Kanga And Wombats Adventures

2.10.19

We love London! This will be our 7th visit here and it never fails to thrill. I think it must be those hundreds of games of monopoly played in childhood that have ingrained those landmarks in my brain! We’re staying at The Angel, Islington, for goodness sake! Right in the game, albeit at the less “effluent” end of town, according to the monopoly board.

Our Airbnb host Meg, was on our wavelength. She had left an extensive list of ‘alternative’ things to see in London, along with a list of sights to avoid like the plague. The plan was to tick off as many as we could.

We woke on our first morning to a miracle! Sunshine and blue skies!

Top on the agenda was to find a good coffee, so tour guide Chris showed us the way to Camden Passage which hit the spot. (London red bus icon spoiler alert)

It’s a little narrow pedestrian only passageway filled with antique shops, coffee shops, cafes and nicky nacky stuff.

The coffee was good!

Close by is the Regent Canal, so we wandered along the towpath, so peaceful, pretty and quiet.

There were even some tiles Jen….this one’s for you!

We zig-zagged our way through to The Barbican Centre, an unusual complex of theatres, galleries, public housing, restaurants, parks and water features.

At the entrance to the underground carpark, quite unassuming, was a Banksy!

Skirting the rear of St Paul’s for a different view of this amazing structure,

we stumbled on Leadenhall Market. Never heard of it before!

Beautifully restored, full of classy restaurants and bars, and apparently a popular place for Asian wedding photography!

Just around the corner, the ‘Gherkin’ dwarfed the historic buildings below.

Our destination was Aldgate Station, where we were to meet Pete for an Unseen Tour of the Brick Lane area.

Unseen Tours are an initiative to assist homeless people, who are your guides, to make a few bucks and show you a little of ‘their world’ from their perspective. In 2016 we’d really enjoyed an Unseen Tour of Covent Garden with Viv, so we thought we’d try another one.

Unfortunately Pete must have gotten a better offer and was a no show. Despite phone calls and emails, we are none the wiser as to what happened to him, and also £30 poorer!

No matter, there was still plenty of daylight left and beauties like this to photograph! (Red phone box icon spoiler alert).

It was time to cross the river past the Tower (been there done that), over Tower Bridge

and walk along the Thames towards London Bridge. Hays Dock, recently restored, used to be where the tea clippers loaded up and has now been ‘trendied’ into an upmarket shopping and restaurant hub. Pretty cool sculpture called The Navigator in the middle!

A little further on was Southwark Cathedral, on Meg’s list, small as Cathedrals go, but with some interesting features.

One was a beautiful stained glass window dedicated to Shakespeare (we’re in his neck of the woods), depicting scenes from his plays. Oh, and a snail. Can you find it?

There was some modernist stained glass and an impressive 12th century carved altar screen.

It was well and truly time for a liquid refreshment so we hunted out another of Meg’s suggestions, a pint by the fire at The George Inn, circa 1676.

Perfect!

But wait!

A ride in the front seat up the top of a London bus.

Even perfecter!