station. We had a leisurely 45 minute boat ride down the Thames. Along the way Dorothy and Allen pointed out a few of the highlights.

London Bridge

In the middle is obviously London Bridge, the spikey building on the left is nicknamed "the Shard" and the funky shaped building on the right is known as "the Walkie Talkie". 

"Big Ben" - clock tower

Parliament building

We jumped off the boat and on our way to lunch Dorothy pointed out the MI6 headquarters building.

MI6 headquarters

You may recall this building was blown up in the James Bond film "SkyFall".

Skyfall - MI6 explosion

Then we finally arrived at our lunch destination, the pub managed by Allen's cousin.

Pub managed by Allen's cousin

Since we had already had fish and chips the night before the goal was to have pie today. This was steak and mushroom with gravy and potatoes fried in duck fat. So yummy!

Steak and Mushroom Pie

If you notice the sign above the bar, it references the history of the pub from the 1800s when it was connected to the Millbank penitentiary. 

Allen's cousin took us down for a tour of the tunnels. He told us they were used to escort prisoners from the jail to the riverbank before they were shipped to Australia. If you're interested, here is a link to an article. It even includes a picture of the pub as it used to be the pub for the guards. Long Lost Dread: The Millbank Penitentiary

Tunnels under the pub

After lunch we walked across the street to the Tate Britain museum. Dorothy and Allen were anxious for us to see the works of Turner, one of their favorite artists.

JMW Turner (1775-1851) was born in the heart of London, was a student of the Royal Academy at 14 years old and became a star of his generation of artists. His bold paintings challenged convention and still inspire artists today. When he died, he bequeathed the contents of his studio and gallery--over 30,000 items to the national collection. 

Turner first visited Italy in 1819, where he was inspired to paint many pieces. I posted a few of my favorites below.

Venice - "The Bridge of Sighs"

Rome from the Vatican

From here we walked through a lovely park and came across this sculpture, which turned out to be the Canada Memorial to commemorate the one million Canadians who came to Britain to fight over the two world wars. 

The monument is made out of red granite from the Canadian Shield with inset bronze maple leaves arranged in a windswept pattern. The polished granite is set at an incline and a shimmer of water flowing over it creates the impression of maple leaves floating down a stream.

Canada Memorial

From here we walked over to see Buckingham Palace. This is a closeup of the emblem on the main gate.

Palace Gate Emblem

Then we walked across the street to get a better view.

Buckingham Palace

After the Palace we decided to head back to Leicester Square to try our luck again for theater tickets. This time we didn't find anything, so instead we took a tour through Chinatown.

Chinatown - London

It was fun to see, but to be honest, there were so many people, I was ready to leave shortly after arriving. We managed to find a place that didn't have a huge line and bought some buns for the ride back home. We ate them on the bus ride and then on the walk home we ended the day at a pub near Dorothy and Allen's condo. It was a nice quiet end to a fun-filled day.

Cheerio!