As I write this, steady rain is drenching this part of London. There was talk earlier that we'd be going out for dinner this evening, as we have done most nights but we may now be restricted to the Italian restaurant just outside our door instead of further afield.
Tomorrow we head for home. We're ready to go but have really enjoyed London again, and of course the rest of the trip which went better than we expected it might.
Today of course is the big referendum and the media is playing it for all it's worth. We should learn the results early tomorrow, perhaps at Heathrow or even before. You'll see a couple of images in this post touching on this event.
Yesterday, our second last day in this vibrant and ordered city, we decided that we should visit the south side, that is the part of London on the southern side of the Thames. At first tempted to get there by renting one each of Boris's Bikes from the rack near our apartment we concluded that this idea was probably impractible and fell back on old faithful, the Underground.
Nick Neal, of Sydney, well known food aficionado, suggested we visit Borough Market so that's where we went first.
This is a pleasant place to wander. Not too busy and filled with great smells and delights for the eye.
See what I mean. We bought something from this stall for afternoon tea, even though it was barely 11:00am.
And decided to have an early lunch of bratwurst, German style.
30 sec movie. Borough Market lunch.
Lunch done, we pulled out the iPad and consulted the Maps App. The reconstructed Globe Theatre was nearby so we set off through the labyrinth which characterises this part of London.
Here's the reconstructed version of the Globe Theatre, right on the riverbank. We briefly toyed with the idea of attending the 3:00pm performance of Macbeth but a quick glance at the box office showed this to be impossible: "Sold Out!". Probably this is one tourist attraction which many US college groups visit, booking months ahead. Certainly there were many young people with North America accents scrambling around the edifice and its support offices.
OK, what else was possible from this start point? Another look at the iPad showed that we could walk downstream on the right bank of the river toward the Tower Bridge. The weather was still OK, so we headed off on what turned out to be a very enjoyable excursion.
Movie, one minute. See HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, the nearby striking modern architecture and Mary and me sitting in deck chairs drinking beer.
So, here's Tower Bridge. Note that it's not London Bridge, which is a basic but decent bridge nearby which replaced an older arched bridge which was sold to a US entrepreneur who dismantled it and shipped it to a US theme park in Arizona where it can be seen to this day. There's a story around that the entrepreneur thought he was buying Tower Bridge when he struck the deal.
Looking back from Tower Bridge at the place we'd strolled through. That sharp topped building is known as The Shard.
As you can see from the movie, we crossed Tower Bridge to more closely view the Tower of London which we'd thankfully visited long ago so no need to battle the crowds to visit again.
By now we were ready for an afternoon nap and afternoon tea as well, remembering that we were carrying a Borough Market calorie-loaded confection home for that very purpose. We were home in a jiffy on the Underground and the chocolate cake was delicious.
On Thursday, our final morning we headed for shop-filled Oxford Street where Mary was set loose on the shops while I meandered about, with an agreement to rendezvous at a ground-selected location in two hours.
Self explanatory, a picture only legitimately obtainable on this one day, 23Jun16.
On our way on foot to our apartment from Victoria Underground Station we routinely pass Her Majesty's Passport Office. This afternoon, for the first time that we've noticed, there was a long queue at the entrance. Referendum-linked? Possibly.
And so our UK trip is ending. Tomorrow our intention is to use Uber to get from here to Heathrow, Terminal 2. My research indicates that it will take about 30 minutes and cost up to £36, which is likely a much better way to do the journey than all of the alternatives, including Black Cab and the Underground. A little bit of uncertainty adds spice to the trip, don't you think?
See some of you in Noosa in a couple of days.
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Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.
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The technical stuff:
Our main iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid, 3gb for three months for £16) by the UK "Three" network. On high ground and in town environments this connection has so far proven quite good but, as in Australia, some places lack good coverage so no or poor connection. There are quite a few WiFi options available too although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. All except two of our accommodation reservations include free WiFi which is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our accommodation or on the roadside.
Mary's iPhone is operating using an Australian SIM card (Optus prepaid) which is roaming while in the UK and gives us the ability to make phone calls (not cheap) and send and receive SMS. It also uses WiFi, can connect directly to the Internet through the local cellular system (expensive), and use a Personal Hot Spot provided by the iPad (essentially free as the iPad connection is prepaid).
Location:Churton Street,London,United Kingdom
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