Today, we were due to have builders in upstairs doing loads of drilling. Since Andrea's ears can't be dealing with the noise, we got the day off and went and did something else.
We got up to the train station......
And we're getting a train somewhere!!!
We tied a floppy disc onto the hand grip......
We arrived at Gatwick but we're not getting off here.....
We're going somewhere else.....
Ooo is that Battersea Power Station over there??!
We think it is!!!
We're crossing the Thames!!!
That's the back of the National Audit Building.... Victoria Coach Station is on the other side of the road from that!
We've arrived at Victoria Train Station!!!
We used the facilities and washed our paws forever.
And then went to find a bus!!!
Then we walked round the corner to the bus stop.....
BUS BINGO ALERT!! We got the number 11 bus!!
They got a floppy disc!!
Ooo there's a pretty park down there!
Oh, that's an odd looking building!
This one had lovely green tiling on it in between the shops.....
....and stained glass windows too. It was very pretty!
There's a lot of open public spaces here...
And a Very Green Building!!!
And we got off here at the very last stop, Fulham Town Hall.
Which is that building there on the other side of the road!!
We left a CD hanging on a railing....
And then crossed the road to get the bus back. We spotted a Tapas restaurant down a street that says it's the most copied Tapas in the world!!!!
And here's our stop.
And here's our bus back the other way!!!
We gave them a floppy disc!!
And we're off.
This is the Kings Road apparently. Andrea says it's a famous Road. It's certainly got lots of cool stuff down it!
These people had Union Jack flags hanging on their balconies!
OOOOOooooo! There's a new Diba restaurant opening up!!! We've eaten at the Richmond one, they do yummy food!!
It's just before this stop, Beaufort Street
Ooo that's pretty!
OH!! That's a Pizza Express in there!!!
We went past another park....
Past Victoria Coach Station....
To Grosvenor Gardens.
And then got off here because it's lunchtime!
That's Westminster Cathedral over there.
Ooo there's a Bills restaurant here!
Let's go in!!! Bills was absolutely packed solid and we had the choice of an upstairs table (accessed by going up a glass sided staircase with gaps between the stairs - nope. Vertiginous!) or a seat at the bar where we needed mountaineering gear to get onto the seat. We both gave up on that one and left.
Ooo there's a Browns restaurant here.....
Let's try this one!!!
This place was a lot better for Andrea's ears because it was a lot quieter!!! Plus the waitress made a big fuss of me when she saw me..... !!!! So first we got a ginger beer...
And then we got a chicken schnitzel with a fried egg on top and fries. This was NOMMY!!! Oh I'm glad we came in here!!!
On the way back to the bus stop, we found another giant marble like the one at St Pancras station!
I wonder if this is actually an art trail like the Snowdogs?
We left a bookcrossin book on a bench nearby and left a London bus guide with it!
The other side of the giant marble has a cat on it!!
Right ho then, time for the second half of the number 11 route!
And we didn't have to wait long either!!
They got a floppy disc!
Oo, it's starting to look a bit familiar down there....
We're going down Whitehall now, blowing raspberries at the Prime Minister
And here's the posher bit!!
That's Admiralty Arch - go through that and keep walking, you'll end up at Buckingham Palace where the Queen used to live. King Charles is moving in now, though.
And then we went past Trafalgar Square!!! This is a good bus, this is!!
Looks like they're installing a new statue on the fourth plinth..... wonder what it'll be.
Used to be the icecream cone.....
Oh that's pretty!
Oh, here's the Royal Courts of Justice!! One of the most famous gothic buildings in London!
And a pretty Church entrance...
Then there's St Paul's Cathedral.....
There's another giant marble over there - can you see it?!! By the orange umbrellas....
Poo cafe??!! Wonder if Bob goes there?!!
Spotted a statue of a kiddie with a goose up there!!
We think this is the Treasury building - they had one of the Proclamation ceremonies here when King Charles got announced as King. Lots of marching, trumpet playing and shouting. That's how they used to announce new Kings 1,000 years ago before we had mobile phones and televisions.
And then we got off here at the last stop!!!
We left another bookcrossing book on the steps outside Liverpool Street Station - we put a London Bus Guide in with that book as well!!
And then walked past the station entrance to get to the pedestrian crossing so we can cross over the road.
This is the bus stop we need to get back to Victoria Station!
And then the last bus of the day arrived!!!
While we were waiting for the bus, we spotted Catherine Wheel Alley.....
.....which looks decidedly creepy......!!
We gave them a floppy disc!!
Those are pretty window grates.....
Coming back past the Treasury building, we spotted another giant marble!
I'm sure this is an art trail!!
On wow...... pretty flowers!
That's a special outfitters for English Barristers - those legal chaps that were those white wigs in Court!
That's the all of the Indian High Commission in Aldwych!
.....another posh building!
There's another protest on Whitehall opposite Downing Street.
Then we went round Parliament Square - watch Westminster Abbey carefully, they've got a giant marble as well!!!
We're going up towards Victoria Station now. A homeless kiddie had got on the bus going towards the Station too but didn't know where it was. We told her to follow us.
We got off at the next stop and walked her over to the Station just behind us. She was looking for somewhere called The Passage (we discovered later this is a homeless hostel) but we didn't know where it was. But we knew there were free toilets in the station she could use in the meantime and we gave her the bit of change we had and a pair of knitted gloves because it was cold today. Hope somebody in the station knew where to send her..... she was only a kiddie. We had to rush off for our train though.
Hope she's OK.....
We made it onto our train and gave them our last floppy disc of the day.
We got a window seat too!
There's Battersea Power Station over there.
We crossing the Thames again!!!
We got to Gatwick Airport easy peasy.....
and even saw a plane come into land!!!!
.....nearly home.....
There's the South Downs in the distance there....
And here we are back home!!!
Well sort of.... we still have a bus to get! Didn't have to wait long though!
And that's the FINAL final floppy disc we left!
Then we got off here and just had to walk down the road!
What a fab day out!
