Views

Well that was a nice day.

We grabbed the train up to London and dived into the tube to whizz across to the City. By the time we got there we were parched, so we stopped off for a coffee on the corner near the "Walkie Talkie" building.  It was likely to be a couple of hours or so before we had lunch so we even splashed out on a pain au raisin.

We sat and watched the world go by for a while. GF couldn't help but smile as he realised that the hubbub and frenetic activity of rushing off for lunch was no longer part of his daily routine.

We moved round the corner to the iconic sky scraper and joined the queue for our timed entry. (Entry is free, but you do have to book in advance). The queue moved quickly, and after passing through the airport-styled security we were soon in the lift whizzing up to the 35 floor: The Sky Garden.

Leaving the lift, and walking through the sliding doors into the atrium you get a real "wow". The view is just amazing  (and we'll come that in a moment).

The atrium, with its huge glass roof and walls was a lovely sociable space where people could sit and enjoy coffee from a small booth in the centre. Overall, the space was three stories high, the first level opened out onto a viewing deck. Stairs led up the west side of the space across the other two levels and back down the eastern side.

The centre level had some small seating areas, and the top level had views to the north and entry to the two restaurants.

Each of the side staircase rose alongside the roof gardens.

To be honest, the gardens were not as extensive as GF was expecting, but this was more than compensated for by the views and the oveall experience.

We didn't go up and round the garden to start with. The view from the deck was too tempting and we headed out, camera at the ready.

The great thing abot the view is that it is free. You can pay to go up the Shard, which is taller, and get the same view. Well, the same other than the fact you can't see the Shard. From the Sky Garden you can see the iconic building right in front of you, just the other side of the River.

Looking West, you could across to the West End as your eye was drawn by the loop of the river.

Looking east, the view took in HMS Belfast, the Tower of London  and Tower Bridge. Whilst not shown in this photo, you can also get a clear view of Canary Wharf.

We took well over 100 photo all together.

Returning into the atrium we headed up the west staircase and then across the north side, before dropping into the Darwin Brasserie.

This was one of the two restaurants at the Sky Garden and, again, really needed an advance booking. The Gorse Fox had sorted this out a couple of weeks ago.

We were shown to a table which gave us a view out over the Shard. The restaurant was busy and there was a buzz about the place. GF mentioned that it was a great table and that was nice as it was our anniversary. The waitress congratulated us and asked how many years. After ordering some drinks we examined the menu and both ended up selecting the haddock and chips. This was simple but thoroughly enjoyable. We then chose the bitter chocolate bar with white chocolate ice cream. Again this was gorgeous... but we were surprised when our waitress turned up with another platter.

It was an unexpected, but rather nice gesture.

After finishing up, we then completed our circuit of the Sky Garden and then dropped back down into the tube, zipped across to Victoria, and headed back home.

A very excellent day.