London 3 October

After a very leisurely breakfast at Ellis Fields the four of us drove to St. Albans City train station. The plan, more or less, was to train to Blackfriars and then take the tube to Westminster. From there we could get a Thames River cruise down to Greenwich where we would have lunch, then simply retrace our outbound journey to go home.  Ah, but today the gods would have their way with us, lots of us. More of that later.

On the outbound train there was an announcement that, due to a train broken down, some delay/slowdown would be experienced on our particular line so we opted to get off at West Hampstead and then tube from there to Westminster. An omen as things turned out. Anyway, it was a bit more awkward but our travel worked fine nevertheless. So far, so good.

At Westminster, in the shadow of all the scaffolding around Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and watched by that wonderful statue of the Roman killing Celtic queen Boudica in her chariot with her two daughters, we bought tickets for a cruise down the Thames. Descending to the river, we boarded our boat for the hour or so it would take to get to Greenwich.

Big Ben

the London Eye, one revolution every 35 minutes they say

in front of the Tate Modern

"London Bridge is falling down, falling down. . ."

the "Shard," reportedly the tallest building in Europe

H.M.S. Belfast, from World War Two

Tower of London

Tower Bridge, opening

docking at Greenwich

Leaving the boat launch we continued downriver by foot.

memorial to French Arctic explorer Joseph René Bellot (1826-1853)

strolling the grounds of the old Royal Naval College now the University of Greenwich

Trafalgar Tavern

Richard and Pauline, hosts and guides extraordinaire

Bangers and mashies

fried Whitebait

Leaving the tavern we strolled away from the river and past the National Maritime Museum and across the grounds of the De Vere Devenport House hotel and conference center. Located in what was once part of the Royal Naval Hospital, the grounds are also home to a small cemetery -- with beehives oddly enough -- on the side and in front of a memorial to the more than 20,000 sailors who were buried in unknown graves on the premises.

curious collection of anchors on the grounds of the National Maritime Museum

on the grounds of De Vere Devenport House

sailors' burial memorial

Leaving the old hospital grounds we strolled on through the busy little center of Greenwich. Passing the impressive Cutty Sark, part of the Royal Museums of Greenwich, on the left and the fascinating rotunda marking the entrance to the pedestrian tunnel under the Thames leading to the north side of the river on our right, we made our way back to the boat and headed off to Westminster.

the Cutty Sark

south entrance to the pedestrian tunnel that runs beneath the Thames

Since our boat was benefiting from the flood tide of the Thames it only took us a quick 45 minutes to get back to Westminster. However, what seemed like a fairly straightforward return trip turned out to be something much, much more.

The disruption we had encountered earlier in the day had resulted in serious rail traffic snarls across a number of lines and caused considerable havoc within the tube system as well. And it was rush hour in the bargain. It all resulted in us having to use the Circle Line tube then the District and eventually Northern Lines before eventually finding ourselves in a queue of several hundred people waiting to board one of the very few Thameslink trains running north. The fours of us finally got back to St. Albans at a little after 7pm. We began our return from Greenwich by boat at 4:30.

With a last minute change of dinner plans, due in no small measure to the disruption of northbound rail travel, we ate at an Italian restaurant in St. Albans that night, a place which certainly knew how to make pizza. Good pizza.

Tomorrow, our last full day in Great Britain, it's off to Kew Gardens -- stay tuned!