The West End
From Green Park Underground we went for a walk around Bond Street and I checked in on the Banksy in the West End.
On Piccadilly opposite the Ritz this model was posing in the sunshine on a traffic island!
Bond Street was busy and we did a lot of window shopping!
Victoria Embankment
We were early for the dinner cruise and we went into the packed Red Lion pub on Parliament Street to keep warm. Friday evening and the bars were packed but we did manage to find a space to sit and enjoy our drinks. Once the bar filled up more and more, we decided to leave and have a walk down the Embankment past Westminster Pier.
A little intentional camera movement using the London Eye as a subject.
The Dinner Cruise
Down on the pier we were the only passengers at 7 pm – we were very early. Once our tickets had been checked we were asked to stand to the left side as we had paid a little extra for priority boarding, a window table and a bottle of wine.
We chatted to a couple of ladies who were visiting from Leicester. They were not dressed for waiting for the boat and after 10 minutes or so the ticket checkers felt sorry for them both and took them away to an office to get warm. The first boat to arrive was for the jazz dinner cruise. The boat for our trip arrived much later and we eventually boarded. Then we could see the other passengers all queuing further down the dock in the usual zig-zag of barriers.
Our seats were right at the back on the port side. We swapped our offerred fizz for a bottle of Shiraz before our starter came. Then we settled down for our evening cruise.
The boat was surprisingly empty, perhaps Covid related? Or, just not everyone being comfortable to being in London again? In between courses I dashed upstairs as we passed landmarks to grab some images as we passed by.
The boat turned back upriver with the O2 in sight.
As we neared the pier the London Eye had some eye-catching reflections!
Westminster Pier
We left the boat at just after 10:30 pm and made our way back to Westminster Underground Station.
