After our great day at Windsor then seeing the Tower of London and wrapping up the day with our walk down the River Thames on the Queen's Walk, we were ready to take in as much of London as possible on this beautiful Wednesday. We stopped at a bagel shop across from the Premier Inn and had a light breakfast egg, bacon & cheese bagel sandwich that was pretty different than the one's in the States but ever so yummy. After our breakfast, we walked around the corner and at the entrance of the Westminster bridge we bought our tickets on The Original Tour double decker bus to ride and get the highlights of London. Then we could venture off on our own later. We got a bus that was not filled yet and we were able to get those prized seats on the open-air top level. The day was just right for this tour, very comfortable weather. We started by passing Waterloo Station and soon approached St. Paul's Cathedral, well known for the marriage site of Diana and Prince Charles.St. Paul's Cathedral
We were now passing sights that we had walked past on our own little walking tour, but now finding out a lot of information on those sites. We passed the London Bridge and had a great view of the London City Hall. It's pretty remarkable to see such modern structures mixed with hundreds of years old buildings, but fitting in so well. From the front, the City Hall building does really look like Star Wars Darth Vader's helmet!London City Hall
We continued to see various sites while driving over London Bridge, past City Hall, over Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London, past the Shakespeare Old Globe Theater, Parliament, Big Ben and seeing a great view of the London Eye.Driving over Tower Bridge
The London Eye
As we wove through the streets of London, there were small wonders to our eyes ... little local churches that seemed centuries old tucked in the neighborhoods, little designs on buildings, flower baskets, and the general architecture that abounds.Neighborhood Church
Sailing Ship decorating a building entrance
We passed Speaker's Corner and several monuments getting to see the London Marble Arch.Speaker's Corner
Chariot at Memorial
The Marble Arch was to be at Buckingham Palace. But the story goes that Queen Victoria was not impressed with it so had her coaches built wider so that they could not go through it. As the coaches were unable to go through the arch, it could not be at the Palace, just as the Queen had planned; the Marble Arch was then placed away from Buckingham Palace quite a ways down the street!London Marble Arch
We also passed the famous Langham Hotel where many notables have stayed ... political and entertainment types. Famous for the Richard Burton - Elizabeth Taylor stays. It has hosted a wide variety of Heads of State and political leaders along with the Hollywood legends over the years.The Langham Hotel
As we viewed the city, throughout you can see many items with crowns on them. Some of the most notable are the street lights with miniature crowns. These denote that the Monarch receives a portion of the proceeds from the land and shops on these streets where the crowned lights are. This assists the Monarch with their living expenses and gives money for them to live.Crowned Street Lamps
One of the busy tourist and work places in he City of London is Piccadilly Circus. There are a wide variety of shops and a real fascinating discovery zone to go through. The Eros Statue stands in one of the intersections of Piccadilly Circus.Piccadilly Circus
Continuing on we passed the National Gallery, a park by Trafalgar Square with a Giant Bottle with an enclosed ship, fountains, Trafalgar Square, The Baden Powell (Boy Scout founder) Home, Prince Albert Hall, a bunch of museums including the British Museum, Hyde Park, Downing Street (the home of the Prime Minister) and much more. The Ship in a Bottle is a sculpture of Nelson's flagship the HMS Victory. The sculpture considers the relationship between the birth of the British Empire, made possible by in part by Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, and multiculturalism in Britain today.Bottle with a Ship
Fountains
Trafalgar Square
Home of the British Prime Minister 10 Downing Street
Our next stop was to get off of the bus and start some foot traffic sight-seeing. We departed at Buckingham Palace at the Palace Shops. We walked around some of that famous Buckingham Palace wall which is renown for either keeping the public and unwanted strangers out or keeping Prince Philip in ... your choice, but most Britons that we spoke to go with the second! The Palace gates and fence are just beautiful with Buckingham Palace behind. The yard is all gravel with the daily changing of the Guards that is about a hundred or so marching around; no chance for grass to grow!The Palace fence
Buckingham Palace
Larry & Mary Anne at Buckingham Palace Gates
In front of the Palace is the Queen Victoria Memorial in all of it's splendor. It's really big and quite impressive as it should be to honor the longest ruling Monarch in British history.The Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace
As the day was wearing on we needed to get some lunch. Across the side street to the palace we saw the" Bag 'O Nails" Pub sign that just said to us "this is the place to eat"! ... it was just soooo English! We were not disappointed with Larry's Scampi and Mary Anne's Po-Boy sandwich.Bag 'O Nails
