The Mayor of London's Thames Festival
Hey everyone, did anyone get a chance to attend the Thames Festival over the weekend, I thought it was pretty good, the Mayor of London our very own "Red Ken" Livingstone, hosted the Thames Festival, over the 17th 18th Setpember on the South Bank.
For any of you who knows the South Bank, its mainly the cultural side of London, the Festival ran from Westminster Bridge unoffically, but from Waterloo Bridge to Tower Bridge, some stall holders were between Westminster Bridge and Waterloo hahah, but no one noticed I think, I took Gina to London yesterday, and we did the full city tour, starting at Green Park Station, we went via the Circle line from Liverpool Street Station on the Circle Line to Kings Cross, then crossed over to the Picadilly Line, and went south to Green Park station, after quick stop off at Picadilly Circus, Gina loved it, and was quite suprised to find she was at Picadilly Circus, after seeing it on t.v. so much, in movies like, Notting hill, Love Actually, Wimbledon, and other movies, she said to me "I am really here, I cannot beleive it"
From Green Park station, we headed down through Green Park, and sadly just got in on the last few minutes of the Changing of the Guard, just managed to snap Gina at the railings of Buckingham Palace as the Guards division marched off towards the Mall, but as it was Sunday the mall was closed to traffic and it was great to be able to walk down the centre of Pall Mall, needless to say, Gina loved every minute of that.
Then we walked through St James Park, to Horse Guards Parade, and Gina managed to get her photo taken with one of the Life Guards in full regimental dress, then she had it taken with a trooper on a Horse, and she loved that as well, then we walked down Parliament street towards Downing Street, as you all know you cant get in that, but nevertheless, it takes you down to the Palace of Westminster which is a must see for newcomers, Gina loved the red telephone boxes, and oh I forgot, she loved having her photo taken in front of the No 7 Bus to Victoria, which was one of the round shape front ones, from the War, which is still in service, she loved going in the red phone boxes and had her photo taken, then she just could not beleive that we were actually directly under Big Ben, and she said again "Oh I cant beleive I am here" she was certainly loving every minute of it, and then just out of the blue, A Typhoon from the RAF flew over head, in front of a Hurricane and Spitfire, which looked so majestic flying over head, what a sight to see, I loved that myself actually.
From there, we went over Westerminster Bridge to the London Eye, and thats where the festival is starting, there were hundreds of stall holders, but the entertainment was incredible, lots of live bands, children singing, and we walked the entire length of the south bank from waterloo bridge to Tower Bridge, which as anyone who is used to London and visitors, is an incredible sight, paticularly, HMS Belfast, the Golden Hinde, and other antiquities, more importantly, Gina got a chance to see how London was in the 1800's, she loved every minute, and we took so many photos, some of the restoration work that has been done on the South Bank is fantastic, even I was suprised at how good it is, all the old Wharfs and buildings have been retained, although having been re-built, but they look fabulous, so much history, so come on, when you want somewhere to take your Filipina loved one, take her to things like this, not down to the local shopping mall, ....she needs more than that...Gina had a fantastic day, we finished off with a walk across Tower Bridge, and down to the Tower of London, and then catching the Circle Line to Embankment, and to Charing Cross on the Bakerloo, there we finished up at Trafalgar Square, where we hung out and relaxed, there were african dancers in attendance, and lots of other sights to see, its not an expensive day out, cost of a 1 day travelcard each, and something to eat, it provides a great day, we left around 6pm and took our comfortable overland train back home, and arrived home for about 7.30pm, all in all an excellent cultural day out, Gina loved to hear about the history of London, Sir Francis Drake and his exploits on the Golden Hinde, she loved the statues, and ancient buildings, various monuments, the Festival finished at the City Hall, the new building built for the Mayor of London, also there was a river display, and a firework display at 9.30pm, and various rer-enactments of Lord Nelsons Funeral across the Thames, that was on ITV2 I beleive last night, although I missed it, but the Night Carnival was said to include 2000 Musicians and dancers, and if it passed you, would take over 1 hour to pass in its entirety, this was a great weekend to visit London.
I saw much of the enjoyment through the eyes of Gina, who was ecstatic about being in our capital city at this time, its everything she wanted to see and is looking foward to seeing so much more, just being at Buckingham Palace is something she always wanted to do, and now she has done it.
I would love to hear from anyone else on the Forum who was there ? how did you find it ? tell us how it went for you.
You can actually get money out of them, their are sites telling you how to do it.
