London- Walking the Thames

Are you ready for some more photos?

I'm showing London in bits. Partly because we went two different days and because I took lots of photos. So, these are from our first adventure into London. We had a "locals" tour with Zonia as our guide. These photos are from the many I took as we walked along the Thames. Officially it was called the "Queen's Walk" in some places. (As we got closer to the buildings of Parliament, etc.) Another interesting fact was that this side of the river- back many moons ago- was the rowdy side and therefore the more "undesirable" side for those who had money. But let's face it, I'm sure many of them were over here having a grand ol' time- right?

Anyway, the first photo is of the Globe Theater. Shakespeare had a share-hold in the Globe and that's how he made his money. (Not from his plays which became famous and more often performed after he died.)

Next, we found a fun little side street called Gabriel's Wharf. There were lots of cute little shops and all of these wooden benches, chairs, table, rocking horses...


We also spied a man and his sons working on these massive images in the sand. There were two- the other was a skeleton's hand. But as they hadn't dug around all of the bones, etc. as much, it was harder to tell what the image was on the camera. So, I chose to share Homer instead.
Here's me posing along the Thames.

This I found interesting. There was an skate park right near the London Eye. Zonia said it was one place where they were allowed to "tag" or spray paint to their hearts content. I never did see graffiti anywhere else in London. (Not that we went looking!) I wonder if this idea would work here in the States?

The London Eye...

Street Performers along the Thames... The kid in the photo ended up with a knot tied in his sleeve!

Zonia and I with Big Ben in the background...

Big Ben...
This was the only day that it really rained on us while in England. And really it was very lite and came in spurts for a couple of hours before dying down. It was cool and windy for the first few days. We were lucky that most of the storms happened at night and allowed for beautiful weather to be the constant as we were exploring. More to come!