London
Departed Vancouver airport for Amsterdam on KLM at 5:50pm, Monday 10th Aug, flying on a Boeing 777ER. Arrived Schiphol airport about noon on Tuesday 11th then transferred to the London flight which left around 2pm, flying on an Embraer195-E2. Arrived Heathrow terminal 4 around 2:30pm on a sunny warm afternoon, and took the Elizabeth Line train across to terminal 2/3 where we boarded the Heathrow Express after some delay. Arrived Paddington station around 4:30pm where we got a taxi to our hotel by about 5pm. We stayed at the Marriott County Hall on the south bank of the river Thames near Waterloo station. County Hall (sometimes called London County Hall) is a building in the district of Lambeth, London that was the headquarters of the London County Council and later the Greater London Council. The building is on the South Bank of the River Thames, beside Westminster Bridge. It faces west toward the City of Westminster and is close to the Palace of Westminster. It is a Grade II listed building. The building was opened by King George V in 1922. When the government of Margaret Thatcher abolished the GLC in 1986, County Hall lost its role as the seat of London’s government. The building remained in use by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) until its abolition in 1990 when the building was transferred to the London Residuary Body and eventually sold to Shirayama Shokusan, a Japanese investor. London Marriott Hotel County Hall was officially opened on 23 September 1998. The hotel currently has 241 bedrooms, 12 meeting rooms. The hotel is right next to the London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, which is the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel. The structure is 135 metres (443 ft) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres (394 ft). When it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. After settling in took a walk around the immediate neighbourhood, then went out to dinner at the Locale, an Italian restaurant in a nearby square. After dinner walked around by the London Eye just as it was closing for the day then back to our hotel. The next morning (Wednesday) started off warm and sunny with temperature going up to 30C later. Took an early walk for an hour, starting across Westminster bridge to observe Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Then walked up Whitehall passing by 10 Downing Street and the Cenotaph before stopping briefly at Horse Guards Parade although no guards or horses were present at that time of day! Continued along the north bank and then across the Jubilee foot bridge. Great views of the city from here. Finally, back by the London Eye to the hotel. Checked out around 9:45am for our bus transfer down to Southampton where we arrived around 12:20pm and boarded the Seven Seas Voyager. That evening observed the solar eclipse from out at sea. The sun was low in the sky and around 93% was covered at the 7:14pm peak. Spectacular!
Highlight of the day – Solar eclipse
