| London Oct 18, Open Bus Tour |
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| A brisk and clear Saturday with nothing to do... hey, we're in London! Let's go see it! |
| So that's exactly what we did... on the Original London Sightseeing Tour - the double decker, open topped hop on hop off tour buses... The tour with the funny commentary took us from embankment, up to Trafalgar Square and on to Piccadilly Circus. Then back to Trafalgar Square, down to Big Ben and the houses of Parliament, back to Trafalgar Square, off to Kensington and Buckingham Palaces and to Marble Arch to hear the history of Speakers Corner and the Soap Box (it was illegal to have free speech if standing on the soil, so people got soap boxes from the nearby factory and stood on them to have their say - it is done to this day). We passed the site of the famous tree where they could hang up to 20 people at a time - apparently the most haunted area in London. |
| Then on to St Pauls Cathedral. Here we disembarked to experience the whispering gallery for 6 quid but alas, the roof of the dome was being restored so there was scaffolding all around the walls which would stop the effect (not to mention the thousands of people!). You are supposed to be able to whisper to the wall on one side of the dome and have someone on the opposite side here it perfectly... We heard about a few old weird laws that still exist... such as the Bermondsey Markets where it is still legal to sell stolen goods so long as its done before sunup and the law where, although pubs close at 11pm, if you ride up to a pub on a horse up to 4am, the publican must let you in and give both the horse and yourself refreshments for free. Went past the George Michael Memorial toilets... Back on the bus and into old London City to hear of the Great Fire of 1666 which demolished 80% of the city - amazing it recovered! At the end of the tour, we searched around for a place to lunch and found a great place on The Strand (meaning 'the beach' - were the Thames used to come to) and had oven fired pizzas at Zizzi'z with a weird waiter. Then we grabbed a few cocktails at Motion before boarding a cruise of the Thames. Here we got snap happy as we cruised past the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, St Pauls, Tate Gallery, National Theatre, under London Bridge, past David Blaine and turning round at Tower Bridge... |
| Our touring ended back at Embankment Pier, where we had a few more happy hour cocktails, made our way to Leicester Square and had a quick snack at a packed KFC (they don't put chicken salt on the chips here...) then stood watching the portrait artists do their work - brilliant! Off to Hogs Head where we finished off the night playing pool with some Scots, dodging the falling Jenga blocks as we did so... |
| Leicester Square by night |
| Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square |
| Big Ben |
| Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, from the top of the bus |
| St Paul's Cathedral |
| The London Eye from the Thames |
| Tower Bridge |
| The Famous London Bridge... an American bought the original, thinking he was getting a bargain - he thought it was the Tower Bridge... |