I walked along Regent's Canal from Broadway Market to the Thames. This first picture is of a building by the Thames with has an interesting solution to balconies. Each apartment has a bridge across to a tower of outdoor platforms that have chairs, plants and BBQs on them.
This next picture is of the Limehouse Lock Marina. The boats have to go through a lock to get from the Thames to the marina and the beginning of the Canal.
I went to the National Gallery at the weekend and saw the Manet to Monet part, it was great to the originals of some of the world's most famous paintings.
I then went to Westminister Abbey for Evensong. Going to a service gives you a different impression of the Abbey and saves on paying the rather hefty £8 tourist entrance fee.
I went to the London Art Fair with the Art Club which was a number of galleries from London exhibiting at the Design centre in Islington. There were some interesting works by up and coming artists and some well known people.
We had the third meeting of our London Fields book group last night at a restaurant in Broadway Market, Cilicia. Seven people turned up which was good. We had a lively discussion on "Cloudstreet" by Tim Winton. It is a nice mix of people from the local area.
The high winds have meant that a lot of the trains aren't running and London Fields looks like a shredder has gone through the trees.
Now that it is getting dark at 4.30pm it is very easy to watch a lot of TV, Celebrity Big Brother has been getting plenty of publicity for racism from some of the lower class D grade celebrities against a Bollywood star. The program has become a slagging match between the contestants, split pretty much on class an education, 20 000 people have complained which I am sure is helping the channels viewing numbers no end.
I went to the Hackney Empire theatre last night and saw "Scenes from an Execution", which was quite good. It started off with a man lying face down naked in the middle of the stage and explored the stresses of a group of artists.
I have also seen the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" which was very interesting.
This is Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. I spent Sunday in Oxford, did a guided walking tour that went into New College and Merton College. it is a pretty city. There was no punting on the river as it was in flood.
I have been doing lots of touristy things this week.
I went on an evening Jack the Ripper tour. There are multiple companies that run tours, the one I did is run by the Beefeaters at the Tower of London. www.jack-the-ripper-tours.com. I really enjoyed it. The tour start at Tower Hill tube station and the went around various back streets to the areas that the murders occurred with a good commentary on the murders and the history of the area.
I went to the National Portrait Gallery at Trafalgar square. There are great photos, paintings and sculptures.
I went to the National History Museum which is in a wonderful old building and has lots of stuffed animals in cases. I also went to the London museum which has the history of London and lots of really interesting displays.
I have finally uploaded some of my photos to the Flickr site so there is now a link to this on the side of my blog.
I walked along Regent's Canal from Broadway Market to the Thames. This first picture is of a building by the Thames with has an interesting solution to balconies. Each apartment has a bridge across to a tower of outdoor platforms that have chairs, plants and BBQs on them.
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