Farewell to London

Our stay at Marlyn Lodge has been wonderful. You know how sometimes you don't have enough towels? Every day they would bring new towels whether we had ours hanging up or in the tub to be changed. This might have been a bit overboard!

On our last day in London, we decided to head back to Trafalgar Square to visit one of the gift shops there. Look at that sky! Wandering along from the Embankment tube station...

Lord Nelson was still in control of Trafalgar Square on a beautiful sunny day. The weather on our trip was phenomenal. Who comes home from London with a suntan?

Lots of police presence in Trafalgar Square...something was obviously going on.

I wandered across the street to photograph this police box my brother had mentioned. I had noticed it before but never really wondered what it was. Apparently it was a phone booth for police to use or for people to contact the police. There isn't much need for them now and not too many remain.

When I got back across the street, Pam met me with wide eyes saying "Did you see Harry and Meghan??!!" What? No way! Apparently they went past on their way to Buckingham Palace for the Trooping the Colour to celebrate the Queen's birthday.

This photo was also pilfered from the internet, but if she had been fast enough with her camera, she would have captured this.

Well, we saw the police and horses at least...

We walked back to Embankment past the Citadines where we stayed the first time we visited London in 2007. It was a great location, but as I recall pretty sparse.

We walked across the Jubilee Bridge...

For one last shot of the London Eye...

Anything to avoid packing, Pam and I went to Starbucks in the afternoon for a cold drink.

And maybe a selfie or two...yeah, these glasses definitely make us cooler!

Still avoiding packing, I went for one last trek to the Tower of London, past the memorial to those in the Merchant Navy. Dad sailed with them and broke both his legs on board a ship in (I believe) 1951. The ship's port of call was Quebec City where he met a nurse...my mother! He immigrated to Canada shortly after.

Meanwhile, back at the Tower...

This is strange...last time it was full of poppies, but this time it almost looked like a garden party.

Tower of London gift shop, which, believe it or not, we didn't visit. There were lots of people out today. Did you know London receives 10 million visitors a month?!

Huh, I've never noticed these guys before...

Well, that's kind of sad...

Lavender in bloom around the tower with Tower Bridge in the background.

I was hoping you could actually smell it, but not so.

Just one more photo of the Bridge...it always looked so beautiful, I could never resist taking another picture.

Traitor's Gate in the Tower of London...once you went through here, you did not return.

OK...just one more shot!

Goodbye, Shard!

One more wine time...yes, I'm the heathen with ice cubes in my wine. A little Brighton rock, anyone?

And one last visit to the Minories pub..."Train!"

I blame the blurriness on the low light, but in reality I'm sure we never held the phone still.

It's been a blast...such great memories!

Love me Sissy! ♥

The cab was right on time to take us to the airport the next morning and we posed for one last selfie...sad faces!

Heathrow is so clean...

And we were off...goodbye London!

Such beautiful skies...this should be an Air Canada ad!

Halifax here we come...

Welcome to Nova Scotia!

And then on to our tiny plane, one seat on each side of the aisle, and where the co-pilot also makes the announcements and helps you with your bags.

Flying over the farm lands in New Brunswick that were flooded not long ago...

Huh...these wiggly lines are interesting...

The St. John River experienced historic levels of flooding this year...

Touch down in Fredericton!

It was a wonderful trip made even better by lots of great memories with Pam and Trevor! So glad we had the chance to go visit our roots in England again.  Here endeth this blog...