Kensington Park - Hyde Park - Royal Imperial College - Natural History Museum

London - Today, we went to Kensington Park and it is lovely park - nice, cold weather and the attractions is the pond.   There were so many swans and ducks that you can just approach so near.

Black Swan

Hey swan...

Beautiful swans

Ducks

Queen Victoria statue

This marble statue of Queen Victoria overlooks the Broad Walk outside Kensington Palace Gardens.

Another different duck

Then, we went to Princes Diana Memorial Fountain....

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

The design aims to reflect Diana's life, water flows from the highest point in two directions as it cascades, swirls and bubbles before meeting in a calm pool at the bottom. The water is constantly being refreshed and is drawn from London's water table.

We walked and walked; entered the Royal Imperial College and rested for a while.

Then we walked to the Natural History Museum,  you will be able to see dinosaurs, sea and land creatures, insects and many many more...

T-Rex

Pangolin

Blue Whale

Special exhibit - Suface of the moon

Dodo

Humming bird display

After this we went for our dinner...

London Zoo- Camden Town - Jewish Museum

London - Today, we went to London zoo, a very good zoo which allows you get close to the animals and insects.  Set in Regent's Park and has been in operation since 1847.

Next to the entrance was the The Reptile House.

tortoise

python

The next sanctuary was the Bird Safari.

So colourful is this duck

Gorilla and Pax

Then we walked to the Tiger sanctuary - Tiger Territory.

Tiger up close

Warning sign not be the meat for the tiger

Komodo dragon

Blackburn Pavilion

And into the B.U.G.S. sanctuary.

Spiders everywhere

You walk into an enclosure and everywhere are spiders....

Question mark roach

One the roach wings have a question mark and so they are named as such.

stick insect

Penguin feeding time

After spending about 3hrs at the London zoo, we took the bus to Camden town - it was only about a 15 mins ride but to my surprise the town was very crowded with tourist.

very crowded Camden town

We had our lunch at a Chinese buffet restaurant.

Chinese buffet -sweet & sour pork ribs

After our hearty lunch, we went to the Jewish museum London within Camden town.

2nd floor exhibits

Jewish soldiers in the British army

Jewish ceremonial ornaments

Tower of London - Borough Market - Shakespeare Globe Theatre tour - HMS Belfast

London - Our first place of interest is the Tower of London.  The Tower of London is a historic castle located on the north bank of the River Thames in central London.   This castle is huge and we had to walk along the castle walk to where the attractions were.

Outside wall of Tower of London

Inside wall of the Tower of London

Beefeaters 

The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London.

Coronation cloak of Queen Elizabeth

Vault of the Queen's crown

Trev lifting the SAS soldiers Backpack

Me and ceremonial cannon

Tower Tower Crows

Those ravens are huge birds.  One of the most famous legends of the Tower surrounds the ravens.  The story goes that should the ravens leave the Tower, both it and the kingdom will fall.  Seven ravens live at the Tower today and are cared for by a dedicated Yeoman Warder known as the Ravenmaster.

King Henry Armour

Difference lances

Ancient guns

Pax trying a shot 

Quin having a go

Pax slaying some dragons

Modern outside and the castle

A short walk was Borough Market for our street food lunch

Borough Market

Pull pork for lunch

Lots of fresh vegetables and stalls at the Borough market.  Also went pass a cheese shop " Neal Yard Diary"

Fruits and vegetables

many stalls

Brussels sprouts

Shakespeare Globe Theatre Tour - this was a conducted tour with a very animated and lively guide that explained how the theatre came about and the sets on this open air theatre.

Shakespeare open air theatre

Gallery seats

Our forth stop was the HMS Belfast  one of the most significant surviving Second World War Royal Navy warship.  With 9 decks to explore, the started on the upper decks and move our way down.

HMS Belfast

Huge cannons on board the ship

Anti-aircraft guns

Captain "All board"

Front view of the cannons

Sunset view of HMS Belfast

Back to the hotel for a refreshing beer....