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Our last full day so we made the most of it! We’d planned to meet up with TK but she texted in the night to say she was in A&E with a suspected DVT (turned out by the evening she’d been discharged and was ok…phew!).
Started by walking over to Battersea Power Station via Chelsea Bridge. Stunning building and setting, but to be honest I didn’t think it was what I’d hoped for. There was less about the building and transformation of it than I’d expected, and only a couple of pieces of the original machinery or structure visible, but just three floors of, for the most part, upmarket shops and chain restaurants. Wasted opportunity really.
We had coffee and a pastry for breakfast, then were really lucky to hop on a boat that just drew up as we got to the pier. Practically had it to ourselves and by now the sun was fully out so we enjoyed our cruise past Parliament and under all the bridges…beautiful views and we enjoyed spotting all the places we’ve been. Unbelievably we arrived at Tower Bridge just as it opened to let a tall ship through. Doesn’t happen that often so we were delighted to be practically under it as it happened.
Walked along by the Tower, and saw Traitor’s Gate and all the different elements of this old palace and castle. Across the bridge and down for some pie and mash (extra)…my first taste of this east end classic and very tasty it was too, with the very friendly staff and original tiled late 19th Century interior.
Walked back across the bridge and caught the tube to Kensington to pop into the Victoria and Albert museum. We’d hoped to visit the Chanel exhibition when we first knew we’d be spending some time in London but the tickets have been sold out virtually since it opened. We thought we’d just look at some of the normal fashion galleries and skim the rest but by then we were flagging. We sat in the beautifully ornate tea room for a while to get our oomph back, then set off to walk home via Belgravia (interesting to look at all the huge houses and mews lanes and speculate on previous and current residents). We’d planned to stop at a fancy tea shop for cake, but they only had cupcakes which we don’t like so much, so carried on walking home and bought a Christmas bun each from our local Gail’s bakery….delicious!
Collapsed with tea and the buns, trying to decide what to do this evening, then popped out for some bits to have supper at home and just stayed in, with A phoning to read out her presentation for tomorrow and ask for feedback.
We’ve had a great break…another 9 miles today!….and seen lots, working out in much more depth through walking how central London connects up, and lovely to soak up the pre-Christmas atmosphere before it’s too madly busy in December. Gorgeous flat to stay in too…we’ve been very lucky.