We finally managed a “day out” for the first time this year. The temperature was a bit warmer than it has been, and no too unpleasant for being out’n’about.

When we first travelled on the Elizabeth Line, Bond Street station hadn’t opened, so that was our first port of call. Nothing appeared to be too special about the station, so it’s still a mystery to me why it took so long to be completed.

Then time for a coffee in a nice little cafe around the corner:

We wandered through Mayfair towards Grosvenor Square and past the ornate Claridges Hotel:

Then onto Grosvenor Square; nothing that exciting:

Then on to Hyde Park, but we couldn’t see a way across Park Lane, so we headed south with all the traffic until we found an underpass that took us into the park:

After a bit, we got to Apsley Gate in the Southeastern corner of the park. Our intention was to visit the nearby Apsley House, but we found it was only open at weekends in the winter!

So on to Hyde Park Corner itself, with the various statues and monuments:

Wellington Arch WAS open, so we took the lift up to the viewing balcony:

From the opposite balcony, we could see the HorseGuards coming up Constitution Hill complete with police escort:

The horses passed under the arch and on to Hyde Park:

Then back to ground level and the walk towards Buckingham Palace:

We carried on through St James’s Park and Birdcage Walk towards Westminster:

Parliament Square was (as usual) full of tourists getting in the way and photograhing each other by red telephone boxes, but we eventually made it onto Westminster Bridge:

From there, we managed to find a side entrance into Waterloo Station, and headed to the excellent Wetherspoon there for some lovely Titanic Plum Porter and lunch.