Friday, September 18, 2009

Catch up and London trip part 1

Currently I'm in holiday mode as I'm coming to the end of a fortnight off work. I've been keeping pretty busy with lots of knitting and a trip to London.

Right at the start of my time off and just in time for my birthday, I finished a second Ishbel shawl in Yarn yard merino tencel in the shade Lavender Water.

Purple Ishbel

I spent most of last week visiting London, partly for the Iknit weekender plus I added on a few extra days for sightseeing. Due to a bizarre coincidence, my parents were also in London during the same week so whilst I was down there, we joined forces for some sightseeing. On Wednesday afternoon, we all went on a tour around the Houses of Parliament.

House of Parliament

Inside Parliament

The only place within that you can take pictures is in Westminister Hall, where figures of state have lay in state prior to their funerals. Beyond this point, photographs aren't allowed, which is a pity as the buildings are gorgeous.

Westminister Hall

The guide we had was not so good. She said quite a few things which I knew where inaccurate and also let her political opinions cloud some of the things she said, which was pretty sad but the buildings more than made up for it.

On Thursday, I had plans to meet my parents later in day for a late lunch followed by going to see The Mousetrap - the longest running show. Given the beautiful weather that London was having, I decided to have a walk around central London followed by a open top bus tour. The hotel I was staying in was in Pimlico so I set off to walk towards Trafalgar square.

Trafalgar square

The fountains in the square

Nelson's column and square

At the moment, there is a public art project called One and other, where members of the public are getting one hour on the fourth plinth on the square to do whatever they want (within reason). I arrived just as a changeover was taking place.

Plinth changeover 1

Its all filmed so you can watch it on the internet at any time.

Around the plinth

From there, I went off on a open top bus tour and then it was off to lunch in Chinatown and the mousetrap. Rather than post all the pictuures, I thought I would link to a slideshow.