On the buses again in London Tuesday 22nd April full of surprises!il

Today we had booked Jason's Canal tour and after getting a bit lost, yet again, (some much road works and diversions) a friendly delivery man went out of his way to find our location. Into Muhammad's shop, he didn't even know what road his shop was on, and he charged £1.85 if you wanted to use the cash machine, he must do extremely well in his business.

Streets worked out, then another walk (what's new) and I got out the tablet and looked like a poser walking around with a GPS map in my hand. Finally we found it, on the canal.

What an interesting tour, in between catching up with Mary, and Telstra, do you know that the Irish built 4000 miles of canals by hand, hence the word navy.  What an amazing feat, and enjoyable quiet ride in almost the centre mm of London, past canal boat homes, the London Zoo, and then around the corner to Camden.

This is a 10 year old house price  tag £40million

The markets were simply amazing, I have never seen so much food being prepared, Craig would be in food heaven.  And in the middle of one of the sections was a mobile massage, so we both had one for sore shoulders and necks, zoom vale at £10.

The markets were built for the animals, and horses used to pull the canal boats along the canal.   Now they are a permanent reminder to a long held activity.

We walked around gob smacked, words really cannot describe the work of the market place and the sculptures. Hopefully the photos will help you to understand what we experienced.

For the girl who needs a new pair of shoes.

Then we found Costa coffee shop, and the size of the coffee cups is enormous, small size is sufficient.  Our next bus trip was to the British Museum, the place we avoided on Sunday when thousands were lined up in zone rain.

Our mission was to find the cup used at one of my great grandmother's christening, made by Bow which was in room 48, and John's great grandfather Thomas Mudge clocks, which were in room 36.

What an impressive building, and the most grand staircases.  A lot more people inside than it appeared.  

The clock collection was incredible, (I will run of of descriptive adjectives soon)  Thomas invented some intricate clock movements, and made clocks for the Royal family.  He was a famous man, in mid 1700 in London.

And for good times sake, have a look a couple of non Thomas Mudge clocks

In to the next room and armed with my information on the tablet we tried to find the cup.  The attendant who was from Jamacia couldn't believe that I could have been descended from his home town.  We walked up and down and so did they but the cup was not on display.  Go to Room 1 they suggested, so we did, and have a look at the size of the room.

Another West Indian, and she tried to help, also but the cup was not to be found, bit disappointing but it is pretty fragile, and is not often taken out to be put on show due to the lights (Mr Google information)

So now it was on to Leadenhall Markets,

a place I had seen on the London Marathon and decided that it was worth a look. It was all decorated for St George's day tomorrow. A long bus ride, and we passed what must be the ugliest building in London.  If you have insurance you will have shares in it no doubt!  Owned by Lloyds, or it is their office anyway. Sorry the photo didn't turn out, see even Samsung didn't like what it saw.

Then another bus, and to St Dunstan's in the West on Fleet Street.  Thomas Mudge's church, he married here and was buried here.  What a stunning church with a lot of history.

 We found a church warden, as we couldn't find the graves, turns out the graves are in the crypt and you cannot go down there.  The floor of the church is built over the cemetery, but there was a memorial to Thomas Mudge inside the Church.  Only problem it is located behind the Romanian Screen as shown above.
Women are forbidden to enter, and the only males that get permission are the hierarchy of the church, so no luck there, not even family descendants are allowed!  Another awesome experience.  Intricate carvings all around the church including Queen Victoria at the front.

For something different we decided to go on the bus as far as Fulham, well not much there, much the same area as poor old Queen's Park, nice once upon a time.  But we rode along Sloane Street, with all the high end shops and the better part of town.  Spotted one of our connecting buses and rode back to find somewhere to eat along the way.  A West Indian lady sat next to us, and as she had a St Kits bag, I asked her if she was from there, she way, and also worked at the Embassy, thought my having relatives from St Kitts was amazing, invited us to the Embassy and gave me a pen!

This time we got off at Nottinghill Gate, in Kensington, and managed a great meal of lamb chops and veal at an Italian restaurant that knew how to make bruscetta.

Last photo for the day of a pub on the corner near where we ate.

Cloe tomorrow we are going to see the Queen's horses, maybe the Queen will be home?