It's Raining, It's Pouring...

The forecast was for "showers, heavy at times" so we set off for a day's sightseeing around London only to discover later on that we were a little under-prepared. We took the Tube to St James Park where, after a short walk, we arrived at Westminster Abbey. In between intermittent showers, we joined the hordes of tourist and walked around the Abbey, past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and then over the Thames on Westminster Bridge.

Westminster Abbey

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

We stayed on the south side of the Thames and walked around the Waterloo Station for morning tea. From there we set out for Tower Bridge, first by Overground train to London Bridge station and then on foot along side the Thames. When we first arrived at the river, we were greeted with what we thought was a most unusual occurrence; Tower Bridge was open to allow a boat to pass. We later discovered that London's traffic gets stopped quite regularly for the bridge to open, sometimes several times a day.

Tower Bridge closing after a boat has passed through

The Tower of London from across the Thames

The sky was very dark and threatening as we walk across the Tower Bridge to the London side of the Thames and just as we reached the other side, down came the rain. Bucket loads... We took shelter for a while in an underpass be fore deciding to make a dash for the nearest Tube station. We got a little lost and so to get out of the rain, we jumped on board a convenient bus. It's destination was Covent Garden so it was a bit of a surprise to head off back over the Thames. With all the rain, the traffic had ground to a halt so we jumped off the bus at London Bridge station and made our way back to Paddington and our hotel by Tube.

After drying off and having lunch, we set off to go shopping, this time dressed for the rain. We walked down Edgware Road to Marble Arch, dodging the rain as we went. From Marble Arch, we headed down Oxford Street visiting different shops on the way, especially when the downpours came. One noticeable difference between Melbourne and London is that there are no verandahs on the shops in London. As a consequense, every time the rain came down, everyone would rush into the nearest shop just to shelter. 

Having walked most the shopping district along Oxford Street, we headed off through Soho and Covent Garden to Trafalgar Square. By now it was late and still raining a lot so we caught a Tube at Charing Cross back to Paddington.