Tower, The City, Tate Modern, and the West End

Sunday, 3 July, we jumped on a Circle Line train and went to the Tower of London. We were first in line and dashed to the Crown Jewels, which we enjoyed without the usual crowds. The Beefeater tour was fun and informative, and afterward we explored the Tower. Before touring The City, we had lunch at Wagamama. Late afternoon we rode a bus to Trafalgar Square and then walked through Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus where we hoped to catch a bus home. The 94 bus wasn't running so we walked up Regents Street and learned why: the whole street had been converted into a pedestrian zone in a new program called Traffic Free Sundays in July. We finally got home to Notting Hill by tube and bus, and puchased supper at Pret for a picnic in the park.

Waiting for the Circle Line at the Notting Hill Gate Station

 The crew at The Tower

Binkers and the White Tower

 White-Tower selfie

 Our Yoeman Warder

At The Tower with Tower Bridge in the distance

Our server at Wagamama was from Londrina in Brazil

 St. Dunstan-in-the-East

Looking at St. Dunstan's tower and spire

Headed to climb the Monument (to the Great Fire)

The Hastings at Leadenhall Market

Quite empty on a Sunday


The (former) Royal Exchange

The Bank of England

  Paternoster Square and St. Paul's

 Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

The heady sound of bells

 Dickie playing tour guide

The Tate Modern Turbine Hall

LJ was excited to see some Warhol


Anna was excited to see some Guerrilla Girls

 Back across the Millennium Bridge

With a stop for some gymnastics

Duck faces

This stop brought the mood way down

 That wonderful first glimpse of Big Ben from Trafalgar Square

Listening to an awesome busker in front of the National Gallery
with St. Martin-in-the-Fields in the backgroud

Piccadilly Circus was slammed

 Walking up Regent Street sans traffic


Notting Hill Pret

Dinner by the Victorian drinking fountain in Kensington Gardens

One never tires of London.

OXO

D.