Ferry on the Thames

We took the ferry from Kew gardens to Westminster pier. The boat ride took about an hour.

We passed under many of London's bridges, all of them were different and interesting.

The London Eye.

Big Ben.

Westminster Abbey.

Kew Gardens

The wisteria was blooming while we were there.

London was at least 3 weeks ahead of Toronto.

It was also time for the bluebells. They had acres of them planted in the grass.

We only had time for a quick walk through the glasshouse.

They had a walkway in the trees.

I wore him out with all the walking. We were only at Kew Gardens for a few hours. I could easily have spent a few days there.

After the gardens we had a very nice dinner at the Rose and Crown.

Windsor castle

We wanted to see a castle.

So we picked the biggest castle we could find.

These are known as 'murder holes'. When an enemy is trying to attack the castle you can pour boiling oil down the holes to keep them away from the gates.

The moat is now a lovely garden.

This is the motto of the Order of the Garter, which translates: 'Shame to him who thinks ill of it'.

St. George's chapel.


We had a very nice lunch at the Crooked House.

It was very crooked. It was difficult to capture its crookedness in a photo.

Borough Market

We had lunch at the Borough Market one day. There was lots of delicious food everywhere.

Rodney is at the end of this long line. They were cooking very tasty Spanish sausages. It was worth the wait.

It was hard to capture a sense of the place with the crowds of people.

Tower of London

We spent an enjoyable morning at the Tower of London. There was an exhibit on Henry VIII, there are banners on some of the towers.

An informative sign, if you happen to require a beheading, or a coffee.

There is a legend that there must be ravens at the Tower or it will fall into the hands of their enemy. There is a raven keeper, and they have their own kitchen which prepares all their meals.

We took a great tour with one of the 'beefeaters'.

This is one of the Royal Palaces, as such it has this symbol for Queen Elizabeth. We saw them all over London, and I couldn't help thinking how they would have to change ALL of them when the next king takes the throne. What a big job.

St. Martin in the Fields

We stumbled upon St. Martin in the Fields, since it was right next to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. I have heard lots of recordings by Neville Mariner and St. Martin in the Fields, so I had to go in (I'm assuming this is the same St. Martin in the Fields, I could be wrong).

There was a group rehearsing a Vivaldi piece, so we sat and listened for awhile. The acoustics were amazing. The window in the church was quite interesting.

Platform 9 3/4

As Harry Potter fans we had found out that they had 'something' at King's Cross Station for platform 9 3/4. We were passing through the station on the underground anyways, so we decided to get off and take a look around.

After looking for quite a while, due to some construction and the fact that they put platform 9 3/4 in between platforms 8 and 9, we finally found it.

It's a luggage cart bolted to the wall. Just for tourists like ourselves. What do you expect?