London the book of dust

Yesterday i overslept!!!

I made it to London at 01.00!!! (Late for me) and started my day on the bus!! the underground is a bit of a mess at the moment and bus was the easiest way to get to spitlefields and the Van Gogh immersive experience.

Arrived early so wondered around found a man made out of bottle tops on the side of a pub! And a few other bits and finally it was time to go in to van gouh!!! I have been waiting since April 2021 to see this!!! Not covid related just that that’s when I booked it.

Unfortunately it was very disappointing full price was £22.90 I paid £17.20 there were only 4 rooms of videos, copies of his art, and life size mock ups, the only room that made it worth it was the last one, a huge room with Van Goghs work animated and shown on all 4 walls.

Personally I would not recommend it, if tickets were £10 I would, but very expensive for what it was.

After Van Gogh I got another bus to Fleet Street. Found the original Barclays Bank sign, the goslings with 3 squirrels on, also found the devil tavern plaque and the Dundee evening telegraph building, apparently where sweeney Todd killed his victims.

Next I found some beautiful old tiles and some....yeah...no idea what they are or why they are there. On the ground in front of some alley ways are stones in the ground with writing on...no idea why, but I found them 😁😁😁

In all honesty that’s all I had planned for today thought Van Gogh would take a lot longer than 1hr!!!

So next I just started walking, towards the Thames. By pure accident I realised I was in the road that the whitefriars crypt was in, so went there again, very nearly went arse over tit!!!! The stones were so slick and green!!!! Green!!! Should of know better.

After I found a sculpture, saw it out of the corner of my eye, kept walking then decided to back track, so glad I did. At the back of a premier inn was a stunning....statue or could of been a water feature at some point of a knight on horse back and a serpent.

I then found the heads statue. At first it’s like, ummmm ok, not sure why there are heads on top of each other, weird, then you read the words around the bottom (while trying not to get dizzy, I literally walked in circles to read it!!!) the first head is a baby in a nurses arms, the second head the petulant school boy, it’s a fantastic story of each head as a person ages, the soldier with his moustache, really interesting.

Now I really did have nothing to do....then I remembered the temple walk I had printed out 3 years ago!!! Dived in my bag, and found the print out, walked back up to the main road and got a bus back to Fleet Street!!!

Found the middle temple door walked through and found a giraffe!! Which apart from the fountain mentioned in Charles dickens book and the temple church were the only things I did managed to find. Got totally turned around and lost!!! My favourite thing to do!!! it was so peaceful and quiet, and interesting and I loved it!!! And so many Pegasus!! They were everywhere!!

Eventually made it to the Thames and walked along to temple station. Jumped on the tube to monument station and went to my favourite pret, good Wi-Fi really comfortable seats, free water refills and toilet’s. Had a cup of coffee, edited the photos, charged the phone battery and then walked across London Bridge to get to London Bridge station (no northern line at the moment) and McDonald’s. Yep dinner was a quarter pounder and medium chips for £1.99😂😂😂

Found a lovely quiet spot to eat (was takeout only at this McDonald’s) sat down started eating and a motorbike pulled up!!! The driver sat there messing with his sat phone the whole time I was eating with the engine running!!!! Of course as soon as I finished and left, the bloody bike drove off!!!!

Next to find a bin, ended up in the hayes galleria, been there lots, found a bin and OMG!!!!! The pirate boat was moving and sprayed water!!! Never seen it do that before!!!

Walked along the Thames towards tower bridge and the theatre. I love tower bridge at night it’s beautiful.

Finally it was time to see The Book of Dust, la belle sauvage. I paid £15 for my seat which should of cost £71.88!!!!!!! And what a seat!!!! The view was amazing!!! But oh whow the play was absolutely fantastic, I highly recommend it. It’s the prequel to Philip Pullmans dark matters all about baby lyra, it was superb!!! If you get the opportunity go see it!!!!

This week I did not need to make a mad dash for the train as I was just round the corner from London Bridge station. So I popped to Tesco for food and wine, made it to the station with plenty of time......train cancelled!!!!!!

Next train leaves in 45 mins!!!!!!!!

So I wondered round London Bridge station!!!! I love the big umbrella things, they say “the first step is the hardest” and “the distance means nothing” and “one foot in front of the other” so beautiful.

Finally made it home at around 01.20!!!!!!!and went straight to bed!!!

Walked 8 miles, but had a mixed bag of a day, started disappointing but ended on a high!!!