Our hotel was near the London Eye.
We decided to put off our ride until our visit next year when Brett and his family will be with us.
This cable stayed footbridge was close as well and gave easy access to many of the city's landmarks.
Egyptian obelisk
Trafalgar Square
Some London classics
Whitehall
Big Ben is the largest bell in the clock tower but it has given its name to the tower as well.
This was unexpected in the center of the city.
Hyde Park and others
Fountains and statues.
Birds in parks in the city.
Tower bridge
Number 10 Downing Street is beyond the fence
The Churchill War rooms
The entrance to MI5 or MI6. I'm not allowed to say which.
The sort of place that you might see Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke dancing.
No customer is looking forward to this delivery vehicle.
More random shots of the city.
The Household Cavalry Museum
Tending their mounts.
Reporting for duty.
And their parade grounds
Waiting for the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.
The Guard approaching. It seemed a little strange but they were apparently guarded by mounted police.
And entering the palace grounds. The circumstances call for much pomp.
Westminster Abby
The London Dungeon highlights some of the darkest parts of the city's history.
Florence Nightingale carries her lamp as she tends to the sick and wounded.
This fascinating cafe under a church next to Trafalgar Square had tomb markers in a side room.
We found one place where you could walk up to the Palace Guards standing at their posts.
And another where one was marching back and forth.
The white cliffs at the Dover where we boarded our ferry to France.
When we returned to England we stopped in to visit a friend we met at one of the International Puzzle Parties.
He showed us some of the sights near his place.
The first was Portchester Castle which dates from Roman times and has apparently served as a fortification in every conflict since then.
We surveyed the outside of the fortification.
Then inside where Laurie showed us these models of how it has changed over the centuries.
Within the walls there is a large open area, a church,an inner fort and tower.
In the church is a font that dates from the 11 hundreds and stained glass windows from a later period.
The inner fortification and tower as you leave the churchyard.
Wildflowers have made their homes on some o the walls.
From the tower you can get an idea of the layout of the fort.
In the distance we could see exposed chalk cliffs and where it had been removed.
Is it mined, quarried, extracted or something else?
Looking down inside the tower.
We drove to a rise where we could see across a channel to the Isle of Wight.
Laurie enjoyed showing off this mortar and canon once used for coastal defense.
His back yard garden and a young guest who was there while we were visiting.
He really enjoyed soccer. Sorry I should have called it by it's proper name, football.
On our walk to the beach we were treated to several sailplanes coming in to land.
The beach and Seafield park near his home.
Note the animals carved in the tree.
An no one would fail to be impressed with his collections of puzzles.
These pictures show only a small part.
