Bit like Buses

Weekend breaks are a bit like buses...... go months with out one, then two come along....... Last weekend was the trip up to Yorkshire, and this weekend we took a trip to London.  The main reason for the visit was to visit my family and to get to see some of the newer London sites.  On Sunday we planned to visit the Olympic Park, and what a beautiful day we chose.  The sun was shining and, as we are early birds, we had the place to ourselves when we first arrived, so we thought we would take the opportunity to have a trip up the ArcelorMittal Orbit.  The trip up is via the lift, and you can choose your decent......either the lift or the stairs.  There were two viewing platforms, and I have to say the views were stunning, we all thought the Orbit views were probably even better than the London Eye.  We spent time searching out the old landmarks and 'oohing and aahing' over the new ones.

What a picture!!!!

There were T.V>screens that told you each of the larger landmarks

Mr. D and I decided to walk down, and every 12 stairs there are different sounds with explanations...... one was the sound of Petticoat Lane, another children playing in the park, men working on a building site, Lee Valley nature reserve etc which made the walk down the 450 steps much more interesting

Mr D listening to the sounds of Construction

We spent a number of hours walking around the park, and were very impressed with the walkways, cycle paths, and gardens.  I know there is still a lot of work going on around the Stratford area, and all I have seen is a great improvement on the old Stratford.

Monday was a planned visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the mode of transport was the 'London Buses'....... have to say the journey took longer than we first thought, but what a treat to travel through the city and spot places where we worked in our younger days.  The city has change tremendously as well, and spotting roads was not so easy as we thought it would be, but we made it to the the 'V and A' and had a few hours wandering this beautiful building.  

Tuesday we again caught the bus and this time headed towards the Tower of London to see the Poppies........  I was amazed and so pleased we got to see them.  I take my hat off to the designer of the Poppy sculpture it is very thought provoking......there are 888,246 Poppies, that's one flower for each soldier from Britain or the British colonies who died in WW1.  

A sea of Red

'Swept Lands and Sea of Red'

We then walked across Tower Bridge to catch a bus to North Greenwich so we could have a trip across the Thames on the Emirates Cable car.  Its years since I have been back to this part of the world, and I didn't recognise one iota of it.....oh yes I did, there is still one Gasometer standing near the Blackwall Tunnel. Once again the views from the gondola of the city (and more) is great and I would highly recommend the trip if you are ever in the area.  

Gondola to ourselves

What a trip

So different to the docks I remember 

We had a great 'long' weekend, the weather was kind to us and the sites amazing.