A Day in London

I'm deliriously happy with the rainy weather we're getting in Atlanta, so I'm tempted to go out walking in the drizzle again with Sadie, but if I don't continue to plow through the England pictures, I'll never finish!  (Besides, Sadie is a bit of a "diva" who doesn't like water in the least...)

We took a day off from garden visits (sort of.....) to go into London for one day.  Since our last English trip was exclusively London-based, we already had a few things in mind we wanted to do.  Interestingly, I had completely forgotten about the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, and almost literally ran into these guys marching down the street as we were walking along the Mall.  Great surprise for a Sunday morning!

One of the main reasons for going into London on that day was Prince Charles' "Garden Party to Make A Difference," which was being held at Clarence House, his official London residence.  It proved to be a very cool way to spend a couple of hours, with lots of exhibits from a number of non-profit environmental groups

Frank was loving the giant Boxwood pigs! 

This is a pretty brilliant design for growing in a tiny space, with recycled water.   Click to see the details more clearly. 

This little boy was a pain in the butt, but the chair was very cool. 

We did the usual tourist thing and went to Harrod's to buy trinkets for all the friends, then went to Harvey Nichols for a great lunch.  After that, I had had my fill of shopping....must be getting old.....

Frank had originally said "no" to The London Eye, since height is not his favorite thing, but changed his mind when he saw it, and realized he could sit for the entire ride (about 30-40 minutes).  This structure is pretty amazing, however touristy it might be.  It's about 300 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower, and one can see almost 25 miles in any direction from these pods. 

Frank says this is the bridge shown in "Fantastic Four...."  I'll have to believe him, since I've still never seen "Star Wars" or "ET"......