The Second Part Of Diana's Day Off,

onto the water taxi,

and we were soon heading towards the Embankment stop,

"Full ahead both!",

Diana was snapping away,

as the Cutty Sark,

and power station disappeared in the distance,

a panorama of the back of the boat,

there were several stops on the way,

we have done this trip many times before,

it is so nice just to sit back and watch the waterfront buildings glide by,

one of the stops that we had visited before,

off again,

a short video of us getting under way,

we were soon hurtling along,

another pose from Diana,

as we passed the water police station,

and some of the wharfs that line the riverfront,

passing these boats,

we knew we were near St. Katharine's Docks, which we had visited in September 2021,

we also passed H.M.S. President,

we were nearing the Embankment,

as Tower Bridge came into view,

under and out the other side,

looking back to the bridge,

Diana snapping away,

we were moving slowly,

so we had plenty of time to take a few photographs,

of Traitors Gate,

I made this video as we picked up speed and treaded our way past a few other boats,

on the opposite bank, the Shard and H.M.S. Belfast,

moored next to it HNLMS Snellius (A802) she is a hydrographic survey vessel of the Royal Netherlands Navy,

as always Diana all smiles,

we were now the other side of the river,

and passing the bow of HNLMS Snellius, 

and H.M.S. Belfast,

we docked to let passengers on and off,

before we were on our way again,

I am not sure what it is, but this building with its glass frontage looked really strange,

next stop, ours at the Embankment,

one of the few 'Green Huts' left,

the legend on the side of the building,

I have not seem one of these in the flesh, but had read plenty about them,

it is a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650cc twin, would I like one? yes please!

we decided to walk to Jollibee in Leicester Square, passing the Sherlock Holmes on the way,

on to Trafalgar Square,

the green symbol on the pedestrian lights seems more than a little queer,

the fountains working as usual,

we passed the memorial to Edith Cavell,

on our way,

to Leicester Square, and here we are,

at Jollibee,

Diana popped inside,

I waited outside looking at what was showing next door,

in no time at all Diana had her take away,

we then made a move for Chinatown, just as it started to rain,

have to wipe the rain off of the lens,

into and out of the square,

under the arch,

and into the 4 Seasons restaurant,

'Cheers!',

we started to dry out,

on a previous meal here I wondered what a pig maw was, I now know it is pig trotters,

we started with sesame seed prawn toast, and a crab and sweetcorn soup,

followed by 3 types of meats,

garlic beansprouts and egg fried rice,

another 'Cheers!', as we tuck in, the bill came to £80.00,

we were both full to bursting as we made our way out of the restaurant,

thankfully it had stopped raining,

so time for a pose,

and some shopping,

the rice was being difficult,

back into Chinatown,

we had another port of call, but unfortunately Mamasons had sold out of the cakes Diana wanted,

so on to plan 'B',

a stop here, at Tsujiri, it is a dessert tea house specialising in matcha,

there was a bit of a queue, so I took a few photographs as I was waiting,

my attention was drawn to a shop further along the street,

it was so colourful,

selling all manner of goods,

like these,

and some really cute dresses for children,

next to the entrance, 

a dress from the World of Suzi Wong,

and these were so cute, I just had to make a video of them,

we decided not to take the tube,

but walk back through Chinatown to Charing Cross station,

I was tempted to try one of these,

but decided to keep walking,

many trips ago we saw that this bus went to Penge, so we caught it, what a trip that was, it went almost everywhere except Penge! it took hours to arrive there, but as it happens we saw a lot of London that we had not seen before,

and here we are,

at Charing Cross station,

and here is the cross,

and here is a close up of the Victorian copy of it,

we were lucky with the train, just a few minutes and we were on our way,

and arriving at New Beckenham,

we started the walk back,

a quick pose,

before crossing the road to Foxgrove Lodge,

it started to rain again,

there was also a second part of the grass next to the pavement that had a growth of mushrooms,

so many,

in such a short space of time,

I still wonder if you can eat them with no ill effects,

this is the verge that the second batch are growing in,

onwards through the rain,

a smile as we neared home where it was feet up for a coffee and a relax,

before I was out again to the club,

to meet up with Steve, tonight we were well looked after by Rob, after putting the world to rights we said our farewells, arriving home it was one from New Tricks before we were off to bed.