The Church

Friday was another big day. First on the agenda? Westminster Abbey. But not before another few quick snaps of ol' Benny.

And across the road...Westminster!!

Obviously there were no photos allowed inside but I did sneak a few of the cloisters (below) and some of the gardens. Everyone semed to be making the most of being outside though - there were camera flashses going off everywhere.

More cloister views

After awakening from my Westminster induced daze (it is unbelievably beautiful and interesting) I walked. And walked and walked. I had intended to make my way to Westminister Cathedral but I got distracted by St Paul's Park. So lovely. So lovely in fact that I kind of forgot to take photos! I did instagram a few though so go here. I want to picnic there in Spring. That would be perfection.

I did get a photo of the squirrel that kept hassling me for my lunch money. Well ok, not my money, but definitely my lunch.

Look at those shifty eyes!

And then I spotted....

Yes, I'm that oblivious that I didn't realise how close I was to Buckingham Palace. I don't deserve my British citizenship.

The last two photos were taken in Green Park which is just as lovely as St James' Park.

After wandering through Green Park I headed towards Knightsbridge. I had a very brief step inside Harrods before jumping on the tube and heading home. This is what Harrods looks like when the sun goes down...

Will you let me romanticize...

So the last few days have been rather busy. Saturday was one long and busy day. We headed in to town for the day for lots of sight-seeing.

I spent quite a while wandering aimlessly through the National Gallery, which thankfully is free. The building is amazing, and inside is equally so. I confess I lost my way more than once; there a just so many rooms. The paintings are exquisite, but that goes without saying really. The rooms are divided up by century and it was really interesting to see the difference in style between time periods. The 14th century work was often much more vibrant in colour but far less realistic in terms of dimension and proportion. The figures are almost cartoon like.

From the gallery we did lots of walking. Honestly, we've seen so much I can't remember what order everything came in. We did manage to fluke seeing the dismounting parade of the Queen's Horse Guard on Whitehall which was pretty cool. We initially thought it might have been the changing of the guard but I looked it up and that only happens in the morning. Still, it was pretty good timing. Unfortunately my photos aren't very good as there was a substantial crowd by the time we got there.

From there we continued up Whitehall and looped around, past Big Ben, and then back down along the Embankment. It was about 4 o'clock by this time and they were already closing off roads and bridges for the New Years fireworks. There were hundreds of people already lined up along the Embankment with blankets and chairs.

We walked all the way back down to Somerset House (somewhere I've wanted to go for a long time) to see the courtyard where an ice rink is set up. There is also a beautiful christmas tree (one of MANY around London) and a Tiffany's pop up shop. We left the ice skating to the experienced, opting instead for mulled wine and some sideline spectating.

I think this post has been long enough so I'll be back tomorrow with some more photos and details of the rest of the day. 

*ps. Dad, dorry I haven't edited these yet - I know most of them are crooked. I will get round to it, I promise.