London visit - at last!

We visited Bowness on Windermere on the way to London. This is a lovely place where the swans, geese and ducks mingle with the people along the shore.

Unfortunately our coach broke down on the M6. Here we are standing along the side of the motorway waiting for another coach to pick us up. Not the best bit of our holiday!

This is the view of St. Paul's Cathedral you get as you walk at the end of the Millennium Bridge Walkway.

 The Millennium Walkway was spectacular by night - lit with a variety of colours.

 A view through the Millennium Walkway showing Tower Bridge in the distance.

 A close up view of The Shard.

 Windsor - an interesting phone box replica. Each side had a member of the Royal Family painted on looking out. The Queen on this side, Princes William and Harry and Kate Middleton on the others.

 We did the tour of Windsor Castle. Here you see the front view of the castle and gardens.

 Robert standing on the Meridian Line at Greenwich.

 Also at Greenwich you can see Cutty Sark. You can walk in underneath the boat now as it has had work done recently after a fire which had damaged it some time ago.

 Tower Bridge from the River Thames. As part of the hop-on hop-off open top bus tour there was a river cruise. This provided the opportunity to see the famous landmarks from a different perspective. The brown building at the left of the picture was our hotel - The Guoman Tower Hotel.

 HMS Belfast is moored on the Thames near to Tower Bridge.

 The Shard from the river.

 A close up view of the London Eye. It is right beside the Thames.

 The palace of Westminster from Westminster Bridge.

 These are bicycles which can be hired in London. This bright idea was one of the Mayor of London's - Boris Johnson's. The idea is to reduce the amount of traffic and congestion. We saw quite a few of these in use during our time there.

 At Trafalgar Square we had lunch in the crypt of this church - St. Martin in the Fields.

 We spent some time milling around by Buckingham palace. It is a magnificent building with crowds everywhere you look.

 Of course we had to see and take photos of  Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square.

 From our hotel we could walk along beside the Thames by the Tower of London.

 There were many impressive buildings to see. Lots of curtain walls you would have been interested in!

 Tower Bridge from the Thames walkway.

 The building to the left of this picture is where Boris Johnson's office is situated.

 At Stratford on Avon it was interesting to watch these folks bringing their canal boat up through the lock.
Below, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. This is a very picturesque and interesting town to visit. We had been there before some years ago. We had also been to Warwick and Bowness before too.
We really enjoyed our holiday to London this special year of the Jubilee and Olympics.