Belated London Part the Fourth

As I was recently reminded, the blog has been sadly neglected of late.  So, let us return to last year and the last set of photos from our English travels.

Having seen the Cutty Sark in our previous ramblings to Greenwich, we decided to go back and actually see the boat, something we hadn't previously managed despite several previous trips to Greenwich.

Our visit coincided with that of a group of school children, and while they all rambled about, there was one who seemed to have enough energy for several children.  Approximately every 30 seconds, we'd hear an exasperated teacher saying, "Amelia!  Get down off that."   Or "Amelia, stop climbing over the rail".   My suspicion is that young Amelia would, given ten seconds out of adult scrutiny, would have been halfway up the rigging.

It's a beautiful boat, and makes it easy to see the romance of the tea clippers.

Afterward, we headed over to East India Wharf to Kerb, the food truck market (very popular).   This is another instance of the food truck gathering that's up near King's Cross station.

And we took a leisurely walk back along the river, taking in the various wharves and river views.

I found this rather jarring composition of the two modern buildings known as the 'Walkie-Talkie' and 'the Gherkin' behind the Tower of London amusing.  I expect the past Kings and Queens would have been nonplussed.

Later, we ventured upriver to the Imperial Wharf, which gave us striking views of the new construction on the opposite bank.

The next day found us on a train to Stratford-on-Avon, where we strolled around and skipped most of the various tours of places Shakespeare allegedly frequented.

Instead we got tickets to see Julius Caesar, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.   It was fabulous.  It was stunningly well acted- there was never any point where the antique language had the audience groping for the meaning- it was extremely clear from the expressions, gestures and movement on the stage what was going on.  As JT commented, "It's a political thriller."  (I will note that the Royal Shakespeare performances are filmed and shown in various theatres in the US, so it's not actually mandatory to go to Stratford to see them.)

We took a walk before the play started along the somewhat redundant River Avon (Avon is the Celtic word for river, and there are a bunch of Rivers Avon in England).

We stopped by the Holy Trinity Church, where the Bard is buried.

And we grabbed a quick dinner before heading back to the train station.  This structure turns out to be a monument, and not as we first thought, the steeple of a church that had sunk into the ground.

Our last couple of days in London turned out to be over Cavalry Day- we heard some terrific military bands playing in the park.

There were our traditional visits to bookstores, some further strolling about as we said goodbye to the city.

And then we headed back to the airport, homeward bound after another lovely trip to England.

Click here for the complete photo-view of our trip.