'Up in the clouds'

Today we went to London for the day. My lovely daughter and son-in-law gave P a gift experience for his birthday in February.

Despite gloomy weather forecasts the weather was perfect...but very humid in London. The gift experience was a trip to the top of The Shard! We booked it for 5pm...thinking the light would be softer for photo's. We travelled in the lift to level 69 then walked up to level 72 ...as far as it goes for visitors. I took a bit of time getting adjusted..as my fear of heights kicked in...but

I felt perfectly safe and we enjoyed the whole experience. The Shard stands at 1,016 ft high....a 95 storey skyscraper in Southwark...that forms part of the London Bridge quarter development. The construction began in March 2009; it was topped out on 30th March 2012 . The glass clad pyramidal tower has 72 habitable floors with a viewing gallery and an open-air observation deck on the 72nd floor.

A long day...we walked miles. St. James's Park, saw a military band coming out of Buckingham Palace and carriages ( Prince Harry was presented with a Knighthood today), walked through Green Park and ate our picnic lunch. Back to Horseguards Parade and then Westminster. We were going to have a river cruise to the Tower of London, but the queues were long so we caught the underground. Sat by Tower Bridge and had a coffee..it was then that my camera started to play up....taking two pictures at a time. We didn't have the manual to fix it..so I had to just use it in The Shard as it was! ALL FIXED NOW!

In the evening we walked along Oxford Street....but both of us decided we needed to eat. When we reached Victoria station...we discovered there was a train ready to go in 3 minutes...so we ran like the wind, managed to get seats as it was packed...but had no time to get food..got home at 9.30pm...not having eaten for nine and a half hours. That will teach us! A great day!