London Day, part 3

Much better internet now!

The Shard - a woman on my walking tour today said there are incredible views from up there...

MILES of apartments (i.e. "flats") all along the river; some amazing designs.

Looks like a spaceship ready to take off; can't remember the name of it. Used for big rock concerts.

 I chose this particular river cruise because it took us to the Thames Barrier, built at a cost of about $.5 billion in 1982, which protects London from flooding.

Quite odd-looking but evidently they work quite well. If you're as curious as I was as to how the things work, here's a YouTube video on how the Thames Barrier works.

I then spent some time in Greenwich, home of the famous Greenwich Meridian and "Mean Time." This is the newly restored, refurbished Cutty Sark.

I then wandered through the National Maritime Museum

The kids are using iPads  borrowed from the desk at the far left for some mapping activity.

I didn't stand in line for the location of the more more dramatic Prime Meridian photo, but the line continues below the courtyard above and so I borrowed a concept from all the PDX airport carpet pix...

And then some nice young man offered to take my photo there as well :-)

Saw the play The 39 Steps that night -  a fun frothy thing. Browsed a mega London kitsch store beforehand and found this amidst all the "Mind the Gap" and Union Jack-themed stuff. Not sure why it's there....