Day 3 Friday, April 13th Celebrations in London

The old and the new

We arrived safely in London - without too much delay - and yesterday was really good.  I will leave some photos here at the moment, Alan and Heathers' Golden Wedding celebrations,  and fill the text in on Monday - a day we have at sea.  Yesterday and today are both busy!  

Heather and Alan Golden Wedding Celebrations It was really lovely weather 

The celebrating couple

with blue sky, sunshine and warm temperature as we made our way to the Millennium Pier by the Tower of London.  We are going on a river cruise with a meal included.  A friend of Heather's was unable to make it 

The adults ready to go

 and so our friend Ian was invited as a replacement.  Ian's office is just by the tower and he was able to arrange the time for the trip.  It also turned out that Ruth and their daughter Charlotte would also be in London and so they said they would come and wave us off.  We gradually gathered at the pier head including Heather, Alan, Jenny, Ros and the boys who had a railway journey delay and had to come part of the way by taxi.  We all greeted each other, took some photos and then boarded the ferry for our trip.  We progressed down the river nearly to Greenwich  and as we 

On board

did so we had short speeches by Jenny and Alan together with toasts. Soon our meal was being served which was all very delicious.  The boat 

the meal is coming!

turned and we came past the Tower and went upstream as far as Westminster.  A good day for it all!  We disembarked again at the tower and then all walked around St Katherine's dock which was full of interesting vessels all of which are now not involved with commerce.  We found a cafe for a refreshing cup of tea 

Tower Bridge

etc before dispersing in our different directions after a memorable time. A special mention should go to Jenny and Ros's young lads who had been exceptional throughout this long adult time! 

Charlotte with us and R & I

Charlotte with us

It was very good for us to see 

Ruth and Charlotte as Charlotte is due to fly to Los Angeles on Sunday and so we did not know when we would see her again.     

We went back to our Premier Inn for a time of R & R before we went out as we had arranged to meet Christine's cousins, Alison and Margaret, for a light meal later on.  We had shared pizzas and while we were sitting there Ian and Ruth knocked on the window and we waved to them.  We made our way back to the hotels and said our farewells to Alison and Margaret and we were unsure when we would meet them again.  After all this excitement with more to come tomorrow we were not late retiring for the night.