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...

Singing in Trafalgar Square

Our plan was to take the train to Herne Hill to see the house where our great-grandmother lived from 1945 to 1961, but this sign turned out to be true. The 10:00 train was cancelled, and while we could have taken a bus or a later train, we decided not to wait around and instead go with Plan B.

Plan B was to go to the gift shop at Buckingham Palace. Onwards! One of the workers in the tube station was especially helpful, telling us the best access for wheelchairs, and also sending us to a better stop than St. James Park.

We took his advice and soon were strolling through the gardens towards Buckingham Palace.

And realized it was the Changing of the Guard and we were just in time...

We had already missed the parade and the actual changing of the guard was taking place. Not a chance in heck of seeing anything.

This crowd would have seen the parade. You can see one or the other but have to make your decision early.

I snuck my camera up to the gate over someone's head and got this photo.

The police are quick to tell you take a photo and keep moving. So you don't have a chance to see much here.

We kept on walking and came to the gift shop. The items are a bit more expensive, but the things they have are really lovely.

With our purchases in hand, we left just in time to see the exit of one of the bands.

We were really hoping they were going to play something, but that isn't how it works at this stage.

We decided to meander to Whitehall and the Horse Guards Parade and then carry on to Trafalgar Square.

It is truly a lovely walk. The tour guide on our bus a couple of days earlier had said one of the best views of Buckingham Palace is from the Blue Bridge in St. James Park, so we headed in that direction.

I wonder how many gardeners they have?

Our guide had also said that the Queen, although she has lived here for 66 years, does not consider Buckingham Palace her home. She calls it "the office." And I guess I can see why. She much prefers Windsor Castle and Balmoral (says he!).

Queen Victoria sternly regarding her subjects with the Winged Victory on top.

We passed by the West Africa gate, and I didn't realize until I looked at the map when we got home that there is a Canada gate nearby. Maybe next time!

Heading into St. James Park, towards the Blue Bridge...

Our plan was to walk through the park, through the Horse Guards Parade, in front of Whitehall and towards Trafalgar Square.

Lots of friendly ducks...

No love for pigeons here...

And here was the view of the Palace from the Blue Bridge. I'm not sure I agree about it being the best view, but it was nice.

Lots of ducks enjoying the beautiful weather...

Whitehall on the left and the London Eye on the right...

Selfie alert! One this way...

Jump to the other side of the bridge and take one the other way...there has been no lack of selfies so far!

And here is where my sister becomes her father's daughter. This is exactly the type of thing Dad would have done!

Carrying on...love how some of the areas are just wildflowers.

Swans and babies!

Getting closer...Whitehall Palace was the main residence of English monarchs from 1530 until 1698.

Looked like a one-legged duck...

Still looked like a one-legged duck...

Lots of flowers and lots of people...

Well, this was a revolting turn of events. After all that, the entrance to the Horse Guards Parade was blocked off. Going with the flow, we decided to carry on through the Admiralty Arch to Trafalgar Square.

Statue ahead, which became totally freaky...

Because it was a statue of Captain Cook. Our dad used to often tease us by saying he sailed with Captain Cook. We couldn't believe it!

We would have missed it completely had we gone through the Horse Guards Parade. We whipped out our dad's hats (because doesn't everyone travel with their father's hats?) and had our photo taken.

Moving on...I love all the different monuments.

Approaching Trafalgar Square which is still being guarded by Lord Nelson.

We've noticed these barricades in many places in London. I believe they've been installed so that cars can no longer pose a threat to pedestrians by accessing the sidewalks as they did in the London Bridge attack.

The lions are still watching...

Cool statue...

Apparently, King George IV in front of St. Martin-in-the-Fields...

The tables with people sitting at them? That was our destination. One of our best memories in London was the afternoon we spent here drinking wine and people watching.

We were starved by now and I didn't know if I wanted wine or coffee so I got both. That was one strong cup of coffee!

And then we did what any good Englishman's daughters would do...we donned our father's hats and sang. Oh yeah, you didn't want to be Jim and Trevor that day. I think they were trying to distance themselves from us.

You have been warned...this was after several takes of giggling and forgetting the words.

Pam had brought along some of the best songs we remember Dad singing...

This one gave us an earworm for the rest of the week...I like pickled onions, I like picalilli ♫

Good memories!

And the sun even decided to come out...

I wandered over to Canada House. Apparently it is not open to the public and you must register in advance for a tour. How very un-Canadian!

The National Museum used to be home to thousands of pigeons, but is now mostly home to buskers. Just flying hawks over the areas where pigeons hang out is enough to discourage them. It worked!

Throw a coin onto the flag of your country...

Wow! This was impressive...I didn't see the artist around it, but when we threw a coin in the metal box, we realized he was working on another space close by. He gave us a thumbs up. I am sure their ears are tuned to that sound.

There are some amazing artists with great talent.

I wonder how many times a week he painstakingly writes all this out?

These buskers were all the rage a few years ago. Only this one remained that we could see. I think people have figured out their trick...

It was a great day...singing some of our dad's favourite songs and enjoying the sights of London. Tomorrow, it's Herne Hill Take Two...