Scott and Sidney on the Jubilee line going from Stratford station to Canning Town station.

We got on to the DLR, Docklands Light Rail, then off at the Pontoon Dock station which is next to the Thames Barrier Park in order look at the Thames Barrier, which is to prevent the flooding of London if the Thames River rises too high.

Central London is so far away, you can’t recognize anything in the background skyline between Allie and Sidney.

We eventually got back on the DLR then off at London City Airport where signs advertise that you don’t need to check in until 15 minutes before your flight leaves. We had a last bite of lunch with Allie, who has left us with a great pile of her stuff to take back to Calgary while she returned to Groningen with just her purple back pack. She has an exam and a paper to finish then is planning to travel until March or until her money runs out, whichever comes first.

We figured out how to get back to Robin’s flat, stopping along the way to buy some beer.

Walking along Whitechapel Road. The Whitechapel area is where Jack the Ripper used to do his work. Now it’s mostly ethnic. Brick Lane, the Bangladeshi area described in Monica Ali’s novel is nearby. There’s a number of Muslim shops, which sell no alcohol. But almost everywhere there’s a Tesco supermarket and a Starbucks. Starbucks were everywhere in Florence as well.

We arrived at Robin’s in time to watch the West Ham vs Arsenal football game, which to Scott’s relief was won by Arsenal.

After, we went for dinner at Needoo, a Punjabi restaurant about a block from Robin’s, where we were able to bring the beer we bought earlier. Wish we had more BYOB restaurants in Calgary and without corkage fees. The food was delicious and particularly cheap with no added bar bill.

Sidney and Robin are tucking into restaurant’s specialty, grilled meats. We’re having grilled lamb chops, lamb sausage and chicken with grilled onions and tomato. This was an appetizer! Below is the rest of the meal.

This doesn’t show all the dishes because I couldn’t move far enough back to get them all in. Beware if you ever let Scott do the ordering! A good portion of the food came back with us and is now in the fridge.

It looks like we’ve spent a lot of our trip eating. Well, we have, but less than we’ve drunk!  The question is whether we’ve walked enough to cause a weight loss or weight gain. I guess we’ll find out when we return home since there’s no weight scale here.

Tomorrow is our last full day in London. We were thinking of a day trip to Greenwich, but it’s been awfully cool — not Calgary cold but still cold enough that spending most of the day outside is getting less appealing. Scott is hankering for another silver ring and Sidney thinks shopping would not be amiss.