Whatagain in London

[whatagain]

Here we come.
Was more than 10 years.
London is a city if about the same population as Belgium on 5% of our surface.
We came by plane - more than one hour waiting to drop our luggage and nearly one hour to retrieve it and the plane 45 min late…

[whatagain]

We chose a black ‘londonian’ taxi. 

Some pics in the way in. 

A typical animal from the region. 

Our flat is on the first floor (Rez de chaussée). 

We liked this pub but it was uninspiring inside. 

So we ended up here. 
great food - ox cheeks pie for me. 
the waitress is French ! 

Not really glamour but it had been decades since I had not found such ‘pissotieres’. 

[lugg]

So looking forward to more. Have a fab time in London whatagain

[cheerypeabrain]

London can be fabulous, thre is always something to see. Looking forward to more

[mich64]

Looking forward to seeing more.

[bixaorellana]

How come you planed instead of trained?

I am thrilled to see these pictures from the wonderful city of London. I see you started snapping as soon as your feet were on the ground -- great!

Also, thank you for that last picture. Even though I've been to London twice, somehow I missed seeing any urinals.

[whatagain]

I just add these 2 that could be iconic of London : the phone booth and the double decker bus. 

more tonight when I learn to master the Wifi… 

[whatagain]

Feb 24, 2024 7:57:02 GMT bixaorellana said:

How come you planed instead of trained?

I am thrilled to see these pictures from the wonderful city of London. I see you started snapping as soon as your feet were on the ground -- great!

Also, thank you for that last picture. Even though I've been to London twice, somehow I missed seeing any urinals.

We have a complex organisation. 
i do Brussels London Nice Venice Nice Brussels. 
One does nice London Nice 
one does Brussels London Brussels. 
the rest does Bxl London Nice Bxl. 
cheaper and faster. 

[lugg]

Yes iconic pics ...crack that wifi Whatagain

[whatagain]

We plunged into the Underground. 
some stations are grand and some much less. 
very efficient, you pay using a credit card - one card each, luckily I have 5 cards myself. 
I really like these rows of similar house. All built at the same time, all identical. 


And here we were queuing at the British museum. 

This is a full temple in Turkey found packed and shipped to UK by British archeologists. 
some would call them thieves nowadays. 

Some Roman sculptures are incredibly beautiful. 

I just love these Assyrian half men half winged lions. 

From the Easter island. Big nose. 

Just in front of the exit. We had a beer there, then were chased away by the rain. 

Some more recent buildings. 
at least they use a lot of glass
Oops I don’t care no more. 

Really lovely. We wanted to enter any and all pubs. 



Strange building. Would not look out of place in Tokyo. The shop was uninteresting. 

[whatagain]

Another iconic picture of London : the English breakfast. 
delicious. 

Not everybody can is fully woken up yet. 

A shortcut to go from a road to another one higher up. 

And some dragons on the bridge. 

I don’t like many modern buildings but I like this one. 

Saint Paul. 

Some heavy wooden doors. 

We were welcomed by monkeys and other beasts. 

I like this building too. Looks like an old warehouse. 



Paul opened a shop at Saint Paul. 
what a coincidence. 

Looks quite impressive. 
no pic from inside they were asking for more than 100 £ for the family to visit. We skipped. 

Apparently they had to protect the balls - I suppose some were playing pétanque with these. 

Beautiful view of the Thames. Nice modern building. 
The Shard and London Bridge far away 


An old bridge from the art deco period and the Woofer. 

I really like that mix between old and new basically everywhere. 

Some street inside the old walls ? 
We were ripped along the way to visit a museum about prison. (Clink ?) 


One remaining wall of an early palace from 12th (?) century ?



I love the Woofer 

Old and new again. Mixing well I would say. 

[kerouac2]

London is a delightful example of Brusselization. I wonder if Londoners are jealous that the term was coined first instead of Londonisation. Actually, I always enjoy the total mishmash of styles, but I confess that they make me appreciate places like Paris and Rome and Barcelona even more.

[fumobici]

Glad you found the British Museum, surely one of the most interesting crime evidence displays ever. I spent another hours-long session there in November and still left lots to discover later. London might be the most interesting city on Earth.

[fumobici]

To be fair, most of the high-rise development in London is confined to the City and a small area South of the river with the Shard.

[kerouac2]

Yes, but they have huge numbers of ugly low-rise buildings from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

[lugg]

Whatagain , I think you have done London proud , love your photos and makes me want to visit again soon.

I think the photo above your text " Some street inside the old walls ? " is close to / in Borough Market which is one of my favourite parts of London.

[whatagain]

A Panorama of the London tower. 

The sleeping room of Edward x. 
less cost than Versailles one must admit. 

Po wow to decide where to from here. 

The white tower. 



London Bridge from the tower. 

The tower displays weapons and body body armour the time it was an armoury 

Artillery could be a dangerous job back then . 

M jewels. 
no pic allowed inside. And honestly I find the crowns so anachronistic to the point of ridiculousness. 

NCO Whatagain reporting for duty. 

