A Lover's Walk

Well, we had another sunny (although quite chilly) day here in London, and I did some more sightseeing to make the most of it. I got up at the crack of noon to wander about the city on my own a bit, and just went across the London Bridge and tried, but failed, to find The Monument (whatever that is). I wandered around a bit on some random side-streets and along the Thames, and got this nice picture of a couple of bridges - if I'm not mistaken, the one in the forefront is in fact the London Bridge:

And a few shots of a little courtyard someplace with a fountain - I certainly hope I can find it again, as it seems a lovely place to stop and read or write a bit when it is no longer January:

I also came across a statue of a man on a cell phone, the purpose of which was unclear, but which I found curious enough to photograph:

I settled for locating the Tower of London during daylight hours so I could take some photos. Of course the place was swarming with tourists, but I got a few decent pictures:

And yes, that last bit is, in fact, a skating rink on the grounds of the Tower of London. Curiouser and curiouser.

And just before the Tower was this lovely establishment that I also thought I ought to document:

And then I found a nice little spot called Tower Place, which was quiet and almost entirely unpopulated, where I took a few more pictures:

Then I walked back across the bridge to London Bridge Station to meet up with a group to see "Lover's Walk," a "promenade" show that walks the audience through the South Bank. While I was waiting I saw this:

I know, I found it funny too.

Anyway, "Lover's Walk" was both a teeny bit cheesy and quite believable performance that, to be honest, left me feeling a bit melancholy. I didn't take many photographs, as it made me feel sort of awkward, what with being in a rather small group led about by two people, but I took this one in which both actors appear:

In the background you can see the Gherkin (or at least that's what I'm told it's called) - reputedly the ugliest building in London. You can tell which one it is because it looks like a gherkin. No, seriously.

And I snapped this one as well, because the view was just lovely:

And here's some important ship that is reputedly an eyesore but in fact looks quite nice at night when they light it up with multicolored lights and it looks rather like a float in a gay pride parade:

Obviously, I took those in the daytime.

Now I haven't a clue what I'm doing this evening, and tomorrow I have a departmental welcome from the philosophy department at King's College, and then I think I need to buy some dishware at Tesco (no, that wasn't included either... how was I expected to pack all this stuff?), so I don't know when more pictures will be coming, but our classes don't begin until the 17th and I still haven't seen Buckingham Palace...

On that note, cheerio!