London, Covent Garden

If you recall, I had met a friend who lives in the UK while on my COSMOS Tour back in April.  He took a train down to London to meet us and spend the afternoon with us. We were supposed to meet him at 10:30 at the National Portrait Gallery in Covent Garden.  As is typical for us, we left early enough to get there thirty minutes early. However…🙄, the inconsistency with the London rail system reared its ugly head again 😂. We walked to our normal train station which is closest, East Putney (15 minutes), but there was a sign posted saying it was closed today and tomorrow for ‘maintenance’. The sign instructed us to proceed to Putney Bridge Station, about 15 minutes away from there, so off we went. Arriving there, somewhat out of breath, as now we were 15 minutes into our ‘grace period’, only to find this…

A sad thing to be sure, but now what to do…🤔

“Let’s go have some breakfast,” I suggested. “Then we can ask our nice people how to get to Covent Garden.” ‘Nice people’ being the same who helped us on our second day in London, when we wanted to ride the double decker bus into the city 🤓. 

And breakfast 😊

So, after bidding our new favorite friends farewell, we walked around the corner to our bus stop. Lo and behold! There was a bus there designated as ‘Rail Replacement’!  We hopped on at no charge, and proceeded directly up to the double deck😂😂👏👏. And LO and BEHOLD, we had the entire top floor all to ourselves!😱😆😂😂 This DAY is LOOKING UP! 

It took a mere 25 minutes to get us to Hammersmith Station, where we boarded the Picadilly Line, which took us to Leicester Square, and Alan. All that, and we still arrived just 45 minutes late 😂😂. Needless to say, we have scheduled an Uber to the airport tomorrow, as public transportation is too unpredictable and unreliable. 😣

Alan and I in the ‘Crypt’ 😆

Alan is such a chill guy. I remember how much I enjoyed wandering around with him in Prague, Budapest and Vienna. 😊
He took us to ‘The Crypt’…a cafe underneath an old church. It was such a surprise, and I’m sure not many tourists know about it!😂

The church above the ‘Crypt’. The stained glass windows were all blown out during WWII, and then replaced with these. Not as traditional, but lovely and unique in their own way.

And would you just look at those pipes?!😱

A tapestry of the church pre-WWII.

Still beautiful 💕.

This, just beyond the doors. 

Scenes in the neighborhood 😊.

Covent Garden 😊

This is the fourth or fifth ‘St. Paul’s Church’ in London 😂😂.

How beautiful is this? 🥹

This is a depiction of Saul (Paul) when he was struck blind. Loved this 💕.

…if I could have reached his head, I would have given him a cleaning! 🤓 

Glimpses of life in London!

Takes a lot to maintain a city nearly 2000 years old! 😂😂

Street performers…there were several out and about, and all drawing a crowd! 

This man was an opera performer. We were near the Royal Opera House, and he was just standing here singing. A hauntingly beautiful voice 😱.

And more scenes from Covent Garden 💕

The rooms in this hotel start at around $2000 per night. 😬

We decided to take the Uber Water Taxi home early, as our train lines were down, and there were THOUSANDS in downtown London for ‘Pro-Palestine’ demonstrations.  We were never so grateful to see our boat arrive as we were today! 

There was a heavy police presence preparing for the crowds…

The bridge to the east filled with marchers…

And the bridge to the west. I was shocked at how many there were!😱  

What a perfectly wonderful last-day-in-London 💕! In spite of the stressful bits, it has been relaxing, exhausting, memorable, and so very much fun.  While it is always hard to leave, it is so good to be going home.  I will be doing some more vignettes, but I have to finish my book before tomorrow’s 8:00 am Uber pick-up, so I’ll say goodnight for now 🤗. 

The ‘Hood

I took some photos of what we see on our way to East Putney Station each morning…it’s our ‘hood!😆

All homes in the London area (and most of where we’ve been thus far) are brick. And each one so lovely!

Our rail station 💕.

A pre-school just around the corner from our apartment.

Cutest little classic Fiat ever!

We had our last dinner here this evening. Just wanted to stay close to home. 😌 More on that later.

POST BOX! 😂😂😂

🎵Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry 🎶🎼

Our hometel for the past seven, glorious days!💕

A cute little playground nestled between our apartment complexes!