London and Greenwich

After dropping the hire car off in Slough we caught the train into London and headed for our apartment in Lewisham, south London. Unfortunately, a severe weather warning and subsequent storm disrupted our sight seeing for a couple of days.

We did manage to get to Greenwich (above) but it turned out to be a bit of a disaster! All the naval buildings were closed for the week because they were being used for graduation ceremonies and the park surrounding the Observatory (and consequently the Observatory) was not open to the public because of damage from the storm. Anyway, we got a couple of nice photos and were able to visit the National Maritime Museum.

These are the gates of the naval college. And the ship in a bottle (below) adorns the entrance to the museum.

We also discovered these beautiful stained glass windows commemorating the First World War. The stained glass windows themselves were rescued from the Baltic Exchange building after it was bombed by the IRA in 1992. The windows were subsequently restored and installed in the Maritime Museum. The historic building itself could not be saved and it was replaced in time by a very modern building known to Londoners as the Gherkin!

Another day we did a lovely walk through Hyde Park. These are the gates near Speakers Corner.

We also discovered several monuments, including this one to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband.

And these are the gates to Kensington Palace - no William or Harry in sight the day we were there!

But we did find two strays sitting on the steps outside the Orangery at Kensington Palace so we asked them if they'd like to join us for High Tea!

We also visited St Paul's Cathedral but refused to pay the ridiculous entry fee to get inside!

We saw a couple of shows and I finally got to see War Horse! It's an absolute must - don't miss it if you get the chance.

Another day we visited Spitalfield Markets and just off Brick Lane we found a street with these two apartments (side by side), one numbered eleven, the other numbered eleven and a half!

And finally we visited the Christmas window displays on Oxford Street and found this replica of London made out of gingerbread at Selfridges.