12 of 12 (v3.0) - April

As I knew it'd be a Saturday this month, I'd booked a weekend in London. Hey, might as well have a more exciting day for the 12 of 12, right? I thought so too ;-) I travelled down on Friday night and got back late Monday night, which is why this post it late. For the record, I took tonnes of photos, so a lot couldn't fit into this month's 12 - but some of theme will end up as themes in Project 366 - so check back, and I'll add links at the bottom of this post (or else you can click the Dogeared banner at the top of this page, and it will take you to the main page of my Blog and you can peruse the 366 photos that way. I've got a fantastic one for the "Balance" theme ;-)

And so on with the show! Credit for the idea as always goes to Chad Darnell, and you can see everyone else's days here.

1) 08:42am - Paddington, London

The day starts so promisingly - blue sky with a bit of cloud... And off we go for the day! Walking down the road from the hotel, on my way to Paddington tube station. The hotel was in a little square with lovely tall white buildings and a garden in the middle.

2) 10:16am - Borough Market, Southwark, London

First stop, is Borough Market, in Southwark. I'd been there before and wanted to go back - I love cherry tomatoes, and I remembered getting a full bag of them for £1 the previous time! There are lots of stalls, with all sorts - juices, fruit and veg, cheese, pasta, meat, sweets, fish - and specialities, like raclette, ostrich, truffles, honey, sausages and all sorts. You could leave laden with food (and a lighter wallet ;-) ).

This is one of the pennants hanging from the rafters - and it made me smile :D

3) 10:24am - Borough Market, Southwark, London

I stumbled on a fish stall where one of the fishmongers was showing off the live lobster to a crowd, and the kids were loving seeing it move. Then he stuck it back down on the ice, and it started scuttling back for cover... it must have known it'd be someone's dinner that night!

4) 11:09am - Southwark, London

After a stop via a Starbucks (which you could easily miss, as it's got a grey painted outside and the name stencilled in smallish black letters!), I looked at the Golden Hinde, which is a reproduction of Sir Francis Drake's famous sailing ship. There's a replica in Brixham too (nearish to me).

5) 11:23am - Southwark, London

Just before the London Dungeon, was a mummified corpse in a coffin-shaped car (with a hard hat on), with a wall display behind it - this is a close up of the wall display. Incidentally there was a knight and a scary tall thing (with a person inside) too, working the crowd!

6) 11:44am - Tower Bridge, Southwark, London

Who doesn't recognise Tower Bridge?

7) 12:07pm - The City, London

A view from Tower Bridge, looking over the river to show amongst others, the Gherkin building (the kind of rocket shaped one).

8) 12:22pm - The Tower Of London, London

En route to the Tower Of London, I came off Tower Bridge and found these two pigeons that kept fighting. They'd peck at food, squabble, peck at food, ruffle feathers and fight a bit more.

9) 2:10pm - Somerset House, near Embankment, London

Later on to Somerset House, where they have fountain jets in a courtyard (the Edmond J. Safra fountain court is the official name). It's great to walk through in the warmer weather, as they're spurted out of holes in the floor, so you can walk through the rows of fountain jets.

10) 2:50pm - Westminster, London

As it started to rain, I moved on and tried Westminster (but it started raining more there). Before ducking back into the Underground to go somewhere else, I saw this - very cool :D

11) 4:04pm - Leicester Square, London

At Leicester Square, they have several of these in the floor in front of the Odeon cinema, commemorating different stars attending premieres they were involved in mostly - and I love Stephen Fry!

12) 5:09pm - Near Leicester Square, London

Stopping by the theatre where Avenue Q is playing, to grab a programme I can drop off at my hotel. However, when I went to the night showing, I was annoyed - I found out the programme I'd got was £3.50 and had the cast and stuff in it, but there was a souvenir programme for £5 with photos and stuff! AND, I'd left my camera at the hotel, not being sure I'd stage door after (I'd found it when I was looking for the theatre at the time I took this photo). I've never stage doored.

I went after the show anyway, and met Mark Goldthorp (Nicky, Trekkie Monster, Bad Idea Bear), Paul Hazel (our stand in for the part of Gary Coleman the superintendant), and then Daniel Boys (Princeton and Rod). I'd not got a programme for them to sign, or a camera. Crap! But I did briefly chat to Daniel and ask if there was a show on the Sunday (thinking I'd stage door that). He said no, that was the day off. My reply was automatic and without thinking of who I was talking to - roughly "Oh crap!".

Classy.

BONUS - 6:05pm - Paddington

When I was at Somerset House, I went into the Courtauld Gallery shop (not the Gallery though), and found some cute hand painted piggy banks! I had money banks and tins when I was little, but I don't remember having an actual pig one!

Edit - some of the photos featuring in the Project 366 challenge, which were also taken on the 12th:

Honey
Balance
Chocolate
Crowd
Apple