A Big Expedition Across Town!!

We got up early today because we're doing a lot of gadding about this morning.  Looks slightly overcast at the minute.....

Me and Kidney came down for breakfast whilst the other two jumped around on the bed for a bit.

We got kwussants too.  They didn't have any panno shoko lah - we'll have to complain to management.  That's not good enough.

Then just before nine, we headed out to meet Sandy Bear at the bus stop!

BUS BINGO ALERT!!!  We got on the number 65!!

And we left a floppy disc on the handrail!

Then we crossed over Kew Bridge....

And down past some posh expensive houses.

And got off here at Richmond Station - the first Art Deco building of the day!

We're getting the Underground almost the whole length of the line this morning!!

It took us A WHOLE HOUR to get to where we're going.... and we got a bit bored waiting to get there!!!

We got off here!

And then when we came out, we had to find a bus stop!

Aha!!  There it is - not far at all!  That's handy!

BUS BINGO ALERT!!  We're getting the number 69!  We've never got his bus before!!

They got a CD!

And we're off!!

And we got off here, we only came four stops!!!

And then over the road was this place!  We're going to find some graves....

Let's go!!

There's a pretty little waterfall over there....

Oooo, this is a big place...

Oh here we are!!  Elizabeth Stride was one of the Ripper victims back in 1888..... only 45 years old?  That's not old at all....

They've got colourful fabric flowers on the gave which is nice and pretty

We left one of my floppy discs there too.

Then we had to go find some more graves and went past this celtic cross headstones.  They don't have many of those here...

Oh wow!

Oh there's a fancy one....

That one's a special memorial for a shipwreck I think.

Oh that's interesting...

That's one that Sandy Bear was looking for.  He was the first German spy shot for treason at the Tower of London in 1914

That's the main war memorial.

After we found everything, we headed back out the way we came.

Past their Christmas tree

Back to the bus stop

And then we got another 69, we're going all the way to the end of the line!

They got a CD too!

And we're off!!

And here we are at Canning Town!!

And we're getting the 115 bus back into town!

We went up to the top deck and left a floppy disc on the rail!

And we're off!!

OH!!  What a fun murial!!

We saw some intereting buildings on the way....

THERE'S THE LIMEHOUSE MISSION!!!

That's a famous art deco building!!!

Isn't it amazing??!?!

Here we are going past......

Oooo.... you can see the gherkin building in the distance there!

And then all of a sudden we went past another art deco building and almost missed it!!!

Like I said, there's interesting buildings along here!

OH!!  I know where we are now!!!  We're getting off at the next stop!

We're coming here for lunch!!!  We were both starving hungry by now....

Hummm, now then.....ummmmm....

We got a ginger beer.  Sandy's drinking water.  Go figure....

We got a plaice and chips with a chunk of lemon, tomato ketchup and tartare sauce - Sandy got cod and chips.

After we'd eaten, Andrea remembered to stamp everybody's passport.  Sandy wanted the Tower Bridge rubber stamp and Andrea stamped it upside down in his passport!!!!!

Silly moo!

We went upstairs to use the facilities and met another mouse!

And then we went back to the bus stop to get another bus

BUS BINGO ALERT!!  We got the number 15 bus!

They got a CD as well!

Then we got off at the Walkie Talkie building.... or is it the Cheesegrater?

Apparently there's something Very Interesting on that wall.....

A sculpture of two mice fighting over a piece of cheese!!!

There's the Shard!

Then we needed another bus but all the number 15s were packed solid of people!!

So..... we came down the road....

....and round the corner and got a bus from this bus stop instead!!!

BUS BINGO ALERT!!  We're getting the number 133!

They got a floppy disc!!

We spotted some Christmas trees on the way!

And got off here!!!  Do you know where we are?!?!

Paternoster Square, on the side of St Pauls Cathedral!!

OH WOW!!!

Lots of animals on a scooter!

Then we walked down the road a bit and turned right because Sandy wanted to see the Old Bailey - that's the dome with the gold statue on top.

Rather fancy eh?!

That's the main building

AND THEN we found a Snoopy statue!!!  We completely forgot there's a Snoopy sculpture trail on at the moment!!!  

Of course, me and Sandy needed photographs!!

We've made a separate post with all the pictures in so we can add to it later when we find all the statues.

AND THEN we met some cycling Santas!!!!

There's another Snoopy!!  Hurrah!!

AND ANOTHER ONE

Oh we're doing well today!!!

Then we came to the Daily Telegraph on Fleet street.....

It's a very fancy art deco building made of steel and glass.

Posh innit?!!

I think they're renovating it at the moment which is why there's hoarding round the ground floor.

I think I've heard somewhere that they're going to allow the general public into the ground floor when it's finished, which will be super exciting!

We'll have to come back again if that happens!!

And next door is another rather fancy building!!

THEN we went down a little back alley off of Fleet Street and found another Snoopy!!

And said hello to Hodge the cat!  We've met him before but Sandy hasn't.

We tied another CD to a railing nearby.

Then it started raining so we all dived into a cafe for panno shoko lah and also used the facilities.

Then we decided we were pooped out and ready to head back to Richmond.

We were trying to work out what that building is called - according to Google, it's referred to as "The Vase" or "The Boomerang"!!

We walked past some interesting wrought iron stairs...

And past the Blackfriars pub, which is art nouveau.

And then got the District line back to Richmond!!

The reindeer is all lit up!

And so are the other decorations!!

We waited at the bus stop for a few minutes....

And got on the R68 bus because Sandy has it as a corner number on his bus bingo card!!!

We only went one stop, but that's OK!!!  Still counts!!

We got off here and wandered down the road a bit...

...to have dinner here at Saffron!

It's a Persian restaurant.

We perused the menu carefully.....

And we got a fizzy drink.....

And a chicken Joojeh with saffrom rice!  It was YUM!!

And then afterwrds, we walked back to the bus stop

...which was here....

...and got the last bus of the day, another 65!

They got a CD as well!

We went past more christmas lights...

....past Kew Gardens...

....over Kew Bridge...

And we got off here for our hotel while Sandy went back to his AirB&B

And we headed back to our room....

That's our passports.... we all got bus stickers!

We're completely exhaustipated...... what an epic day!!