London Bridge is Falling Down!

London Bridge is falling down, well London Bridge Train Station that is and it has already fallen down and been rebuilt!  It didn't fall down on it's own though, it seems to have gone through some vigorous remodelling since I was last here.  This is the station that I used to pass through twice a day for 3 years and could do it with my eyes closed (not that I would, I mean, I'm not stupid) and yet this time I needed assistance getting my bearings.

This is the new "Chard" building they've built pretty much on top of the station.  They boast the best view of London from the top at only £25 a go.  There are offices and restaurants up there as well.  It certainly makes a good meeting spot, you can see it for miles.

Well London Bridge wasn't the only thing that had changed.  Borough Market which is across the road from London Bridge station and situated under the train bridge used to be open only on Saturday's, I'm pretty sure.... so it was always a bit of a treat to go there and have a look around, take in the gourmet of it all and finish with a pulled pork roll.

But now its open Monday through to Saturday for lunch and Th, Fri, Sat for the full market.  The stalls are set up and taken down each day.  I walked through the space later on in the day and it was like they were never there.

This fabulous undercover space is new as well and is a lovely place to sit and eat the market's delicacies.

There's cakes and slices and bread and cured meats and cheeses......

Theres's Asian food, Indian food, Pie food, German sausage food........

I thought it best to sample a few different things, so I went for the chicken gyoza which were melt in your mouth delicious.  Then, as that was clearly not going to be enough to fill up me I went for a "Big Cheese" pie from The Pie Minister - I know, clever and funny!  The Big Cheese is basically cheese and potato in a pie - Heaven.  Then to top it off and to stop me being ill, I chose a fresh iced tea with lemon and mint.

A lovely lunch all round.

Well in need of a walk your lunch off walk I headed down the Thames to walk along the bank walkway.  Apparently there had been a memo for every man, woman and child to bring their dog down for wander in that exact spot cause she was chockers!

London had displayed a rare sunny day for us and like little flowers, the people were drawn out into the sunshine.  The sky was blue, not a cloud up there and the heat was not unbearable - win. win. win!

There was plenty to do, see and listen to on the way.  

Lots of buskers.

Lots of lovely people to stare at.

There was even a group of people searching for 'something' on the bank of the Thames.  They arrived in the kayaks and starting looking and picking things up.  I was never quite sure what they were after, but it gave us something else to look at..........

............  so we didn't have to focus on the dirty water!

A little bit down the track is the Tate Modern.  Last time I was here I went to see an art installation that consisted of white boxes, 100s of them arranged just so...... when I told my friend, Marie Duplex about it, she said she had also seen something similar, but wasn't impressed.  Her exact words were......

"I can go around the back of Righters and see that any day of the week!"

Righters is the local supermarket in our home town of Geraldton.

Bless her.

So this the Tate tower and at the very top there is a next of Peregrine Falcons.  They were there last time we were here as well, so they've obviously set up a permanent home there.  What an amazing view hey?

Here's your close up.

What London is truly blessed with is open, grassed spaces.  Places for you to sit and stare, lay back and read under a tree, get your gear off down to your bras and knickers and sun bake..... what ever takes your fancy.

You can even don some sort of homemade fairy outfit and ride tandem.... 

honestly - whatever!

 After a long day of wandering, there's really only one way to relax and that is with an iced cold bottle of Magners.  Well done Magners!

However, sitting in a pub (something I don't do often enough anymore) and having to overhear the conversations of the people around you can be both hilariously entertaining and roll you eyes dull.  This man, for example turned up, bored the pants off the group of work colleagues by continuously saying "Can I give you a bit of advice?" and then proceeding to bang on about something about 'handling' management.... blah blah blah.

 Apparently London fashion can't quite pull itself out of the rejigged 80's/90's catastrophe so a session of Oxford Street shopping proved fruitless.  It didn't help at all that the heat of the day made the inside of the shops like furnaces so that the trying things on was not something one could possibly be in the mood for.

Heat - a good money saver!