Good morning London.   We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, left Denver, flew to New York, and then flew on British Airways all night to start our day in London, England.   We are taking a tour, so we were met at Heathrow Airport and are now taking an orientation tour of London.  This is the Albert Memorial.

Albert Memorial

Located in Kensington Gardens, the memorial was commissioned by Queen Victoria, in memory of her beloved husband who died in 1861.   Across the street is the Royal Albert Hall, a concert hall.

Royal Albert Hall

This concert hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, and also dedicated to the memory of her deceased husband, Prince Albert.   What is this?   Near the southern entrance to Hyde Park you can’t miss this sculpture of a rhino.

Rhino at Samer Halimeh boutique

The Knightsbridge Flagship Boutique of jeweler, Samer Halimeh, has an extraordinary rhino sculpture by Stefano Bombadieri.  Samer Halimeh, the jeweler, made trips to Africa for a rare pink diamond.   He produced a documentary about the experiences and this sculpture is for support of the Save the Rhino cause.  Samer is the jeweler to the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Brunei.  We were driven to Jubilee Market in Covent Garden.   The present market building was finished in 1904.  Here we had lunch, changed money, and found some new cousins.

Zeb and Soapy with our new English cousins

Aren’t they a great additional to our family?  Back to the bus and our next stop.   A great view from a sixth floor to see St. Paul’s.

St. Paul’s

And we didn’t even have to climb the stairs.   Look at this.

The Shard

This is the Shard.   The tallest building in the European Union.   The Shard is 1,016 feet (309.6 meters) tall.   The Shard has offices, restaurants, retail outlets, and a viewing platform   As you can guess, this is often referred to as the Shard of Glass.  After resting at our hotel, Double Tree Islington, we took the London tube.  After a couple tube changes, and grateful for our guide for getting us here, we walked near the Tower of London.

Tower of London

This is a Roman wall from the 2nd century.

Old Roman Wall

This wall is from the 2nd century.   We are now in the 21st century.   That’s old.   And now Trinity Square Gardens.

Trinity Square Gardens

It has been confirmed that at least 125 people died here, including St. Thomas More, St. John Fisher and Thomas Cromwell.  These gardens are also in memory of 24,000 merchant sailors who died in both world wars and have no known grave.   Next time we will take a boat ride on the River Thames.  We hope you join us.