After lunch we entered the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace. Here are the stables for all of the royal horses, the storage of the Royal Carriages and Limousines, all in a working facility. The caregivers of the horses and maintaining the Mews live in the apartments above the stables. These are the cleanest stables that we have ever seen. There is no odor of any kind on the grounds ... quite a feat in itself!The Mews Story
The Royal Coaches or Carriages are spectacular. Each is maintained to perfection including a bare-bones strip annually and meticulously repainting even down to the hand brush details. The insides are luxurious ... fit for a Queen or King! Don't miss all of these great Coaches in our album. There is a descriptive sign for each. We recommend that you enlarge each of these on your screen and read about each then view the coach; you won't be sorry that you took the time! Here are a couple from the album:State Landau coach
The Irish State Coach
The ultimate in elegance is the Gold State Coach which is used for the Corination of the Monarch. Queen Elizabeth II had her corination in 1952. In 1977 the coach was re-gilded to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee. It is completely Gold Gilded with detailed pictures on the doors that could be in an art gallery. There is no drivers seat on the coach due to it's size. This size of a coach is led by four horses in two teams that each of the teams has a coach rider directing the pulling of the coach. Rather unusal from the norm that we are used to. We tried our best to get as good pictures as possible, but photography does not do this coach justice.
The Gold State Coach
The Gold State Coach
The Royal Mews also has an arena to practice and train the horses. This arena was used by Queen Victoria for her children to learn to ride and is known as the Riding School. The inernet has so much material that if you get into it all we imagine a lifetime could be spent reading! The link to the royal collections is at www.royalcollection.org.uk if interested.
It was back onto the bus for a ride back to our hop-on point by the Premier Inn after we got off and took our included boat tour down the River Thames. On our way we passed the "Her Majesty's Theater" (where currently The Phantom of the Opera is playing) one of London's premier theaters to see live plays. The very interesting fact about this theater is that it changes names with the rulers. Before Queen Elizabeth, the theater was "His Majesty's Theater" and after Elizabeth's death will once again change from "Her" to "His". Pretty interesting trivia, eh?Her Majesty's Theater
It was back onto the bus for a ride back to our hop-on point by the Premier Inn after we got off and took our included boat tour down the River Thames. On our way we passed the "Her Majesty's Theater" (where currently The Phantom of the Opera is playing) one of London's premier theaters to see live plays. The very interesting fact about this theater is that it changes names with the rulers. Before Queen Elizabeth, the theater was "His Majesty's Theater" and after Elizabeth's death will once again change from "Her" to "His". Pretty interesting trivia, eh?Her Majesty's Theater
The boat tour pretty much took us down the path we had walked from The Tower of London to The London Eye. But we were on the river and had a new perspective and a great narration by one of the boat crew. we went up to the Tower Bridge which gave a great photo opt in our album. We were able to get closer than before to one of the newer office building in London fondly called "The Gherkin" ... it does resembly a pickle, be it very a very modern interpretation. We loved the look."The Gherkin"
Once departed from the boat, we walked back the short distance to the Premier Inn. We passed a fabulous relief-designed dedication memorial to the troops who have fought for the British in all of the wars. The monument has an inscription by Winston Churchill.War Memorial
We shot some souvenier pictures on our walk"Fishes" on the lamp posts
Mary Anne at a famous British Red Telephone Booth
Our own President Lincoln Memorial in London
Us with Big Ben
We came close to the end of our walk at Westminster Abby. We walked around the grounds and marveled at the structure.Westminster Abby
Across the street in St. James Park was a dedication statue to Winston Churchill. All of this is close to the Houses of Parliament and in fact, Westminster Abby has been known as the church of the Parliament.Winston Churchill
Finishing up our day, walking back towards our hotel, we found a small Italian restaurant that was just about to close. In the middle of the street by the restaurant was a memorial that I walked over an took a look at. It was the British Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ... no one is buried there, but a memorial. It respects all of the various war heros.Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
We enjoyed our Italian dinner ... Mary Anne an enormous chicken salad and Larry a great Lasagne. We finished up with a fabulous Apple Pie to end our fabulous day exploring London. We look forward to tomorrow with more adventures and meeting up with Sandra and Ray once again!
Apple Pie
Apple Pie
This was a big day so there are many more pictures in the album that we hope you take a look at by clicking here.
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