Day Four: 4/26
We woke up and decided to again have breakfast at the hotel. We got up very early to take the organized sight seeing tour offered by Golden Tours. The tour guide was very good, but we ended up being disappointed by the tour. It seemed to be a little deceptive in the description versus the actual tour. Next time, we will look for tours while we are there, rather than pre-pay for a tour.
The very first stop on the tour
was Westminster Abbey. This is where they held Princess Diana’s
funeral. The most popular sight there
was the tomb of the Unknown
Soldier. One of the interesting
things about this site is that it’s the only grave you can’t walk over in the
abbey. It is surrounded with flowers.
Some very famous people are buried here like William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton,
and Geoffrey Chaucer.
After the tour of Westminster
Abby, we were off to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The
picture to the left shows the front of the palace. As you can see the flag is flying above the palace. This means that the Queen is in residence.
This was the deceptive part of
the tour description. We only saw the guard marching in the parade on their way
to the palace. We had to leave before
the guard actually changed. You will notice
in the picture to the right, that there is a person standing on something
taking pictures. This person ended up
falling off whatever it was that he was standing on.
I have included a quick mpeg video. This is the very first movie I took with my new digital camera.
After watching the beginning of the changing of the guard, we had lunch at The Albert Pub. The food was okay, nothing to write home about. “Wait, I just did!” It was a traditional pub lunch. We finished lunch and took a stroll back towards Westminster Abbey. We took some photos and then headed back to the bus tour.
A cruise on the river Thames
was next. It started to rain again –
BIG surprise J. During the cruise we got to see them raise
the Tower Bridge. It was quite a sight to see. The last time
Steve was here, he saw the Tower Bridge all lit up at night. He does not remember ever seeing it
raised.
We
disembarked at the Tower of London,
which was very interesting. We had lots
of time there so we saw the Crown Jewels, the Medieval Palace, the White Tower,
and Tower Green where the infamous beheadings occurred.
Angie
learned about the ravens that live at the Tower of London. Legend says that if the ravens ever leave,
the White Tower will fall and great disaster will befall England. The Royal Armories are located here. If you are really interested in seeing
ancient arms, this is a great place to go.
The Tower is quite an
interesting place. You can almost feel
the history of the place. The added
aura given off from the rain soaked ground and the overcast sky gave the place
a very eerie feeling.
The bus driver gave us a tour
of the ancient city of London. We saw the House of Parliament, Big Ben and the
horse guard at 10 Downing Street.
We stopped on one of the bridges to get some good pictures of the House of Parliament.
We headed to our final stop. This was St. Paul's Cathedral. It was just a small photo stop, but we decided to stay for evensong.
After listening to evensong, we took the tube over to the theater district and got great ½ price seats for the musical “Buddy” at the Strand Theater. First, we ate at an Italian restaurant called “Paradiso e Inferno” which was very good.
After the musical, we took the tube home. On the way, we decided that London has lots of Starbucks franchises and LOTS of rain.