311 steps

This past Saturday Ben and I spent the day with our friends, Michael and Kate, wandering around new parts of London and heading to the Monument Tower to climb the 311 steps to the top to find a perfect panorama view of the city.

The Monument Tower! It truly doesn’t appear very tall in this picture, but it’s quite the climb. 

A (very long) spiral staircase took us to the top.

The Shard! Ben and I have a great view of The Shard from our flat window and often use it as a reference point to figure out how far from home we are, given it is the tallest building in western Europe. Besides, it’s pointy and easy to spot.

The sun and sky were on point (just like The Shard) this day. Clear and sunny the whole day rather than playing the whole “sun comes out for a ten minute tease and clouds and rain arrive for the remainder of the day” game. In other news, Ben shaved the beard.

Paddington Bear! Since the movie came out these little guys are all over the city! RGB seemed fitting for a graphic designer, but my favorite is the one near the National Gallery in his standard Paddington Bear attire. We have now moved into the season of always wearing my sleeping bag coat to get through the day with some warmth left. 

Reading things.

Paddington Bear here representing my worst nightmare: the attack of the birds. This is a legitimate fear living in this city. Those birds have no boundaries. 

We ended our day out at the Museum of London for a brief walkthrough before heading home to cook dinner for some friends coming in for the Army Navy game. After dinner we headed to Thornbury Castle to a joint party hosted by the West Point Association of Graduates and the USNA Alumni Association UK Chapter to watch the game and meet some older grads living around and in London. Hooray for Navy winning for the 13th consecutive year! That about ends our Saturday and today we are off to Prague for Christmas markets and to finally explore the city we have heard so much about!