London Thursday

After managing to use the narrowest bathroom we’ve seen, with a toilet set in a position that required anyone except a midget to sit at a 45 degree angle to allow room for legs, and using our kitchen cupboard to prepare our simple breakfast, we headed off to Euston tube station to begin our day of sight seeing. First stop with our London Pass was the London Tower Experience. So glad we didn’t pay the 28 Pounds per head that we would have paid if we didn’t have the London Pass. We thought there would be more detailed history of the bridges and life than there was. Most of it was set up to scare the visitors (kids), walking through tombs with things jumping out at you and strange noises, bangs, gunshots etc. After surviving the hour, we decided it was time for coffee before Rick climbed the 311 steps up the Monument to the Great Fire of London, built in 1677. It is supposed to be the largest free standing stone column in the world. Views were pretty good.

Next was a walk around to Tower Bridge and the exhibition. We both walked along the glass floors along the upper walkways. Interesting exhibition of famous/notable bridges from around the world and we saw the original steam engines that operated the bascules (the decks that pivot up to let tall boats through). The mechanisms have been designed to fully lift the bascules in 90 seconds.

From there it was a short walk along the river to the HMS Belfast. The ship was launched in 1938 and has been involved in many wars and battles. In 1967, the ship was planned to be scrapped but this was averted when the private HMS Belfast Trust was formed to campaign for her preservation. The efforts of the Trust were successful, and the government transferred the ship to the Trust in July 1971. She became a branch of the Imperial War Museum in 1978. We were lucky to see Tower Bridge open to let a tall masted boat come through.

After that, we made our way to the Royal Festival Hall to meet Debbie and have dinner with her. As usual it was fun and it was such a pity that we couldn’t spend much more time with her. She updated us with news of her 5 birds of prey, an owl, 2 falcons and 2 kites. 

Dinner was over too soon and we used the tube to get back to our lodgings in Euston.