Euro tour day 16 Lord Mayors Parade

Euro Tour day 16

The plan for today was very unsure. I was actually sorting my plan for the day while eating breakfast. The Lonely planet guide I have of London is mainly useless as It does not tell you about half the places a tourist who wants to get off the main stage wants to go like visit the grave of William Bligh. I did pick up another map, but that had about where all the pubs were although it gave me a basic guide how to get to places. One of the people who is staying in the same room actually told me the Rainbow Warrior III is in town as he was going to visit the boat and I gave him advice about which lines were open. He was also going to see the Occupy London people although depending on the time it would be crowded.

I decided that I wanted to go to the Lord Mayors parade although i wanted to only go to the first half as there were other things that I wanted to do both before and afterwards. One was to find William Bligh’s grave as I thought that was more important than anything else. I took the underground all the way to tower Hill station which is where the tower of London is located. There was a church that I wanted to find that had plague victims located inside and this church was called St Olaf. This place was also where mother goose was said to be buried. At first I thought I was very lost and had found strange street names along the lines of Crutched Friars and Idol Lane. I found the church which I knew was near Trinity house although not very far from it.

The next stop was at Monument which is dedicated to the Great Fire of London and guilt by Sir Christopher Wren who had built many things in the city like St Pauls cathedral. Right next to the monument was Pudding lane which was a place I wanted to be. I walked up the street and thought I better make my way towards where part of the parade was going to go past although I ended up at the back of St Pauls on a corner. Before that I walked up a narrow street that would have been shady a while back, but it was a time killer. When i had arrived at the cathedral there was a police officer chatting to the people who were on the fence line. He told a kid he liked their had and looked at mine and told me he doesn’t like mine. I asked him if I could try his hat on and he actually said no. Nice try anyway, but it was nice to get an officer who liked to have fun with the people.

The parade consisted of 153 groups including the Lord mayor himself. I was on a corner which had a really good view of everything although I had an old couple with their grand kids beside me and on the other side a couple with two cameras. Along came some random kid who pushed into the front of the crowd and annoying those around him including me. Some hyper active kid who did end up moaning and groaning about wanting to leave. His father actually told him that he had better wave at the people going past. The old couple were annoyed about the fact he had just pushed in and getting in everyone’s way. I looked at them and did say what can you do, kids of today. The kid was yahooing and yelling for other family members what was going on. I was not too worried and was happy to watch the parade and even happier when it had finished so I could get going.

I wanted to walk towards Westminster and was pushing through the crowds to get to the front of St Pauls. Why? There was one reason and that was to see what the tent city of Occupy London were doing since they were at the front of the building. I actually got to the front and they were using their megaphone and standing on the steps, but the bells started ringing from St Pauls as the Lord Mayor had exited the building. The voiced of those from the occupy group were downed out and I thought it was funny and I did like the bells. They are actually after bell ringers in the churches for the Olympics. I wentr off and wandered around the lanes of the temple area until I found an Italian restaurant that had pizzas so I ordered a Pavarotti , the pizza that makes you sing. Nice pizza it was.

After lunch I wandered down to the water thinking I could escape the crowds for the second part of the parade and found I had made a big mistake and needed to get away as I could go no further especially in the direction of Westminster. I walked all the way back up to the main street around The Strand and found the Lord Mayor’s carriage sitting outside the justice court. Its a regular thing and I went down towards the Fleet Street area and was surprised. The street cleaners had been very busy cleaning up the mess and the roads were wet from the water trucks and the cleaners. I decided while walking up Fleet that I would visit the Old Bailey while I was there. I could not see anything to do with Sweeny Todd the demon barber although some cops told me the location was now a court. The Old Bailey was interesting although I only stayed outside and it was a brief visit. I asked the same cops if that was in fact the Old Bailey. I nearly got belted by some old fool pushing someone in a wheel chair and he never said sorry at all even though he did hear me swear at him. If I had not jumped out of the way I would have been hit by the front wheels. There was no need to be really running with the chair at all even if they are ex service people. Another walk down Fleet Street and I asked another officer who told me to follow where the crowd was and I told him that I could not cross the street so I walked away and found another way. It was really weird walking in the middle of a road in London with only police bikes cruising past.

The other way took me past the Indian consulate and out onto Waterloo bridge which I crossed. This was the way I actually wanted to find. I walked along the waterfront and found something that did slow me down a book stall, although it never stopped me for very long as I was again off until the crowds thickened again around the London eye. It was actually hard to move around and i did see the long lines for the aquarium and the eye and they were long. I went with the flow of the crowd and crossed under the Westminster bridge and found the local hospital where the museum for Florence Nightingale was. I thought that I would visit another time and headed off to the church now the garden museum where Captain Blight is buried. I found the church and it was the same one that I had passed on the bus to Dover. I asked about William Bligh and found many people asked about the grave and I was able to enter the garden free of charge to see and take pictures. I did leave a donation.

After all the walking around I found somewhere to have a drink and a feed. Then I was off again and ended up at Victoria station. I took the train to Tower Hill again and with an ice cream walked in the dark towards the fireworks which were spectacular. It sounded nice under one of the bridges too and I heard more church bells ringing. The end of the fireworks meant the day had ended and it was time to go home. My feet did hurt, but it was worth it for what I did find.