Our second day in London started at the Tower of London. I'd had a rough night having woken at 3am & not being able to get back to sleep. The jet lag was to blame but I wasn't ready to let it ruin the holiday. We arrived not long after opening to avoid the crowds.
We waited just inside the gate for the next tour guide. The Tower is guarded by Yeomen who are all ex-army. This has been tradition for a very long time. These days the Yeomen are chosen for their story telling abilities & wit. Our guy (above) was a great story teller & most certainly had a sense of humour.
Our friendly Yeoman pointed out all the interesting places in the Tower such as the Tower Green & Queen's House (above) & the White Tower (below) The White Tower is the place where the royal armoury is stored.
There's quite the collection of armour in the White Tower. Henry the VIII seems to have the most items in the collection. It's all very oversized for someone who was small of stature (as well as other things).
The crown jewels are stored in Waterloo Barracks (below) within the walls of the tower. The jewels are all very flashy but you aren't allowed to take photos of them. Lots of bling I can assure you.
The Jewels are guarded heavily by a number of different military types including the ones wearing the busbies (below).
From the walls of the tower you can see a few of the London sights including the ridiculous gherkin (below).
Julie met us for lunch outside the tower before taking the ferry (below) along the Thames to Greenwich.
The ferry took us under the Tower Bridge and past many of London's tourist sights.
At Greenwich we stopped at the markets (because that's what women like to do when on tour). There was all kind of local handy crafts. The typical kind of rubbish at most markets the world over.
I knew little of Greenwich before we arrived there. I knew the world's 0 deg meridian ran through it & was named after it, but that's it.
Greenwich is home to a building called Queen's House (above). I'm not sure why because she doesn't live there. Greenwich University is right across the road. Both are pictured below.
The big landmark in Greenwich is the Royal Observatory (below).
The main game with the Royal Observatory is the bench mark for the Prime Meridian (Zero degrees latitude).
All the bench marks have the current version & the older technology. Below is the older Prime Meridian, above, the flashy new monument.
The bench mark for world time is also at Greenwich. The atomic clock lives inside one of the buildings at the Observatory.
Again, the old world clock is still on show (below) along with measurement bench marks for length & sea level.
There is a complex sundial (below) that is calibrated for all times of year. It's great that they've created a piece of art in the process.
The observatory has a planetarium & a big telescope (below).
Time to leave Greenwich. It was a pleasant surprise for me & I had never even contemplated going there. Hat's off to our local guide, Julie.
A few more sights in the afternoon including HMS Belfast (above) from the ferry and Cleopatra's needle (below).
We stopped for a while for a beer at The Porterhouse, one of many pubs along the Thames. Later we had dinner before going our separate ways. The girls went to a show (Jersey Boys) & I went for a wander to take in the sights at night.
Trafalgar Square (above) was my first target. It looks very different at night time.
Westminster Abbey (above) takes on a very sinister appearance. The caked on soot doesn't help its image.
The Houses of Parliament are definately more photogenic at night.
Even the London Eye has some aesthetic qualities at night.
The 3am start had finally caught up with me so I caught the tube back to the hotel, had a shower & crashed for the night. Kerri came back not long after. Tomorrow we'd be on the move again.
We waited just inside the gate for the next tour guide. The Tower is guarded by Yeomen who are all ex-army. This has been tradition for a very long time. These days the Yeomen are chosen for their story telling abilities & wit. Our guy (above) was a great story teller & most certainly had a sense of humour.
At Greenwich we stopped at the markets (because that's what women like to do when on tour). There was all kind of local handy crafts. The typical kind of rubbish at most markets the world over.
Greenwich is home to a building called Queen's House (above). I'm not sure why because she doesn't live there. Greenwich University is right across the road. Both are pictured below.
The big landmark in Greenwich is the Royal Observatory (below).
A few more sights in the afternoon including HMS Belfast (above) from the ferry and Cleopatra's needle (below). 
Trafalgar Square (above) was my first target. It looks very different at night time.
The Houses of Parliament are definately more photogenic at night.
Even the London Eye has some aesthetic qualities at night.
We were straight back on the tube & surfaced again at Piccadilly Circus (above). Julie lives in London & was our tour guide for the day (and the next few). 
The girls wanted to stop at New Zealand House (above) for some reason (something to do with country of birth or some rot).
There were the obligatory tourist shots like the phone box.
Kerri & Julie took the tour of Churchill's war rooms. I opted out with some jet lag issues.
We got our first proper look at the London Eye. It wouldn't be the last time. You can see it from all over the city. 
Later in the afternoon we crossed the Thames so we could see the tourist attractions from another angle. The Houses of Parliament (below) are unobstructed from the South Bank.
We had a fairly lengthy wait at the tiny airport before taking the 15 minute Jazz flight back to the mainland.
We flew out of Canada late in the afternoon on a Being 777 (above). The flight initially took us over the mountains while the sun was still up. Fortunately the sky was clear so we caught a great look from above. We could see the many blue lakes & hugh glaciers along the way.
The decision was a good one because by 10 o'clock the wind was howling! Plan B. Explore Quadra Island. Quadra Island is one of the larger islands sitting between the V.I. & the mainland. It only took 15 mins to get there on the car ferry (above).
Cape Mudge to the south west of the island is home to a lighthouse (above). We looked out to where we were floating amongst all the orcas the day before and across the passage to Campbell River. 
Not long after leaving the lighthouse we saw a bald eagle above us. I couldn't help stopping the car & taking its photo.
The south east of the island is home to Rebecca Spit (above & below), a peninsular that spears off the island creating Heriot Bay (below). Discovery Passage islands are a natural dumping ground for the floating logs that wash out of the forests. The Rebecca Spit beaches are no exception. Some of the weird shapes of the smooth logs make for nice photos.
We drove to the other side of the bay to Heriot Cove where the ferry to a near-by island leaves from. There is a neat little hotel called the Heriot Bay Inn (how inventive). What better place to have lunch, shelter from the wind & look out over the marina (below). It was all very civilized & lunch was very nice. We thought how lucky we were to be in the pub rather than being bashed around in a boat. 
Somehow we missed the turn off to the dirt road that goes to the north of the island & ended up nearly back at Cape Mudge! We were getting low on fuel & it was getting late in the afternoon so we caught the next ferry back to Campbell River. The roads to the north of the island are pretty much dirt logging roads so it may well have been a good plan anyway.
He was a little late that day but only by 10 minutes. Lucky a Kingfisher was there to entertain us.
When Charlie showed up he set about scooping dead salmon out of the pond. The difference this time was that he was aware of us & kept dragging the salmon into the trees to eat them. Sadly we said goodbye to Charlie & headed back to town.
We had dinner at the nice seafood place from a couple of nights previous.
