Ireland and UK Holiday 2015, 8th June

London, stay at Golders Green

Weather still fine (got quite grey though later in the afternoon) so must keep being a tourist, Underground to Piccadilly Circus  to hunt out the church where Lyn's g-grandfather was baptised, then on to see the building where he lived. Next we wandered back past Leicester Square then on to Covent Garden, then back to have a takeaway sandwich in Leicester Square. Then Underground from Leicester Square to Camden Town to get the narrow boat trip along London's canal system to end up in Little Venice. Underground from Warwick Avenue nearby back to Golders green. Moderately busy day for our last day in London.

First some Guy nostalgia, here's where I stayed for 9 months 50 years ago in 1965 where it was 4 Aussies renting 15 The Ridgeway, Golders Green. We walked from there to the NCR computer training centre at Brent. The house has aged a bit badly, used to have a grass lawn and a hedge on the footpath.....



Compulsory tourist shot, Piccadilly circus......



St James church, Piccadilly, where Lyn's ancestor was baptised. Surprisingly large and impressive. Christopher Wren built and still looks in good condition. It is a truly busy and working church and even the homeless are allowed to sleep inside as long as no food and they sleep only the pews on the north side, 7 or 8 were still sleeping when we were there late in the morning. An inside shot of the church.....



Nearby is Fortnum and Masons, everything inside looks really special and really pricey. Here's the picnic basket selection.....



A random street shot in Piccadilly, police on horses, plus a pink popcorn London bus, this type are usually red and are usually called Borisbuses after the Mayor of London Boris Johnson who instigated the redesign......



At Leicester Square, small but nice, dancing water spouts around the statue of Shakespeare......



Inside Covent Garden, food and trinkets and tourist stuff stalls everywhere, very busy.....



The Minions seem to have taken over the Make a Bear shop and it's now a Make a Minion shop instead.....



Some of the Underground escalators seem to go on up forever.......



Next at Camden Town, at Camden Lock markets area, absolutely packed with people, extremely busy.....









The whole purpose to come here was the canal ride, the boat coming back from its previous trip......



Many narrow boats tied up along the way.........



We pass through Regents Park Zoo and the flight aviary is on the right.....



We pass behind some great houses on the canal, one (not this one) has a garden size second only to Buckingham Palace Gardens......



The trip ends up at Little Venice where there is quite a lot of space, this seems to be a permanent restaurant boat with tables and chairs beside it....

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The canal ride was a nice quiet trip away from the hustle and bustle of tourists and a nice way to finish with London. One last Underground shot on the way home to Golders Green........



Tomorrow pick up the car and get travelling, future pages may depend on reliability of WiFi [WiFi was reliable all over].