Adventures! (Part 2)

Part 2! I upload all the pictures direct from my phone, and sometimes too many images in one post gives it a headache. So here's the second half!

There are a number of war monuments along the north side of the river, and most of them are quite beautiful. I thought the sculpture on this one was really interesting, though. I like the combination of the two and three dimension styles.

And one for the airmen.

Along the way I saw a number of these little things - restaurants or bars or some combination of the two on boats! I guess that's even better than having a nice water view from the restaurant window!

I took a brief detour through Whitehall Park, which was lush and green and quiet. The park itself was really pretty, but the buildings behind it were rather neat, too.

These were the oddest flowers... they grew in big clusters right out of the ground on a single stalk, with no leaves or anything!

This was my favorite tree. It seems like it just gets random branch support as it crawls along.

These flowers were really pretty, but also -huge-. They were easily bigger than an outspread hand, all in pretty pastel pinks and yellows. The park actually had quite a few interesting and exotic looking plants dotted around it.

This memorial was quite lovely, too. I like the statuary touches on various sorts.

And look dad! I spotted IBM along the way! No word on any job openings yet...

I'm not sure what this building was, but it looked so pretty in the sunshine!

Across the River I could see the Shard already...

A lovely little round building...

Right near the Millenium Bridge, which I used to cross over the the south side of the river. You can juuuust see the Tower Bridge way off in the distance!

Along the way I passed by the Globe Theater.

And this amusingly named little museum. I actually ducked in for lunch there. ... The burger place, not the prison museum.

I decided this was worth trying and it was indeed quite tasty!

And I was quite fond of their choice of ketchup bottles.

Eventually I made it down towards the bridge! I spent some time wandering around some of the interesting areas around the riverside before getting to the crossing over bit.

Southwark Cathedral sits not that far away from the river. It was lovely inside and out, and I wish I could have taken pictures inside! They've got a bunch of pretty stained glass and the church is just as architecturally impressive on the interior.

THis was an odd little thing which marked the grave of someone whose name was too worn to read.

I also came across the Golden Hinde II - a reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hinde. For the low, low price of 40 some pounds, you could go on and look around and be entertained by costumed interpreters. I decided to stick with looking at it from the shore.

I also happened upon this guy. I'm not entirely sure if he had a particular purpose - I couldn't find a sign explaining his presence or who had made him - but he was a lovely depiction of my favorite sort of soldier!

This was a lovely covered corridor with a bunch of shops and restaurants right near the water.

And it had this fascinating sculpture/fountain in the middle of it!

It was whimsical and well done, and the pictures just don't do all the tiny details justice!

This building... which I'm pretty sure is important and that I looked up and promptly forgot... reminds me of a fancy space-helmet. What a fun thing to work inside!

And ta-da! I did eventually make it to the Tower Bridge.

And it was just in time to watch the bridge go up! Right after I had crossed to the other side they announced that they were going to raise the bridge so I, of course, stopped to watch.

A lovely little river cruise boat slipped through... and then it was back to business as usual atop the busy bridge.

I think this building had something to do with the navy... but I didn't go close enough to check for sure.

I passed around the Tower of London and then it was time to scurry towards home!

This is the symbol for the city of London, and there were a few of these lovely beasties dotted around the streets.

I passed by this on the way to the bus... I suppose this is where you go after a particularly tough day of work?

But all is well for the most part! Other than doing a bit of exploring and wandering around the city, classes officially started last week. I am excited for them, but I do think the reading lists will keep me quite busy in between classes and trying to stick in fun things!