A full day in London

It has been a huge day!! We started out with a "traditional English breakfast". This included back bacon, scramble eggs, pastries, and baked beans. These looked just like pork and beans from a can - for breakfast?!? Mike thought it was good. Maybe I'll try it tomorrow. We headed for a walk through St. James park to buy tickets for Buckingham Palace. The weather is still amazing and a huge crowd had the same idea about the palace. After getting our tickets and knowing we had some time before entry we headed out to find Portobello road. Think "bed knobs and broom sticks" - yes it's a real place. After a fairly obnoxious attempt at using the tube we opted for a taxi to the road. Then we thought we'd be adventurous and rent bikes to ride back to the palace. Thankfully the kiosk at the bike rental was broken and we came to our senses and took a cab back to the palace. Our driver took us by the Royal Albert Hall - think "a day in the life" by the Beatles - for a photo op and then to Harrods for a pic. Then onto Buckingham Palace.

It was amazing!!! It is so ornate and historic. The wedding dress recently worn was on display with the accompanying audio tour describing the dress and the video display of how and who made it. People were swarming the display and to see the bouquet and cake. These people take their royals very seriously. But the palace was still really neat.

Afterward we had the world's worst fish and chips. Ah well. And walked to Westminster abbey. Total surprise. I thought it was a big church but I guess anyone who's anyone that is dead is there. Crazy huge monuments, floor plaques, and a lot of dead people. It was impressive. There were cute school kids on a field trip sitting in the choir loft. I asked them if they were going to sing. They weren't. Listening to their denials in British accents was fun!

After the abbey we headed to the Thames for a river tour. This was a fun way to see the city. We saw the Harry potter movie bridge, the globe theatre and the HMS Belfast - a big ship. The tour ended at the tower bridge and then we heded to the tower of London. This was an exepected fun spot. We climbed through this medieval castle wall, up and down stone staircases and small halls. Built in 1066!!! We visited with a very nice beefeater and saw the crown jewels. All very interesting.

We took at cab over to St. Paul's. Although we were too late to go inside the outside is so fantastic it was worth the trip. Kids-it's the church from Mary Poppins that has the bird lady outside. Neat!!

We finally took the tube to Picadelly circus for dinner. We opted for an Indian restaurant that was really good. We walked around the west end for a bit, bought the kids some trash and thought a night bus tour sounded fun. We bought tickets and walked to the bus stand. The time for the bus to come came and went. We started to think we had just bought beach property in Kansas when the ticket seller came walking up. He said that another customer had complained that the bus never showed and he wanted to check on us and give us a refund if we hadn't seen a bus. What a good chap!! He is just a kiosk guy with postcards and knick knacks and had no real affiliation with the tour company which was new. Faith in humanity restored.

We bought some sweets, a tin of biscuits (saving one for you Tanner), came back to our room and are watching James Bond on BBC4.

And that is just day one!!!!