Summer Adventures 2019 Part 2 - London

On our second and last full day in London, we tried to cram as much as we could into it. As luck would have it, someone was in town, but we decided to go with the on/off bus and hope for the best. There was a pick up point at the train stain just up the street from our motel, so we walked a few blocks and caught our bus. Coming from the desert it was a chilly overcast day, but it was a treat to see clouds.

As we crossed the London Bridge, we had a lovely view of the Tower Bridge (and as I sung in my head, luckily, neither bridge fell down).

Our first stop off the on/off bus was the Tower of London.

 

We learned about the Legend of the Tower ravens. Apparently, there are six ravens always in residence at the tower. Legend has it - if all the ravens fly away or die then London will fall....

We also saw the raven cemetery.

At the top of the hour, we saw the guards doing that British march.

We saw the sparkly baubles belonging to kings and queens of the the past. 

We saw some creepy heads flanking some windows.

Someone was really excited about seeing the prison section (I don't understand either).

We then headed down to the Thames River as our on/off included a boat ride from the Tower to the Big Ben clock. While we were waiting on the boat, we saw the Tower Bridge open up as it is a draw bridge!

We then went under the London Bridge....if you weren't sure - it is marked underneath. 

Big Ben was under renovations, so we really couldn't see what it looked like. We also saw another gargoyle like creepy face on the side of a building.

We then hopped off at the Buckingham Palace stopped. I feel like pictures from my childhood, people had photos taken right next to the guards....now you have to use the zoom to appear you were close. No more standing close and trying to make them break their stoic pose.

The Royal Standard flag was over Buckingham....which means the Queen was in residence that day!

Clarissa really enjoyed the palace and took extra time to take it all in. Due to a certain someone in town, the Mall was lined with American flags in addition to England's Union Jacks. We joked and pretended it was for us...lol.

We had some lunch at the original Hard Rock Cafe (it is a bit of a running joke with my brother-in-law) and then headed around town a bit more on the on/off bus. 

We hopped off around the Victoria Theatre area to check out a couple souvenir shops. This is when we did a little divide and conquer. Richard and Clarissa got back on the on/off bus and saw some more of the city; headed to dinner; and went on a Starbucks mug acquisition mission.

While Mason got an early birthday present! We got to the theatre with some time to spare. So we got some dinner across the street 

Much excitement and joy was experienced! It was a packed house for the show, so I was glad I booked our tickets several months in advance as soon as we knew our travel plans.

The next morning, we walked down to Kings Cross Station. We didn't see any students rushing around with owls on carts to find Platform 9 3/4, but we did see a lot of people hustling to work.

After we walked around stretching our legs, we headed back to our motel to get our bags, and called the taxi for the airport. Our 72 hours in London was up and we were headed to Charleston!