LONDON - Monday - Subway - Bus - Walking

This is the new motto in England - and we had a great Monday. Weather was perfect - 74 degrees - 30 percent humidity. When you are retired - Monday is the best day. Everyone goes back to work and leaves the world for the gray heads. My favorite spot is the top deck in the front seats - the view is outstanding and you can pretend you are driving. 

The National Portrait Gallery is a great starting point.

 The lion is the symbol of the United Kingdom.

The pound is the currency - not the Euro. Its is $1.25 to 1 pound. We use Apple Pay - we touch our iPhone to the card machine - the money comes out of our bank account or credit card - no fees.

 The horse guards.

 To honor the women of World War II.

 Big Ben is getting a face lift.

This is the spot where the terrorist went after the crowd.

 The Thames River and the London Eye.

 Notice the wheel is held together by wires - not spokes.

 Big Ben view from inside this hotel.

 There are electric car charging stations all over London - free.

General Lying in Hospital - in America it would be President Lying in White House.

Lying-in is an archaic term for childbirth; the institution was a maternity hospital.

This is a typical pub - note the pretty flowers. We love eating in pubs. Lots of meat and potatoes - pints of beer and cider.

The Shard is London's answer to the World Trade Center. It is the tallest building in London at 1016 feet. It is the 111th tallest in the world. It was finished in 2012. It has an observation deck about 800 feet up - where there is an admission. You can just as easily go to the bar near the top and the price of a drink gets you the same view. We will go there later. It is along the Thames River by the Tower Bridge.

 This is a Primary School - I liked the iron work.

 Lots of Japanese like to pose by the red circles on the Tower Bridge. Wonder why?

The Tower Bridge was built in the 1880's. It originally opened by steam power. It is named because it is right by The Tower of London - the castle where they keep the Crown Jewels.

The black bumpers are to protect walkers from terrorists trucks on the bridge.

For 2 pounds a day you can ride any of these bikes - anywhere in the city. You ride from rack to rack. they are not electric - you must pedal :-)

This is the Tower of London. It is 900 years old. The king used to live here - then it was a prison - now they store the Crown Jewels here.

This is the only AC Cobra I can afford to bring home. People do not realize that Carroll Shelby went to England - bought AC Cobras - then put Ford V8 engines in them - building the famous Corvette and Ferrari beater - the Shelby Cobra.

At the mall - you could put you cellphone in these locked boxes free. You come back a half hour later and it is charged.

 Whiles Lulu shopped - I had to buy an ice cream to sit in these neat Vespa stools.

Westfield Mall was built for the Olympics - I thought it would be dead. Every time we visit it is booming. Probably from Lulu's shopping.

 The Olympic flags at Westfield Mall.

We saw the Opening Ceremony in this stadium in 2012. It now is the home of West Ham Soccer Club. The Olympic Park is well maintained - 5 years later.

 This was the Olympics Natatorium - we saw races in there.

 Citroen food trucks are popular here.

This is the Waitrose Grocery by our apartment. It is really nice - it reminds Lulu of Publix back home. I am guessing she likes the green lettering.

 They sells cars in the mall here. This Mercedes Smart Car was 10,000 pounds.

The Thames River carries ocean going vessels. It was a bit muddy on Monday.

LONDON - Sunday - Design Museum - Hyde Park - Kensington Palace

Memorials to Diana at the Kensington Gate

The blue skies from eastern Pennsylvania have drifted to London - giving us 74 degrees - 29% humidity - and bright sun. 

Lulu an dJoan went to the flower market in the morning. In the afternoon Lulu and I visited the Design Museum - Hyde Park - and Kensington Palace. Since it was Princess Diana's old home - people were putting tons of flowers around the gate. 

We took the bus south around Hyde Park to the Design Museum. The museum displays man examples of well designed products - like telephones - computers - bikes - appliances - etc. it is almost like going up into Grandma's attic. 

Hyde Park is about 1 miles south of our apartment. The park is full of people walking - sunning - riding bikes - and playing games. the back of Kensington Palace butts up against Hyde Park. There is a palace building called the Orangery. It is a build with large window doors - where in the winter they wheel out large pots containing orange trees. They take the trees in at night to prevent the fruit for frosting and dying. 

