Squirrels and So Forth

I thought I could cunningly edit Bob's Post to add some pictures, but the permissions are a bit wonky and she is sleeping. So imagine these are littered through the post...

I'm starting to lose track of what we did each day, other than walk a lot. I keep telling myself the exercise is good for me, and the photos I'm not publishing show I'm right. We've sorted out the Tube though, and that's handy for nipping around. Dear Brisbane - come here and learn how trains should work. Including daily tickets that allow you on and off and on and off and on and off...

Quick synopsis, followed by more pictures:

Second day, spent 4+ hours at Westminster Abbey

Third day, spent 4+ hours at the Victoria and Albert Museum, tooling around those parts devoted to medieval and renaissance artefacts

Yesterday made our way to Trafalgar Square, intending to go to a da Vinci exhibit at the National Gallery. We found a queue, and joined it, but a helpful assistant soon came along and told us it was a queue to buy tickets so we could return at 8:30 that night to get in... and it would be about a 3 hour wait to buy tickets. Bob was very disappointed, as you may imagine. Instead we trotted around the corner to the National Portrait Gallery and looked at a lot of pictures of Tudors and Stuarts - a progression of bad haircuts, and a timeline showing the rise and fall of elaborate collars and cuffs. Highlights for me of course was Richard III and Wm. Shkspre, but there was also an amazing painting of 8 dignitaries - 4 Spanish, 4 English, at a peace conference, seated across the table of a minutely detailed room.

We broke for lunch, and then trotted off to The Tower, which is fantastically well presented, and entirely jaw dropping, Armour! Swords! Trebuchets! Jewels! Fat, contented Ravens! And for the record, Henry VIII had hands like SHOVELS, based on his harness. He was a seriously big guy.

Anyway. Pictures.