Londo tower bridge. Another icon. Spectacular. 
Just a bit to the right. 


Big Ben. Another incredible sight. 

Can’t remember where but like the pic. 

The mother and one of the jewels. 

Splendid Westminster abbey but closed at 3 30. 
lazy guys there. 

Another one of those streets that I love. 
Buckingham palace. It would have been impolite to skip tea with the Royals. 

[whatagain]

The great detective. 

His house. 

The shop of his house. 
the boys was 20 quids each for about 2 rooms so we skipped. 

We went to Regent’s Park - meh but liked Mary’s garden. But not enough blooms. 



Apple Store. Nice windows. 

Some facades above the shops are monumental. 




We tried to have tea but sorry they don’t serve tea in what is called the tea room. 

So we found a pub. Not difficult and quite often very cool. 


And after an Italian restaurant in the way to the apartment along these homogeneous streets that i find so appealing and appeasing. I could live there. 

[htmb]

Whatagain, these photos are wonderful. It looks like you’re having a grand time with your family.

[kerouac2]

Lots of magnificent tourist shots now. One can even forget that it is still winter!

[cheerypeabrain]

Thank you Whatagain lovely to see. I lived down south growing up and most weekends we would catch the bus to London. We walked miles but I never went into any pubs

I love the British Museum, Science and Natural History and the V&A..it is difficult tho, knowing that the objects were often taken dishonestly (not that other Western countries are completely innocent).

[bixaorellana]

Feb 25, 2024 14:40:03 GMT whatagain said:

I really like that mix between old and new basically everywhere.

That is it! That is something I just love about London!

Feb 25, 2024 19:45:38 GMT whatagain said:

A Panorama of the London tower. 

Ooo ~ super panorama shot.

All of your pictures are not only interesting, but so good. In #16, the one of your daughter on the curved road beneath that huge leafless tree with the brooding sky & your beloved Woofer beyond is super. The last picture in #16 is beautiful.

If it's any consolation about Westminster Abbey, you saved a bundle. It was £18 to get in when I was there (2017), I think, and that was with the old-age discount. Also, you're not supposed to take pictures there -- as if that would stop me!

Your darlings really are jewels and I am glad to see you have not lost your military bearing.

[whatagain]

This one is for Mossie. 
 Will make a separate thread for the RAF museum and another one for Harry Potter’s studios. 

[lugg]

Just fabulous -so glad you are enjoying and appreciating all that London has to offer .

[whatagain]

Another typical : the fish and chips. 
nit having time to sample enough UK beers for my taste I married it with a strangely pronounced Leffe

great. 

Another one of these big 19th century buildings. 
1900… nearly made it into 20th. 

A mimosa blooming in London. Surprising. 

I like that one of the parliament esp since u took it on the fly whilst cycling. 

Admiralty. 
Bunker of the admiralty. Built in 1939. Wonder why. 


Horatio keeps an eye on us.  



Edith Cavell. Well known nurse in Belgium. 
our 4 children were born at Edith Cavell in Bruxelles. 
the manufacture for babies as it was called. 

Yes. You got it. I like these buildings. 

My Taylor is rich. 

Close to Farringdon. That house was built upon a part of a church that was partly sold during the dissolution. Our guide said the remanding part of the church that you in the rear served as set for the movie 4 weddings and a funeral. 

the former slaughter house at Farringdon. Now a meat market. 


Close to Waterloo station a place where Banksys‘ friends practice. 
Piccadilly Circus in the evening. 





Inside His majesty’s theatre. Formerly her majesty’s theatre. 
Waiting for the phantom of the opera to say hello. 
That theatre is grandiose. 
The play was fantastic. 

[kerouac2]

This is a much more thorough report of London than any of the rest of us have made. I am seeing a lot of buildings for the first time.

[lugg]

Wow another triumphant set of images and text. I absolutely love the image of the art work close to Waterloo.

Hope you enjoyed the Phantom and were not kept waiting too long.

[whatagain]

Thanks all.
Allow me to give some opinions on London :

The city is welcoming, clean (safe if US guy would ask).
The locals speak reasonably well English with not too thick an accent.

The metro is great and paying by tapping with a credit car to get in and out is very easy. Works with phones too, for the younger génération.

Tips have to be added but in a lot of places they decided it was 13.5 percents.

The food was great but expensive.
We had a gorgeous pie the first day, a fantastic mix grill of seafood, a good spaghetti, a chicken tika Masala, a fish and fries and a good hamburger. And i forgot some tacos.
The tuna sandwich with cucumber was wxotic to me...

We walked about 75 000 steps according to my app and we didn't complain.

The play was outstanding and the Londoners dressed nicely for the performance.

Our apartment was well located in Farringdon and super clean.

The pubs stop serving food at 9 30 the sunday ! The beer is not up to our standards 😉

Brits should use our continental time, sunset at 5 30 is too early...

[mickthecactus]

That’s good to hear. Agree totally about continental time.

[lugg]

Feb 28, 2024 22:15:34 GMT whatagain said:

The locals speak reasonably well English with not too thick an accent.

Im with you and Mick re our clocks forward and back