Not quite according to Plan!

 Yesterday I went up to London to meet up with a couple of friends.  We met at Waterloo station just in time for elevenses which we had at Carluccio's on the station concourse where we sat and enjoyed our coffees and biscuits and caught up with the gossip. Our plan was to visit Dennis Severs House which we'd heard about and which sounded intriguing and we duly arrived there at noon only to find that we'd picked a day it wasn't open!  We did ring the bell and the chap who came to the door was very apologetic and suggested we might like to visit the Whitechapel Art Museum not far away instead.  So we duly set off.

Passed this lovely pond reflecting the autumn colours.  We noticed how many modern buildings there are in this area of London and the juxtaposition of the old and the new was interesting.

Here is the Art Gallery which, wouldn't you know, doesn't open on Mondays!

Never mind it was a nice day, if rather chilly, and our main objective had been to meet up so we contiunued walking towards the river coming to St Katherine's Docks where we found a place to eat lunch enjoying the view across the marina.

Here is the Royal barge used in the Jubilee Celebrations last year - much smaller than I imagined it would be.

We continued our walk towards Tower Bridge an amazingly ornate edifice over the Thames.  I am always struck by how our ancestors didn't ever seem to go for the easy option but used all their crafts skills to decorate whatever they built.  Here the stone masonry is breathtaking and considering it would have been done with simple hand tools and without modern scaffolding and so on all the more amazing.

Boy was it cold though out there above the river!

View of the Tower of London - what tales that building could tell but maybe we'd rather not know all of those!

A lovely red Victorian postbox still in use - looks like something from a Christmas card doesn't it?

Along the South Bank of the river we turned to look at the Tower again.

On past Winchester Palace or what remains of it - built in the early 13th century it was once one of the largest and most important buildings in Medieval London now somewhat dwarfed by the modern building surrounding it.....

.....past the Globe Theatre with its thatched roof.

More decorative work on one of the many bridges - no simple signs for those 19th century artists and builders back in 1864!

The iconic St Pauls seen across the river.

We eventually reached the Christmas market on the South Bank looking very festive in the late afternoon light with Big Ben in the background.  We didn't linger long and didn't buy anything either and before long we reached Waterloo where we bade each other a hasty goodbye as a train to my friends' destination was due to depart in the next few minutes.  I meanwhile had half an hour to wait so went for a cup of tea and a sit down till it was time to board my own train home.

We might not have done what we set out to do but we had enjoyed each others' company and had plenty of fresh air and exercise along the way whilst seeing parts of London I for one had never visited before.  Dennis Severs House will still be there for another time no doubt!