London

A few snaps from my day out in London a couple of weeks ago.

We crammed in lots of stuff but the highlight of the day was by far and away our visit to The Shard.

It really is an impressive, imposing building.  Standing outside and looking up it just seems to go on forever, up into the sky.

The viewing platforms are on floors 69 and 72.  There is a timed entry system which is really good as it means there aren't hundreds and hundreds of people crammed in.

Our tickets were for 5:30pm, which turned out to be a great time to go at this time of year.  The sun was just about ready to go down so we got to see the views out across and around London in the last fading light of day, and after dark too.

The views were just breath taking.

The viewing floors go all around the building.

There are so many iconic London buildings to see in this 360 degree view.

The best view of all for me .... James with a huge smile :)

We had a brilliant day, it was just the sort of fun I needed away from the madness of moving which had been all consuming over the previous couple of months.

The only small annoyance on the day was the closure of the Circle line on the underground for 'essential maintenance' a common occurrence on the underground system at the weekends.

But finding alternate routes around the capital took us to stations that we wouldn't have otherwise gone to.  Including Baker Street.  Loved these Sherlock Holmes tiles.

Our day ended with cocktails and dinner at a lovely little brasserie near Paddington station before we had to get on the train for the journey home.

We had a brilliant day and I can't wait to go back at the end of May. We've got an overnight stay booked as we're going to see an orchestra at the Barbican ..... exciting.