The benefit of reading the small print

 So the DH, seen here doing his bit in Trafalgar Square, having received his senior railcard decided we needed to have a day out in London. The plan was to have a nice lunch and spend some time at the Cartoon Museum to see Steve Bell's cartoons and then to perhaps go to the British Museum for a bit of culture before having a nice meal and catching the train home.

But of course, being us, we failed to read the small print and discovered when we arrived at the CM and tried to open the door that it was closed on Mondays!

So we decided to walk down to the Embankment and go to the Watercolour Exhibition at Tate Britain instead. Strangely there were a lot of people around and not all of them English.  London it seems is a popular tourist destination!!!
Walking through Russell Square we helped two very nice young men find their way using our ancient and very tatty AtoZ. We were also accosted by two rather insistent people of uncertain nationality who spoke no English who wanted to change a £20 note for four £5 notes. They ended up almost destroying the DH's peace of mind by grabbing his wallet and checking that, no as we said, we couldn't help before trudging off muttering in some unknown tongue!

 So onwards and Southwards we went, passing some lovely buildings and pausing briefly to look at some of the sights.

This statue is on Whitehall just opposite the Household Cavalry and I don't remember seeing it before. It is extremely moving and although the photo only shows one side of it, I didn't feel like standing in the middle of the road to get photos of the other sides!

And just across the road were two members of the Household Cavalry on duty,  resolutely silent and still despite the throngs of tourists and this one.......


.....is a young woman! Who'd have thought it! I'm not sure how aware most other people were  as most of them were surrounding her male colleague. I didn't know that women were allowed to join, but I'm glad to see that they can and do!

I didn't take any photos of the peace camp in Parliament Square, just because it was difficult to find a spot to get them in where I wasn't likely to get run over, so here's Big Ben instead. They are obviously very well organised and dedicated, but I'm not sure how much notice the tourists were taking.  Good on them and I hope a good few of our politicians learn something about morality and justice from them!






And so to the Tate where after the exhibition we rested in the cafe for tea and cake. No images from the exhibition I'm afraid, but it is well worth a visit. The DH and I fell completely in love with Turner, and although there were other gems, his sketches small paintings had the most impact.

Then outside to get caught in a heavy shower, but fortunately we were able to shelter under this lovely plane tree. I had forgotten how lovely these trees are and there are so many of them!


Despite the rain I managed to get some photos of leaves and bark and the seeds which have a lovely texture.

Very ominous clouds over the London Eye, and very choppy conditions on the river. So we didn't go for a trip on the Duck, but we did see one driving along the Embankment with a lot of very wet people on board. Next time perhaps!
 

A "Duck" on the Thames! Just what you want on a wet day like today!!!