A Birthday Day Out in London

As mentioned in a previous post, it was my birthday last week and on Sunday, we decided to cancel our usual commitments and go out for the day into Central London. We left the dog with the dog trainer for the day, so we didn't have to worry about her and set off quite early so that we could get parked for free in town.

First stop was an exhibition that I wanted to see at the Fashion and Textile museum in Bermondsey, called Liberty in Fashion.  It was an exhibition about the store, it's style and it's distinctive influence in the world of fashion over the decades.  Here's a few photos.

In addition to the Liberty exhibition, there was a small exhibition of the work of CollierCampbell, namely Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell, sisters who designed many beautiful fabrics for Liberty and others in the 1960's and 70's.  

This was my favourite part of the exhibition, as I've been a fan of their work for several years now.  It was so lovely to see so many examples of the beautiful fabrics that they designed.

Next we took a walk along the South Bank, and after stopping for lunch, a mooch around the book stalls under Waterloo Bridge (a favourite haunt from our student days)

and the obligatory ice cream on a sunny afternoon,

we caught a boat back down river and paid a visit to the Shard.

Although we didn't pay to go right up to the viewing platform at the very top, (it costs £25 each) we did take in the amazing views from the 34th floor lounge. (We weren't admitted to the bar on the 52nd floor on account of LB being with us)

We then had a drink in a pub, before eventually making our way home.

It was a lovely day out, the sun was shining, we took in the sights, sounds and smells of the city and promised ourselves we would make an effort to come into town more often.