Gadding about town!

Today we got up rather early, which is odd for a Sunday.  

But Andrea said we're going somewhere!!!  Oh how fun!

We spotted some pretty flowers growing on a wall near the bus stop.  Wonder how they do that.....

When we got on the bus, we left a floppy disc for someone!

OH!!  Train station!!  Now I'm excited!

Our train was already waiting for us, so we got on and found a window seat!

We even got our own table to sit on!

We gave the train a CD!  Hope someone takes it

AND WE'RE OFF!!!

Andrea remembered to make a video of this bit!

And then we made a video going over the Thames!  We're in London!!!

We got off at Victoria Station and used the facilities and washed our paws for half an hour afterwards.

They got a floppy disc!

Then it was off to get a bus!!!  But we're not going to our usual bus stop!!!  We went to the main road on the left of the station and then up to the other side of the park....

And ended up at this bus stop here!

And we got a number 52 bus!!!

And we're off!!!  This was a busy bus so we didn't have a railing to tie anything onto.

But we got off here at the Royal Albert Hall!!!

Then we walked past this fancy building to another bus stop.....

And got the number 70 bus!!!

We got off on the other side of Kensington Gardens and left a book outside the Russian Consulate!!!  There were lots of CCTV cameras on their wall, so they probably recorded us leaving a suspicious package for them!!!

Then we walked along a bit to a bus stop on the other side of the road and got the number 70 bus going the other way.  They got a CD!

We got off on the other side of the road to the Royal Albert Hall, but the bus drove off before we could get a decent picture of the number!!  That's the bus there driving away!!!

WAIT!!!

WE WANT A PICTURE FOR THE BUS BINGO!!!

Anyway - we went back to the bus stop near the Royal Albert Hall and we got a number 23 bus!

They got a floppy disc with a sparkly blue earring on it!

We spotted a pretty shop entrance on the way....

And we got off the bus here!  It was the stop after High Street Kensington underground station but we were having so much fun we forgot to take a photo!!!

We wandered along the road a bit towards Holland Park and guess what we found!!!

First we did a bit of shopping in here (we'll show you later!)

And then went for a walk in Holland Park!

We walked up to here - this is a Jacobean Mansion House built in the 1600s and it's now a youth hostel!!!  It used to be a green triangle YHA hostel which is when we stayed, but it's now a Staysafe Hostel.  Apparently (according to the website) they have triple decker bunk beds in the rooms!!!  It was bad enough with the double decker bunk beds - 20+ people to a room, you didn't always get to sleep!

We found a fungus growing on a tree trunk - it's bigger than me!!!

That's the main entrance to the hostel reception - but they're closed, presumably because of the pandemic.  Some of them are only open to NHS people or the vulnerable (like the homeless) and very few are actually open to paying tourists.

Then we walked back through the park - chatting to some of the dog walkers as we went! - until we got back to the main road.

Posh gate isn't it?!

And then we went for lunch!!!!!!  (This used to be a Byron Burgers when I stayed at the youth hostel in Holland Park.  Now it's Gordon Ramsays)

We got a fizzy drink....

And then we got an OGR burger with seasoned fries.  The OGR burger is a beefburger with smoked cheese, pickles and house relish, tomato & lettuce in a bun.  You know what?  Byrons did it better.  So did Burger & Shake.  We prefer Gordon's bhaji burger to the OGR burger.  

Of course, it's just as messy!!!!!  I mean, we ate it all up and were happy with it...... but not as good as the bhaji burger.  Still good for when you're starving hungry though!

After lunch we went along to the bus stop again...

And got a number 9 bus!!!

We gave them a CD as well!

We went past a big monument in Kensington Park opposite the Royal Albert Hall

And got off the bus here at Hyde Park Corner!

What bus are we getting now?

A number 19!!!!!  Hurrah!!!

They got a CD!

We got off at Piccadilly and had a quick look in the Royal Academy of Arts Courtyard.  They got their summer expedition on at the moment.

Then we crossed the road - WAIT A MINUTE!!  What happened to the zebra crossing road markings?  Zebras aren't those colours!!!!!  What's going on?!

We saw a giant conker in the window (horse chestnuts)  They look a bit like the Covid19 bug.

There's figs in that window!

Yep!  We're going in!!!

They changed their hanging whatsit down the spiral staircase!!

After we did our shopping (we'll show you later!) we spotted this fella serving tea!

Then we walked down the road to the chocolate shop and bought some chocolates!  (we'll show you later!)

We left a floppy disc on a railing too!

Then we crossed the road again - another wacky zebra crossing!!!

Right.  What bus now, Jeeves?

A number six!!!  Hurrah!!

Then we went round Piccadilly Circus into Haymarket!

Here's Trafalgar Square!  There's a few more people around this time, compared to last May..... but it's still not that busy.

And the fountains are working too!

We got off the bus at Aldwych and walked up to Covent Garden!  We left a CD on this bike basket!

Oh look at that!!

Walk through this door and you can get poo'd on by a peacock!!

Brilliant!!!

Oh wow!  There's loads of neon lights at Covent Garden!

Including flamingoes!

Then it was time to head off...... so back to the Savoy Hotel!

We found a piggy too!!

Right ho then.  This is our bus stop.  What bus are we getting now?

While we were waiting, we spotted some fancy lamps on the building over the road

AHA!!!  We're getting the number 11!  Last bus of the day!

They got a floppy disc!

Right ho then...... we're off!

When we got to Westminster Bridge road, there were gazilllions of pushbike riders riding through to cross the bridge!  GAZILLIONS!

That's the houses of Parliament there.  

And there's Westminster Abbey!!

That's had a clean-up!

We got off the bus here.....

And then walked over to the little park and left a floppy disc here

And a CD here!

And then it was nearly time to catch a train home!

First we used the facilities again and left them a CD.  Of course, we all washed our paws carefully for half an hour afterwards.

And then we all got on the train as soon as it arrived at the platform!

Just as well though, it got mega packed busy too, with lots of people going to Gatwick.

Some of them had to stand!! (we didn't!)

And we're off!  There's Battersea Power Station in the distance!!

And we're going over the Thames now!

And back across the fields as well!  Can you see the shadow of the train at the bottom?

You can see the South Downs in the distance!

And here we are at Brighton Station!

Now we just have to get one last bus back home....

And there's a bus due any second!!  HURRAH!

This bus got a floppy disc!!

Then we got off at the top of our road and walked the rest of the way!

We left a final CD on this railing!

Now for the shopping!!!  We got some small bits of lino for cutting, a pot of masking fluid with a nozzle on it (we use that in watercolour painting) and a small pad of cartridge paper.  We're going to send that to Sandy Bear so he can practice his paw writing with his spiffy new fountain pen - but don't tell him because it's a surprise.

We also got a Big Issue magazine from a homeless chap which will help him buy some food.

We also got a good book from a charity shop on High Street Kensington.  We read loads of it on the train home, it's really exciting!!

A tub of our favourite coffee!!!

Chocolate covered chestnuts!  YUMMMM!!

And finally a bubble bar for Andrea because she's weird like that.

What a fun day out!!!

And how's your bus bingo card coming along???!