Part Two,

of our trip to Battersea,

we continued upstream,

we passed the Walkie-Talkie building as it is known,

and the mirror like building beside it,

also one of the permanently moored boats on the river,

and Cleopatra's Needle,

the masthead proudly displaying a poppy and the Union Jack,

as we passed the Tattershall Castle,

we almost had the boat to ourselves,

from here on, 

we had never sailed this part of the Thames, 

the tower that house the bell Big Ben,

looking towards the House of Lords,

which we passed,

all of the buildings here new to us,

in the distance, Battersea Power Station, our port of call, we had visited it here before in December 2022, when we went inside, 

this reminded me of the two guys that owned a boating lake,

"number 99 your time is up|" 

his business partner replier, "we do not have 99 boats,"

"number 66 do you need any help?"

well I thought it was funny,

nearly there,

the boat does a 'U' turn here and heads back downriver,

all off, 

as I looked upstream,

the power station, 

we made our way towards the jetty,

that led to shore,

looking down river, 

we were soon by baubles for Christmas,

in the infinity display,

the station,

by now the sky had cleared,

we looked at the domes of the restaurant,

as we made our way,

past a few stalls, 

they looked inviting, but we were going to eat elsewhere,

a pose by one of the trees,

the roundabout,

a riot of colour, 

the ice rink here again,

with its Christmas tree,

and gingerbread man, 

Diana strikes the pose,

we were hoping to see lots of stalls, but were disappointed, having said that the fudge looked so tempting,

we started our walk to the tube station,

passing lots of mental grass, 

I guess if you have a garden and want a show of grasses, 

now is the time of years to arrive here and grab a few handfuls of seeds, or am I encouraging you to commit a criminal act? heaven forbid!

a sculpture in the middle of a roundabout, 

and kids playground,

looking down into the shopping mall,

in the distance the tube station,

looking back work ongoing on the front of the buildings rear, which will be come a new shopping mall,

the new tube station that will serve it looking spick and span,

we soon arrived in Chinatown,

with its lanterns over the streets,

through the gate,

we had eaten here before,

so we thought we would try somewhere new,

Diana had been recommended one that had the name Golden something, 

well this was the Golden Dragon, near enough, 

so in we went,

Diana a bit dubious about the wine,

not so me as our mixed starters arrived, 'Cheers!',

we also had crab and sweetcorn soup,

on to our main courses, egg fried rice,

mixed vegetables,

roasted Peking duck,

with pancakes,

huge pieces of duck we both agreed,

easy does it,

we also ordered chicken and cashews, 

along with a noodle dish, another 'Cheers!',

it was all too much,

guess who will be having Chinese meals,

 for the next few days?

there was so much of it, the bill came to £126.00 including service charge,

we were full to bursting, 

as we made our way home, 

then realised, could it have been the Golden Phoenix? we will give it a try next time!

we were now on a mission,

to Mamasons, for Diana which sells ice cream,

in she goes, 

the agony of choice,

whilst waiting, 

I looked at a few shops,

this one selling very brightly coloured gifts,

shopping complete,

we were on our way,

passing Trafalgar Square on our right,

as we made our way to Charring Cross station,

down to the concourse,

and into the shops, we had half an hour to kill,

so a coffee it was, 

then upstairs for our train home,

a 'Cheers!', from Diana, 

we both made a short video each of our day, this is Diana's,

and this is mine, we had a great day out, the weather was kind and no crowds, visiting off season can be so rewarding, arriving home it was feet up for a couple of Midsomer Murders before we were off to bed.