After Hyde Park we caught the subway home. 

The Design Museum is a free modern museu with lots practical design examples.

Lulu always finds free stuff for me to do.

We stopped at McDonalds for a snack. Can your believe
 that McDonalds delivers food over here. You order online.

I love the electric G-Whiz - made in India.
 It seats 4 people.It costs about $15000. The city give
you tons of perkif you buy one. It is about 7 feet long.

Hyde Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon - in the summer time. 

Kensington Palace on Hyde Park

Princess Diana flowers

Kensington  Palace facing north

Carousel in Hyde Park - note the Brit flags.

LONDON - Saturday Shopping and a Play

Joan and Lulu in front of the Phoenix Theatre

I guess my jet lag is over. Saturday I slept from midnight until 8 AM - like a rock. I barely remember hitting the pillow - I woke up to the two ladies finishing their breakfast and me bon voyaging them out the door. The last thing I re-call Lulu saying was we are going shopping - we want you to get good seats cheap for the play "The Girls" at the Phoenix Theatre at 2:30. Be there was 3 great tickets.

Then I had to wait until noon because the cable guy was coming to fix the TV service. Talk about pressure. 

As the ladies went shopping - I patiently waited for the cable guy. Finally he came and went and it was noon. I got showered and dressed - and I took a subway - through Oxford Circus - to Picadilly Circus. Next I caught a bus and before you knew it - I was at the theatre. 

I went to the box office - and asked for day of show tickets. I got some very nice tickets in the fifth row at the end for 20 pounds each. Heck - it was only 12:30 and I had two hours to kill. 

There was a McDonalds near the theatre and I went for lunch. I just love the Chicken Selects over here (they must be free range chickens). But the coolest thing about McDonalds here is the kiosks. You select the stuff you want from big screen menus - then you hold your iPhone next to the kiosk and you pay for the food - no muss - no fuss. You get a receipt and number - and almost before you can turn around - you hear someone call out the number. Right after that - you check your Wells Fargo bank account back home - and you can see they took the money out of your account and paid Ronald McDonald. I tried it one more time for desert - and ice cream cone - zoom. 

I sat in the window at McDonalds taking pictures and video of the shoppers. The weather was perfect - sunny - low humidity - about 74 degrees.

At 2:30 PM - the ladies arrived with their shopping bags. We went into the show - had great seats - enjoyed a great show. Read reviews of the "The Girls." A bunch of very fat ladies appeared nude on stage at the end. It was very nice - very funny - and had a lot of very brave women. 

After the play - we had supper in Chinatown. We stopped at a bakery for pastry to take home. We are doing a lot of walking - but it is going to take many miles to keep up with the calories. We got home and passed out in the chairs in the living room. It is 10 PM now - we are going to bed at a normal time. 

Harry Potter was across the street

I would love to bring a Vespa Ape home

Picture taken out of McDonalds window

Our seats - row 5 - 20 pounds

The curtain

It was an gray and female crowd

Joan

Lulu

Chinatown for supper

Saturday about 6 PM

Buying pastries for dessert - no speak English

Michel Jackson Theatre

LONDON - Walking Around Friday

This is a perfectly normal parking job in London

Marble Arch where Oxford Street starts

Crossing a stainless steel suspension bridge over
the canal in Little Venice

My favorite store - The John Lewis Store

Friday - I finally got to sleep at 5 AM and slept until noon. Lulu was all dressed and ready to go. We walked downtown - did some shopping - and bought our monthly subway and bus pass. We got home in time to make supper for Joan - arriving home from work.

After supper - we grabbed those Oyster cards - the three of us went on a long bus ride on the 414 - down to the Thames - then we caught a subway - and were back in a flicker. 

I went to bed to midnight and slept through to 8 AM this morning. The girls were dressed and ready to go shopping. I left them go - promising to get some tickets for the 2:30 PM matinee of "The Girls" at the Phoenix Theatre. If you saw the movie "Calendar Girls" you know the plot. 

I have 4 hours to relax until then - but first I must find 3 good tickets.