It was sunny this morning; the first sunny morning in almost two weeks. I did my usual exercise regime of working out then going for a run. I wanted to run as long as I could, but could only manage twenty minutes again. I really shouldn't have eaten those Maltesers last night! I think the cleaning staff resent me staying in my room frequently until noon while I exercise - they keep knocking hopefully on the door; then, when I don't answer, they go off and slam doors further down the coridoor :)

After a bite to eat and a coffee at Starbucks on the Kingsway, I took the tube out to Southfields, intending to go to the All England Championships (otherwise known as Wimbledon). It was warm and humid when I got off the Underground for the "fifteen minute" walk to the grounds. I wasn't sure what kind of wait I was in for, but I began to worry when I ran into the end of the waiting line after only five minutes instead of fifteen. When a steward told me I'd probably be in the line for three hours, I decided to retire gracefully and try again tomorrow morning.

I'd hoped to go to Greenwich tomorrow, so I thought I'd take the tube today all the way back across London to do that this afternoon. But by the time I reached Tower Hill, where I would catch the Docklands Light Railway to the evocatively named "Cutty Sark - Greenwhich Maritime" station, it was already three o'clock, and it no longer made sense to go to Greenwhich today, since the National Maritime Museum closes at five. So I made a virtue of necessity, and decided to tourize right there at Tower Hill, which is, after all, probably the top tourist spot in London.

At the Tower of London. I didn't actually go inside since the lines were too long.

I started to walk across Tower Bridge. I hadn't remembered how beautiful it is - perfect design, more like a big jewel of a toy than anything else. Yet the weather was pretty awful for photography ("neither nowt nor summat" as Mam would say) - one of those humid, sweaty days that seems to mist up your eyeballs, and blend light and shade into nothing worth looking at. On the bridge there were tons of disconsolate- looking American tourists - I'm sure they'd be happier had they stayed home :)

I was just about to cross the bridge, when its central span was drawn up to let a ship through. See how the road in the center of the archway is vertical?

This is one of those sites that still retains the magic with which I viewed it as a child long before I ever came to London. Growing up in quiet, slightly backwards, working-class South Shields, London seemed like a distant cloud city I'd never visit. I'll never forget the breathless excitement of my first ever trip there with my Dad and my brother Neil. All the sites were filled with mystery and power. And Tower Bridge; since it's a bit out of the way, I've only rarely visited it since, so I still view it with a bit of that child-like excitement. I'm so glad that that American made a mistake with his bridges! (He bought drab London Bridge and had it carted over to the States thinking he was buying the cute bridge with the tower).

Later, another ship, the Balmoral, passes through, tooting its horn loudly. Note, if the picture appears slightly lop-sided, it's because the tide was flowing from right to left :)

Near the bridge, in an area of the river known as the Pool of London, lies the HMS Belfast, the last surviving large European warship of the Second World War. It's something of a revered British institution, but I never realized that it had remained in commission until 1971. That means that when I visited London for the first time, the Belfast must have been a new tourist site. Now, twenty years later, it's an institution - makes me feel old!

HMS Belfast. And me in the chair on the Admiral's Bridge.

This was my first time on board the Belfast, however, so it was new to me. I've been on quite a few warships that have been converted for tourism, and this was about the best I've seen, since so many of the original rooms are on display, and many have wax dummies pretending, for example, to peel potatoes (as in the galley). You get to see a laundry, bakery, chapel, a room with a record player for broadcasting music through the ship, the butcher's room, a potatoe store room (complete with a stuffed cat attacking a stuffed rat), the mail-office, the sickbay, the machine shop ... well, you get the idea. It was a bit claustrophobic at times, particularly in the boiler room, but it was fascinating to see such a well-preserved remnant of British sea power. On the bridge, they play atmospheric recordings (perhaps from an old war movie, I'm not sure) of bridge commands and radio chatter during a naval battle with the Scharnhost.

Left, in the boiler room, and right, the main turrets.

On the left, a cute muscly boy rotates one of the anti-aircraft guns (one of the best things about the ship is that they don't have many "do not touch" signs), on the right, me on deck.

Aftewards, I explored a while along both banks of the Thames around Tower Bridge. On the South Bank, you can walk along one of the newer embankments, Queen's Walk, which includes Haye's Galleria, formerly Haye's Wharf. Here, they long-since filled in the dock where the clipper ships used to moor in the 1850s, and they've renovated the original buildings to convert them to stores, restaurants and apartments. I stopped here to use the loo (in defense of British plumbing, toilet facilities in London are universally excellent and easy to find - a hint to American cities!), and to get a bagel and coffee. This trip is fast becoming a carbo fest since I'm hungry ALL the time and all I can find are sandwiches, chocolate and puddings. I'm not too happy about it really - I can already see its effects on my waistline!

Another carbo fest; in Haye's Galleria

London has more cute little walks, and places to hang out with cafes, restaurants and views than any other city I know. I now crossed back over the bridge and explored the St Katherine's Docks area, another great renovation combining a big dock for yachts with restaurants and town-homes.

In St Katherine's Docks

Well, I didn't really do what I wanted to do today, but it was a nice day anyway. Now just one more day left in London until late July, when I come back for a few final days. The next big phase of my trip starts on Thursday, when I venture off into the hinterlands of Britain!