London walk part 2. Around Westminster - and an unusual museum.

The House of Parliament, and Westminster Bridge from the south side of the river. (Wordsworth wrote: "Earth has not anything to show more fair" of the view from the bridge - see below for the whole poem)

The Thames was full of boats. The "Tidy Thames", front, collects rubbish as it goes: the others are trips boats.

Walking further away,...

...I passed the stunning entrance to the International Maritime Organisation.

An open top bus passed Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury

And nearby, I discovered the Garden Museum, housed in a former church, and its gardens. (I massively recommend its cafe - you don't have to pay admission charges to just eat there)

These were pictures of a futuristic garden/landscape, called Northumberlandia

A fascinating portrait of a black gardener from early 20th century 

 Garden tools

Old lawnmowers - the one on the right is from 1955 - the left is around 1900

A big notice about the Knot Garden, which it turns out was planted in 1980. So not exactly heritage then...

However, it is very attractive

The tomb of Vice Admiral Bligh, who first brought the bread fruit tree to the Caribbean from Tahiti, but was of course more famous for the mutiny on his ship, the Bounty (but of course, they didn't put that bit on his tomb!)

A visitor admires the Knot Garden

Walking back from the Museum to Lambeth Bridge...

...two police horses went by.

Crossing Lambeth Bridge, we walked past the Houses of Parliament. The statue is Richard the Lionheart

We passed Big Ben, and then walked back the way we had come, to Euston station ready for the journey home. Having walked more than 7 miles, we were fairly tired, but you could do the same, walking only one way if 7 miles seems too much

Notes: There and back - around 7 miles, depending on the exact route - but you pass the British Museum, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, the Cenotaph, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. If you cross over Westminster Bridge, you also see Lambeth Palace and the Garden Museum. A bit further and I would have reached Tate Britain. If you want the route, let me know  - by email or FaceBook.

The Garden Museum is next to Lambeth Palace - entry is £7.50. Quite small, but good shop - and actually worth it for the cafe alone. You can eat in the Knot Garden, which is lovely.

Finally, Wordsworth's poem:
EARTH has not anything to show more fair:
    Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
    A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
    Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
    Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
    In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
    The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
    And all that mighty heart is lying still!