Hello London

It is now just 24 hours since we set foot in London.  What an amazing time we have had already.

We caught the train from Heathrow to Paddington via Earl’s Court with a short walk to our accommodation.  After a very welcome shower we headed out for a light dinner and called in at a local pub on the way back.

This morning we went back to Paddington Station to buy our Rail Pass and tickets for today.

We also met a bear.

The Paddington Bear shop was not open when we went past but we will definitely be going back as it looks amazing.

Then it was time for some sightseeing.

Marble Arch near the entrance to Hyde Park.

3 London icons in one photo.

As you can see it had been raining.  At first it was very light as we left our accommodation, however, when we got to Marble Arch it was steady and the next thing it was heavy.  We spent a bit of time under a shop awning while we decided our next strategic move as clearly it was not the weather for strolling.  We hopped on the Tube again to Westminster and headed for the Churchill War Rooms which was on our list of things to see while in London.  Standing in a relatively short queue was OK until the next downpour.  We spent about 2.5 hours at this venue which included a break for lunch at the cafe.

A large mug of steaming hot vegetable soup was just what we needed.

Unlike most museums photographs were encouraged.  This was the War Cabinet Room.

When we came out the sun was shining so we continued our walk.

Big Ben

and the Houses of Parliament.

A stroll through the tranquility of St James’ Park.

This really was the calm before the storm.  Within minutes of taking this photo, we could see a huge black cloud in front of us, we were nearly blown off our feet and the rain came down in torrents.  Oh, and there was a bit of thunder to make it really interesting.  It was all over in 5 minutes but by that time we decided that we had done enough for one day.

On the way home we stopped at the supermarket and picked up some meat and vegetables to prepare for dinner.  So it is a quiet evening with home-cooked dinner and doing some washing.