Royal Wedding Day

I hope you won't be too disappointed to hear that I did not venture out into Central London today to go to the Royal Wedding.  There were just going to be too many people there and I could see more on TV.  The closest I got was the planes that flew over Buckingham Palace flew over my flat about a minute before.

The wedding was very nice, as far as I can tell.  Many of the commentators here were all aflutter over the TWO kisses on the balcony--a big deal for the generally reserved British.  On the other hand, I have never seen so much kissing in public places as I have seen in London over the last eight weeks.  Of course, a lot of it could be coming from the many, many foreign people here.

Yesterday, I was exhausted after Mary and Chuck left--and a little hung over, to be honest.  But I decided to go out in the afternoon and explore some areas that I had not seen as yet.  I was thinking I would take my own pub crawl, but a glass of wine at the first stop-- The George Inn, near London Bridge on the south side of the Thames-- almost knocked me out, so it was just a walk after that.

Here's the George Inn, located through a small entrance on Borough High Street.

The George Inn has been around for a very long time.  It was mentioned in Dickens' book Little Dorrit.  It is also very close to the building site for the Shard, which will be the tallest in Europe when it's completed and can be seen from almost everywhere in the city.

This picture was taken from the George Inn yard....

And this one from down the corner.

I then started to walk along the river and came across the Hay Galleria, a shopping center that was once a wharf.

It's quite beautiful.  Here's the story of the wharf from the plaque in front.

And it has a sense of humor, as shown by the sculpture in the middle.

It looks like a combination of a fish and a boat.  Very cool.

The Galleria is just a few steps away from the London City Hall, the office of the Mayor of London.  The building is called Darth Vader's helmet for obvious reasons.

I had remembered a London Walks guide telling us that there was an observation deck that the mayor allowed people to visit, so I went in.  I was quickly stopped by a none too friendly guard who told me the deck was only open in September (probably when the mayor is on vacation).

I also wanted to explore the area just on the other side of Tower Bridge.  It looked very old and interesting.  And so it was, with some modern twists.  Here's Tower Bridge itself--

not ancient as you might think, but built in Victorian times to match the Tower of London, which it sits beside.

I walked under the bridge on the south side and came to this street, which I thought was very interesting looking.

Very old, I think--with some modern updates.  A pop into a courtyard revealed this place.

My guess it these are old manufacturing buildings given a modern face, but I could be wrong.  If they are modern, the builders did an excellent job.

A look into the estate agents office showed that everyone is playing off the Royal Wedding.

If you are trying to compare prices, a pound is about a $1.60. (You'll be able to read the prices if you click on the picture for a larger version).

I also really liked this promise in a restaurant window.  The owner knows what the people need.

I went across the bridge at that point looking for St. Catherine's Wharf, where my sister Ada, my niece Alicia and nephew Andrew had a drink years ago when we traveled to London.  I have to say, I did not remember the marina looking like this.

The place was enormous, with vessels from clipper ships

to huge yachts.

London obviously does not have a shortage of rich persons. I did find our drinking spot, The Dickens Inn.

I walked past the Tower on my way back and got this picture of the east side, away from the tourists and with the bridge in the background.

I meandered through the city to get home and tried to get into the church that had been closed on my walk on Tuesday but unfortunately, it was still shut.

It's my last full day in London and I am probably wasting it in front of the TV.  But I am trying to access my visit here.  I have done so much in the two months.  And I did not do some things I wanted to do, like visit Scotland.  I think getting sick with a bad cold and then the dizziness ate into my plans a bit.  But I have no regrets about anything.  I have done less thinking about my future than I planned, but may be that's good.  This time has been an incredible wake-up call about the things that life can hold, if we do more than sit on the couch.

People have asked me what has been my favorite thing about London or England.  I can honestly say that all of it has been fabulous.  Every day has brought new experiences, new sights, new perspectives.

I want to thanks all of you who have been reading every day.  It has meant a lot to get your feedback and your emails.

And I want to especially thank Mary Johnson who has been so wonderful in handling my real estate business while I am gone.  I know she will be especially happy to see my return.