London: A Tale of Two Emotions

I’m sure Charles Dickens would have given me free licence to borrow some of his famous words for the title of this blog. When we flew into London City Airport -(an experience in itself thanks to an almost vertical descent in full brace position), I knew we would struggle with London, yet also be captivated. And struggle we did as we paid our respects to those who died horrific deaths on London Bridge and in Borough Markets. All pointless, but in particular, the deaths of our two Aussie girls, one a nurse and the other a nanny tugged at the heartstrings. These good, kind, selfless girls shuffled off their mortal coils far too early leaving the rest of us to fathom the depths of hatred that fuel such vicious acts.

The other emotion in being in the UK capital is quite obviously awe. Awe that London offers so much. This was my maiden trip to London and I cannot believe I left it so long to visit. The weather was our friend for our brief three day stay; the skies were blue most of the time, the sun was warm and we wore t shirts. Our lodgings were in Bankside in a quirky hotel called Citizen M. The concept of their three London hotels works well. The colourful ground floor houses a rather large bar as well as comfy lounges. Bookcases line the walls with reading material galore (newspapers, novels and magazines) and we found it a great place to return after a big day out. We were also very taken with our spacious room and its huge bathroom. We thanked the staff profusely until we realised that the myriad of devices attached to the walls meant we had been given the disabled room. Sometimes age can be a good thing!

London is best explored on foot, particularly when the weather is fine. I confess that we did not use the tube once. But when we return we will ‘tube it’, see plays at The Globe and West End, visit Liberty and do a million other things. Will leave you with these pics.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

Big Ben and Parliament Houses

Westminster Abbey

St Pauls

Trafalgar Square

Buckingham Palace

Victory Gate

Loving these English pubs

Can’t resist a book sale on the Thames

Walking around Chelsea

Harrods – simply a beautiful store

Picadilly Circus

Hyde Park

Haymarket Theatre

St James Park

Reminders of war are never too far away

Side by side: Ancient and Modern

Even managed a quick train trip to Southampton from Waterloo Station.