London sky, sights and Georgia O'Keeffe

Yesterday morning we got up REALLLLY early (for a Sunday!) and went to the bus stop outside.  Which is weird because we don't use this bus stop.

We're getting one of those buses???

We left a weathergram while we waited.....

And a few minutes later, a National Express Coach arrived to pick us up!!  We're going on a trip!!

AND we got Jaffa Caykes for breakfast!!!!!

I love these!!

Andrea hadn't quite woken up yet, so she didn't read me her book.  We watched the countryside go by instead

We're going through Gatwick Airport now - you can see the plane!!!

Oh!  We're in London!!  We're crossing the Thames river!!

We're in Central London now!

We arrived here and had a short walk to....

Victoria Train station where we used the facilities and left them a CD.  I thought that was a fair trade....

Then we went to find a bus

They had one waiting for us!!!

We sat at the back and gave them a weathergram!!

While we were travelling, it started peeing it down with rain!!  We didn't care, we're sitting in a dry bus!!

We got off here at Waterloo Station!

We met an Italian girl called Gabrielle who was lost so we helped her find the Underground.  She was from Sicily and really nice.  Very polite too - she shook our hand and said thank you for helping!!!

Then we went round the corner because we were walking a different way to somewhere......

Oh!  That's a famous concert hall on the South Bank!!!

OH!!  There's Big Ben and the big wheel!!!

An that's a statue of Nelson Mandela.  He lived in South Africa

They had a fountain too!

OH!!!!!!!!  SAND PIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got to play in a whopping big sandpit next to the Thames!!  What fun!

And over here they're setting up a book market!!  How brilliant!!!

We stopped for a chat with these ladies.  They didn't have much to say though.

Makes a change....

Then we decided to leave a bookcrossing book on this bench.

That's a lovely view, that is.....

OH!

Oh wow!!

They made a bench out of a tree trunk!!

Then we found a lot of trees with a notice on it saying that 32 elm trees were going to get chopped down to make way for another bridge over the Thames that nobody actually wants.  There's an online petition going to get signatures to stop the plans here http://www.tcos.org.uk/ and we're going to sign it.  Dogs need Peeing Stations.

We left them a CD too.

Here we are at Blackfriars bridge.

And we found a mosaic!!

Here we are at the Tate Modern!!

We found a jazzed up rubbish bin!  I love it!

Coo..... those clouds are getting dark....

But we're going to see this, so it doesn't matter if it rains!!

We went in through the Turbine Hall.

And we got a ticket for straight away!!!!!  We had to go to the third floor.....

Hurry up!!!!  LET'S GO!!!!!!!!

That was really interesting!!  There were 12 rooms full of paintings (quite busy, so we saw them "out of order") and some of them were abstracted nature pictures which were a bit odd but lots of them were rather lovely oil landscapes of the New Mexico desert (where O'Keeffe lived).  There were some lovely flower paintings - the poppies were our favourite! - and some interesting skull pictures.  I'm glad we came here!

We WERE going to eat at the Cafe, but they've changed it - they don't cook food there any more so you have to line up and choose your sandwiches.

So since we wanted real cooked food, we decided to go eat elsewhere..... We met this dragon on Blackfriars Bridge!

Still have grey clouds there.....!

And that's the Blackfriars pub!!

We found a manhole cover too!

Now - do you know where these stairs go to???

I do!

TA-DAAA!!

St Paul's Cathedral!!

We decided to eat here because they do pretty decent food!

We started off with a cold drink because we were thirsty.

And while they weren't looking, we left them a weathergram!!

And then we had a minute steak and Frites!!!!

YUMMMMMMMM!

And for pudding, we had three salted caramel truffles!!  They were Yumtastic!!

Then we got on another bus somewhere else....

Oh!  It's Trafalgar Square!!

We got off here just before Piccadilly Circus.....

And went down here, Piccadilly!

OH!  It's Fortnum & Mason's!!!  How excellent!

We got our shopping and then decided to head off.  That's the Royal Academy entrance...!

Right, here's our bus stop!

And we're off!!!

We left them a CD too!

And we got off here, Victoria Station!

We used the facilities again and left them another CD

And then went off round the corner....

Here we are!!  Just got to find the right bus now!

And we're on!!!  We got a window seat too!

Bye London!!!  Thanks for the lovely day!!!

We finished off the Jaffa Caykes too, as a littol Snak (as Bob would say...!)

Nom....!

Still working our way through London....

There's the plane!  We're going past Gatwick!!

Approaching the South Downs.  It started peeing it with rain here but we were sat in a nice dry coach so we didn't care.

And here we are in Brighton!

And dropped off at home!!!  Spiffy!!!

We got the expedition catalogue at the Tate Modern.  That'll be an interesting read.

And we got postcards too.  That poppies one I'm holding is my favourite.

And we got these Bis Kwits from Fortnums.

We had one of each with our hot chocolate after dinner.

They're spectacular!!!!!