Walking with family: Westminster to South Bank... and beyond

Sunday August 12, 2012

My mum, Uncle Martin and myself arrived at Westminster at 16:30. 

Our plan: Walk along the South Bank and take some night shots of London. 

With Westminster closed to traffic, due to the barriers still being in place from the Marathon, earlier in the day, we were able to get unfettered photographs of the Palace of Westminster, Boadicea, City Hall and more. Being able to stand in the middle of Westminster Bridge we were able to get some photographs from different angles. 

We then made our way onto the South Bank and began our stroll towards Tower Bridge. Around the Jubilee Gardens, there were many stalls, artists, rides, entertainers, musicians and much more. The throng of people enjoying the late afternoon sun, including Olympians and Paralympians, only added to the heady atmosphere of London at its best. 

With lots of stops, to take photographs, it was a slow but enjoyable stroll. By the Festival Hall there was a map of the World, made completely out of Lego. Because of its size it was very hard to get a photograph of the whole thing, but it was nice to see. It reminded my of my boxes of Lego that are still in my loft. 

As we reached Gabriel's Wharf, where sand sculptures were being created, Martin mentioned that he had never stood on the River Thames foreshore, so down onto the beach we went. We strolled along the beach taking photos and looking for any ancient archeological finds, of which we found none, until we reached the OXO building, where we climbed back up onto the Jubilee Walkway. 

Looking across the River Thames, by Blackfriars Bridge, the Unilever building was emblazoned with flags of the World and looked quite impressive as the flags fluttered in the light breeze. By now Mum and Martin were getting hungry, since they hadn't eaten before leaving home, unlike me, so it was a case of looking for somewhere to eat. After discounting all the stalls selling food from various countries from around the World, including some places that I had never heard of, it was decided to go to Pizza Express at Bankside. 

We all ate and had soft drinks, before continuing our journey along Bankside. We moved along Clink Street and saw the Golden Hinde II (Replica, not the original) before moving on to Tooley Street, passing London Bridge Hospital, where more photographs were taken of the Shard and other pieces of architecture. 

We then moved into the Hay's Galleria, before rejoining the Jubilee Walkway. As the light was fading, more and more buildings were lit up, including HMS Belfast, which was lit up in constantly changing neon lights. Tower Bridge was also lit with ever-changing lights running through a myriad of colours. The Olympic rings, which had been hung from beneath Tower Bridge's upper walkways had been retracted, much to the disapproval of the milling crowds. 

With the time just after 20:00, we reached City Hall where we stopped and began taking some night shots. Soon a roar began to fill the air as the crowd saw the Olympic Rings being lowered back into place, at which point Tower Bridge changed colour from Red to White to Blue. I managed to get a good few shots of the changing colours which I turned into a short video, when I got home.

After more and more photographs we made our way to Potters Field Park, where there was a small collection of food stalls and a bar. Unfortunately, with the time now 21:00, the bar closed as we arrived and, with none of the other stalls selling tea or coffee, we had to head off to find a coffee shop. So, we headed back onto Tooley Street and hunted around. 

Being late on a Sunday the only place that was open was a Coffee Shop in the Hay's Galleria. While Martin and my mum drank their drinks, I took some more photographs of 'The Navigators', a David Kemp sculpture from 1987. It is a bizarre sculpture and wouldn't look out of place in a Terry Gilliam movie. 

When they had finished their drinks, we headed back to City Hall to get some more night shots. With time ticking by, we made our way slowly to London bridge station where we caught a Jubilee line train back to Baker Street where we changed onto a Metropolitan line train home.

All in all another great evening out in the greatest city in the World.