The ABC trip to London... ABBA, Belfast and a cruise ship! COMPLETED 8/6 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sounds like a great day in the making with the ABBA Museum and a visit to the HMS Belfast. The latter will be something Mark may enjoy more than you.
That's what I thought too, but not a bit of it!
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I remember the Shard from some of your previous day trips to London. Too bad you won't be going to the Churchill War Rooms with the Brexit protest. I'm sure you'll get to do it in the not so distant future with the great deal you got on the dual membership!
Saturday 23 June – part two: an amazing transformation.
We headed through the nearby Hays Galleria shopping and restaurant complex. It’s a beautiful place and even better when it’s this quiet…
In case you’re wondering (and I was! ), the sculpture is called the Navigators and dates from 1987. It’s a 60 feet moving bronze sculpture of a ship.
Although this complex dates from the 17th century and was in its prime during the Victorian era, when it was a wharf, like a lot of this part of London, it fell into disrepair in the latter part of the 20th century and was regenerated in the 1980s. Honestly, I cannot begin to tell you just how worn down and derelict large chunks of the capital were. And look at it today – it truly is an amazing transformation.
We headed through to the Thames and again there were stunning views across the river….
We got a real shock when we saw HMS Belfast, as today, there was an addition today – a cruise ship behind it!
As you can see, HMS Belfast is located near Tower Bridge…
We headed inside to get our tickets by showing evidence of our membership, and we were off.
From here, you could get some wonderful photos of the buildings on the banks of the Thames…
Next: clearing immigration on the other side of the Thames
We had lunch in that shopping area, right before touring the HMS Belfast! (The day before we met up with you & Mark in Southampton). It was a beautiful area.
(second posting, sorry if it repeats..)
Hays Galleria, making note.
London looks so different from my last visit in 2001!
The cruise ship is totally blocking the HMS Belfast. Probably can't see it from the other side of the Thames!
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Great photos of London along the Thames with such a variety of buildings! Love the Galleria Hays shopping mall as looks like quite an inviting place to shop. Very good that a lot of this area has been worked on from the ruins it was in. You should have seen Times Square in NYC some 25 years ago or so to what it is today. You wouldn't want to visit there and was quite dangerous. Completely different today.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Great photos of London along the Thames with such a variety of buildings! Love the Galleria Hays shopping mall as looks like quite an inviting place to shop.
I thought the same. However, it was packed out later... something to do with the weather and it being a Saturday in June and it also being the World Cup.
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Very good that a lot of this area has been worked on from the ruins it was in. You should have seen Times Square in NYC some 25 years ago or so to what it is today. You wouldn't want to visit there and was quite dangerous. Completely different today.
Funny you say that - I've probably visited it at a lot of points over the last 30 years. I was first there in 1987, when NYC wasn't the sort of place that a lot of Brits visited. Transatlantic travel was still rare and the city definitely had an edge to it and we didn't always feel safe.
In 1996, I visited on my own (I was staying with a friend in Philly) and I was worried about doing that, but I was told at that point that DC was actually more dangerous.
We went on our honeymoon in 1999 and Mark wasn't at all keen on the place. I think his description was that you just got the feeling that no-one cared about each other and I know what he meant. As a visitor, tourists were welcome, but everyone was so busy, they didn't have time for anyone else.
We went back next (I think that was the next time) in 2008. Whenever it was, we noticed how much more pleasant everyone was to each other. They finally had time for each other. It was so much nicer to see.
Thank goodness restoration and transformation was begun.
If you talk to people old enough to remember Margaret Thatcher, you'll get very differing views of her, depending where you were on the political spectrum. Some people still really hate her with a passion, but she was the one who started the regeneration of London and I have to say it's quite a legacy she's created there.
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The latter will be something Mark may enjoy more than you.
I'm sure you'll get to do it in the not so distant future with the great deal you got on the dual membership! 
And look at it today – it truly is an amazing transformation. 
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