A day in London

June 8, 2013

We both slept well.  Our guide decided that the fee for breakfast in our hotel was way too steep so while in London, we would be on our own for breakfast.  About two doors away from the hotel is a Garfunkels Restaurant where several of us gathered for our morning feeding.  I had my usual eggs and bacon, with beans, and sausage. 

Our breakfast party was made up of a couple from Ohio who owns a MG Midget, a lady from California who owns an Morris Minor and a lady who owns a Triumph Spitfire.  It was an interesting group and it was fun getting to know them.  There are a total of 20 folks with whom we are traveling.

Elizabeth Tower, Home of Big Ben

Our first function of the day was a ride on an open top tour bus.  Luckily the front of the top of the bus has a top over it because the temperature was in the low 50’s and uncomfortable in the wind at the back of the bus.  Our tour lasted for 2 ½ hours and I can’t begin to describe all of the amazing sights that we saw.  I told several folks that my brain went on cultural and architectural overload.  I am providing a few pictures to make my point.

A couple of things that made this trip a bit

Tower Bridge Open to let Sailboat Through

more special were watching the tower bridge open to allow a fairly large sailboat to pass through.  It wasn’t a big deal for Janine and me because we have done that numerous times on our boat, but evidently it is a rare occasion here.  For one thing, about a half mile farther upstream, there is a low bridge that large boats cannot pass under so I wondered, “what’s the point?”



Passing Parade



Also, London is preparing for celebration of the Queens 60^th year as the ruling monarch and also her birthday (which occurred back in April, but is traditionally celebrated in the “warmth” of June).  The actual celebrations will occur in a week, however, on two different occasions, we saw marching troops, bands, and horse processionals parading through the streets in rehearsal for the big day.  The horse parade was amazing.  The horses were ridden in lines of four and Janine quit counting when she got to 25 lines. 

Just a building; one of thousands

And there were considerably more.  They were perfectly aligned.  It was an amazing sight. 

After the first bus tour, we disembarked and headed for a different line that was to take us to museums and the western part of the city.  This was an hour long tour and less interesting.  For one thing, our first tour guide was young and very witty as well as very well versed in the sights and happenings in London.  Our second tour was a taped script that was played to us via ear buds.    



Beautiful statues everwhere



Outer wall of the Tower of London

The museum tour ended at sometime around 1:00 in the afternoon and we were in need of a rest room and lunch so we started looking for that perfect little restaurant but those two necessities are not as common in London (or at least where we were) so we ended back at Garfunkles. 

We decided to get back on the tour bus and head for a hop off spot of interest, however, using that system to get to a specific destination added at least 2 ½ hours to any activity so we really didn’t have time to visit any specific spot before we needed to be back at the hotel.  So, we rode the tour bus around to the point where we started near our hotel and got off.  We need more time to see all of the multitude of sights that are London.

We walked to the little Garrick Arms Pub where our leader again handed out our meal order cards.  While we were waiting for our meal, someone in the bar yelled that there was a bicycle parade of nude people passing by.  And, sure enough, there were literally hundreds of naked men and women riding past, most of them

Winston looking at Parliment -
electrified so pigeons can't land on his head

entirely nude!   They were protesting something like the overuse of fossil fuels for transportation.  At one point in the passing, a bar patron dropped his pants in salute to the passing throngs.  It was an amazing display of all shapes and sizes!

After dinner, we walked a short distance to a beautiful small Wyndham’s Theater where we were entertained in the best of seats by a play entitled “Relatively Speaking.”  It was a delightfully funny play.  We were also given a small bottle of champagne to enhance our enjoyment.  A fun evening.

At the conclusion, several of the group wandered though Leicester Square to Piccadilly Circus where the Saturday night crowd was gathered in a fashion similar to what we have seen in Times Square.  The lights and grandeur was, although not as extensive in NYC, bright and colorful.  We wandered through a couple of shops before the late hour began to wear on us so we left the group and headed back to the hotel.  It was a fun day.