London with Jess

A day for exploring London. Our plan was to visit the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden. Jess had been once before and enjoyed it. First of all, Jess and Grandad went to the nearby Tesco to buy a paper and returned with some croissants for breakfast which pleased Jess and Granny! (Even though Jess had already had honey loops before going out!)

Opera at Covent Garden

We all walked to the nearby Edgware Road Underground Station and bought All-Day tickets for Zone 1. It was a lift down to the trains and a change of trains at Picadilly Circus to arrive at Covent Garden. Before looking for the museum, we opted to wander around the old market hall, full of shops and cafes. We soon spotted an opera singer busking on the ground floor. Jess was very interested and so we went down the stairs to have a drink at one of the tables close to the performance area.

Vivaldi with Cofee

As soon as we found our seats, the music changed to a string quartet who were equally entertaining and Jess sat enthralled for simply ages! In fact, so long that the opera singer came back for another spell, but it was time for us to move on after she had sung a couple of arias.

Covent Garden

We soon found the museum but, oh dear!, we also found the queue which stretched for miles (well, a couple of hundred metres at least) and did not seem to be moving very fast. We decided that this was not a 'good thing' and opted to go back to the underground and down to the Embankment.

By now it was lunch time and we found a tiny little sandwich cabin where we bought food and a drink which we took to the nearby gardens to sit and eat in the sunshine.

Charing Cross Footbridge

In the afternoon we began by walking across the eastern footbridge alongside Charing Cross railway bridge. There were excellent and interesting views - Jess was intrigued by the sound of a trumpet and soon we saw a group of buskers - this set the agenda for most of the afternoon.

Soth Bank Balloons

There were lots of entertainers on the riverside - first came a man making huge and numerous bubbles. after than we watched a magician doing a show about escaping from a locked sack!

Shell Centre and London Eye

Suddenly a tropical storm arrived, almost unnoticed and we ran for shelter under a bridge, along with everyone else! However, it did not last long and we walked back over the western footbridge and then on up to Trafalgar Square.

Waterstones offered not only books but a coffee shop where Jess particularly enjoyed selecting a delicious, huge chocolate muffin. She kept a bit back for after dinner!

Trafalgar Square

We went back outside, sunny again after yet another shower which we missed by being inside the coffee shop and headed for the main part of the square, aiming towards the National Gallery. Were could see a gathered crowd and the sound of an amplified voice. We discovered that a spectacular show was about to begin, promoting Vienna as a holiday destination.

The show was based on a 21 metre (or so the compere told us) wall down which 'walked' eight performers in costumes showing off the attractions of Vienna!

The afternoon was drawing to a close but we did have time for a quick look at some of the pictures. It seemed strange to see so many pictures 'for real' which are reproduced in so many million copies. Jess particularly enjoyed Stubbs and Hogarth but was not so keen on the Impressionists.

National Gallery

Time then to make our way back to Charing Cross and yet another underground ride to take us back to the boat.