And this year we were going to take my Flickr friend, Gary, along as he wanted to see Lloyds and City Hall. He also wanted to see the Gherkin, but could not manage two days up in London.
Anyway, just after 6 we leave, go and pick Gary up and drive down to Priory station, get our 'three for the price of two' tickets and climb aboard the high speed train and wait for the off. Soon we were rattling our way past the harbour and along to Folkestone; once at Ashford we switched to the high speed line and were zipping along in the early morning sunshine up into Essex.
We got off at Stratford, and went to take the DLR to Bank, only to find that services were being disrupted due to signalling problems; we switched to the Central line, but this did mean missing out on snapping the Olympic Park from Pudding Mill Lane.
Once at Bank we headed up onto the streets and walked to Leadenhall Market to take some shots, only to be captured by the smell of bacon frying. So, we got a table and ordered bacon butties and a brew, and sat out in the cool morning air taking in the scene.
We walked round to Lloyds, getting there at about eight thirty; the queue was already a couple of hundred strong, so whilst Jools and Gary went to snap the Gherkin. Lloyds was due to open at ten, but they threw the doors open at about twenty to and so we were among the first to get in. We joined the throng under the Lutine Bell and most seemed happy enough to snap away.
Not being Lloyds virgins, we knew there were lifts to take us to the top of the building, and so we made our way through the underwriter's desks to the lobby. "Can we go up" I asked. Of course.
We had the lift to ourselves and got shots as we zipped up to the top floor. Once we got out, we were greeted by each and every one of the volunteers and handed lots of leaflets. We got our shots, and made our way to the balcony, which we had to ourselves. Even though I have already snapped the scene, I did them all again, as the view into the atrium is one of the most iconic sights of Open House.
Once back down at the ground floor, we bought a coffee and waited for Gary to catch up, and then head back outside to head over to Southwark to visit City Hall.
Clearly, on a weekend where tens of thousands of extra visitors would be heading into London to snap the lovely buildings, Transport for London (TFL) thought it might be more enjoyable if most of the tube lines were closed for 'upgrade' work. Apparently the term 'engineering' is so last century, that a committee has spent the last 12 years coming up with a new phrase which can be used. Clearly, upgrade is tech speak for lets close it for a laugh, and let the plebs bloody walk.
So, after waiting at bank for a Circle Line train that was only going to arrive sometime early on Monday morning, we decided to walk to Monument instead and then walk across a bridge to the other side of the river. Yes, folks, a bridge; walking on water is not just last century, its last millennium. and not just any bridge; Tower Bridge; yes, a bridge with towers and a bascule or two.
Thankfully, the queues at City Hall could be counted on the fingers of hands measure in the fingers of one's hand. And once through the x-ray machine, lie detector, ant-gravity machine, foetal frightening device we were allowed to look at the large scale aerial photograph of London which is in the basement and used to distract angry London voters when they arrive with pitchforks looking for Boris.
And up in another elevator, not the same one as at Lloyds, but similar in that it also had a floor, we headed to the top and then outside to look at the view of London, although this time we did not see wilderbeast sweeping across Richmond Park whilst being chased by lions on 4x4s.
We snapped the scene, the river, the bridge, the Tower of London and the City Skyline before heading back inside and snapping the curly, swirling staircase, and then walking down it to the ground. These architects think of everything.
Of course this is now the third year in a row we have been to City Hall, but who cares when you can get shots like these:
And these: (pictures to be uploaded later)
We walked back along the river to London Bridge; a bridge and its in London, who'd have thought it? And over it back into the City and along the bank of the river to Customs House. A house in which HM Revenue and Customs used to collect tax on good brought into the city when London was a port. Hence the name, Custom House.
We toured the various rooms and were handed leaflets all very informative on why tax should be paid. I collect a few extra copies so I could mail them to some Conservative Party donors. And Mit Romney.
By now it was getting towards mid-afternoon and nearly nap time; so we caught a cab back to St Pancras, and a few minutes later were heading through the tunnels under East London, over the south Essex marshes and into Kent and home.
We were pooped, but I did have 730 shots with which to play with whilst I listened to the radio the rest of the afternoon.
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