Wow, what a day we have. Another glorious morning awaits us as we head out around 10.00am, a Sunday. The sun is shining and the streets are getting busy.

We catch the underground down to Elizabeth Tower, many call it Big Ben, but the tower isn’t Big Ben, the bells are. It was called Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to celebrate the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth the second. It’s a magnificent structure sitting at the end of Westminster, the houses of parliament and is a glorious example of gothic revival architecture. Very ornate, with multipole spires and adornments along its façade.

We stand and watch and listen to the bells chime 11.00am, a deafening sound in the local area that can be heard for miles. In between each hour’s bell ring the din of the crowd re-emerges into my ears and then is drowned out a second later ten more times. It an interesting aural experience and I enjoy standing there listening and feeling he bells ring.

We then walk around and admire the statues, we pass some historic icons, Winston Churchill, Millicent Garret-Fawcett, Ghandi, Nelson Mandela as we walk past the Supreme Court and up to Westminster Abbey.

On our way back w admire Boadicea and her daughters. A statue of her in her chariot being hauled along by two horses, her daughters in the chariot with her. Boadicea was queen of the Celtics and led an uprising against Roman Britain in AD60.

We then cross Westminster bridge. It is literally heaving with the number of people on it. We shoot some Insta360 footage, and a man comes up to us with his Insta360. It is the first one we’ve seen in the field and we chat for a bit about the cool features of the camera.

We continue walking, weaving our way through the throng of people. It feels like a party atmosphere. There are performers and hawkers along the bridge, families, tourist groups, groups of teens and couples just like us.  All enjoying a glorious Spring day out. We look up and down the Thames, we can see the London Eye in the distance to our left and the river is a bustling wash of commuter and private vessels of all shapes and sizes. We see a luxury cruise long boat, some yachts, skiffs, motor boats and barges, all navigating their way up and down this river that brought life to this part of the world thousands of years ago.

At the end of the bridge we turn left and walk along the south bank. Ultimately, we are aiming for Tower Bridge, about a 5km walk. We aren’t in any hurry so slowly wend our way along the river bank. We stop for lunch at a little French restaurant, La Gamba and enjoy a series of small plates comprising seafood, meat, potato, bread and pate.

We continue our walk. We see St Paul’s Cathedral on the other side of the river, before we reach Shakespeare’s Globe theatre – recreated just as it was in his time. We also see the Golden Hinde, France Drake’s boar from 1580. This is of course a replica, but both the original and the replica circumnavigated the world – not too bad for something only 30 metres long. Read more here if you’re keen.

We pass buildings, old and new, construction abounds as the area is redeveloped yet again, it feels as if this part of London is in a constant state of rebuilding.

We pass under London Bridge. Blackfriars Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges as we walk. All built at varying times, some replaced,  but all important arterial links between the south side and the north side of the river as it snakes its way through central London.

We stand and admire a Gillie and Marc installation. Ironically, it is identical to the one we saw in New York last year. A line of animals, mainly African, riding a bicycle. it is pretty cool. There is a video below. The animals include: A rhino, giraffe, zebra, lion, monkey, dog, rabbit, vacant seat, gorilla, hippo, elephant. The vacant seat allows people to sit and be party of the zoo!

We finally arrive at Tower Bridge. The 5km walk has taken us a couple of hours and we’ve seen a lot. The weather has turned a little. While still pretty warm in the high teens, grey and dark menacing clouds have rolled in, giving Tower Bridge a sinister and foreboding look and feel.

We cross Tower Bridge, well we shuffle with the thousands trying to do the same.  As we cross the experience is much like it was 5kms away: people walking this way and that, strollers, tour guides with their umbrellas or flags raised high so as to not to lose their excited followers. We cross the bridge, the foot traffic is thick as the water traffic below us which is churning the murky water into a grey white wash.

As we finally get across Tower Bridge we stop and stand and rest for a bit.  We take in the Tower of London ahead of us, people look like ants as they crawl in and around the medieval structures. It’s getting late and the cloud cover is getting heavier, so we decide to call it a day, in total we’ve covered around 10kms today. We catch the Tube from Tower Hill Station back to Bond Street and walk wearily home.

The last couple of nights we’ve heard from our balcony the pub down the road get quite noisy as the crowd gathered and spilled out onto the road. Every hour or so we hear the sound of bottles being tossed into a large bin out the back of the pub. Tonight we decide to investigate a little closer, and of course enjoy a typical English Sunday roast.

We wander the 50 metres or so to The Coach Makers Arms Hotel and walk upstairs to the restaurant, passing through the already crowded and noisty bar. There is something so very British about an English pub, especially on a Sunday night. The warm beer is flowing and the gathered crowd talk excitedly about the days sporting ups and downs as we ascend the stairs.

The dining room is filling up as we sit down and examine the menu. Roasts all round, with all the trimmings. Mardi ops for pork and I choose the beef. Mardi enjoys a cocktail, while I sample some nice single malt whiskey from up Islay region, a 15 year old Ardbeg.

Our meals arrive, and wow. The plate is piled high: perfectly cooked meat and enough vegetables to keep your moth happy! Plus a Yorkshire pudding. We enjoy our meal: the vegetables are a little oven done and lack a bit of crisp, especially the potato. The meat is delicious as is the Yorkshire pudding. Feeling completely full and satisfied, we head back home for a well-earned rest.