London for Londoners on a Thames cruise
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- Published on Monday, 27 October 2014 11:00
- Last Updated on 23 October 2014
- Monica Costa
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After 16 years living in London I still feel I love and live my ‘town’ like a tourist. I mean it in a good way! Inevitably living in such a metropole, you often feel like a tourist because there’s always so much you haven’t seen. Adding to that is the fact that London is an ever changing city and therefore not the same place I visited for the first time in 1988.
And yet again I feel overwhelmed with joy when I have a relaxing lunch with an old friend on a Thames cruise not filled with tourists (for a change) but with ‘regular’ Londoners who just catch up with their peers for a birthday celebration or a special occasion.
A lunch cruise is an amazing alternative to lunch meetings in pubs or restaurants. While you enjoy a delicious two course lunch you can just chillax on a mini voyage through the heart of London.
We boarded City Cruises boat shortly before midday and then were served good and healthy food while watching London passing by. What a treat on a working day!
Cruises last one hour and forty five minutes which gives you plenty of time to enjoy both the view, taking a few selfies with London landmarks on the background and the company of a friend or business partner!
Here are some of the landmarks you will see during the Thames cruise.
Big Ben Facts: Big Ben was cast on 10th April 1858, so it is 151 years old. Big Ben is the name of the giant bell in the belfry of the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster. Londoners named it like this. The bell was going to be named Victoria after Queen Victoria, but Londoners started calling the bell “Big Ben” and the name stuck. Giving nicknames to landmarks still is a London custom – just think about the ‘Gherkin’.
Shard Facts: The Shard is 309.6 metres high and currently the tallest building in Europe. It was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. It looks like a spire-like sculpture emerging from the River Thames. Piano was inspired by the railway lines next to the site, the London spires depicted by the 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto, and the masts of sailing ships.
After the cruise I could not miss the WW2 ceramic poppy display at the Tower of London that was also visited by the Queen the day before. It is impressive and emotional. Lots of people paid their visits to remember all soldiers who lost their lives in wars.
Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
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