London, Full of surprises...

Well another eventful day. it started early as jet lag hit me last night and I slept on and off from about 5pm to 4:30 am. By 4:30 I gave up trying to sleep and as it was light outside I decided to go for a walk. Well, the first person I meet outside the hotel is an armed policeman/guard... Not just your usual police handgun, this guy was seriously armed, looked like an assault rifle you see in the movies!! I was thinking "What happened!! I didn't hear anything". He was very polite, wished me good morning and everything. I wished him one back, I had no intention of upsetting him. I scuttled up the street, trying to appear nonchalant, when I noticed other armed police guarding a house in the square. I had a very short walk and asked the receptionist at my hotel what all the armed guards were about. She said they are always there, Tony Blair lives in the square!! So there you go, shitty hotel, but impressive neighbours. Not that the locals are all that impressed with the Blairs, see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-494672/Blairs-throw-Christmas-bash-fed-neighbours.html

After breakfast I headed off to see more of London. I started by walking through Hyde park to the lake, then down along Buckingham Castle Gardens. I saw them on the map and thought they might be nice to visit. Believe me, I was nowhere near as eager to get in as they were to keep me out... They take their royal gardens very seriously here... see picture below.



Look at those spikes...

I thought better of the whole garden thing and headed south to visit Westminster Cathedral. Once again passing Buckingham palace. I took some more pics and as I was taking my photos I heard an American voice say "Those are the columns Cindy wants, one each side" She was pointing at the palace.. My first thougth was "What is Cindy buiding and how much money does she have?"...

By the time I got to the cathedral my feet were beginning to ache, once I reached Westminster Abby they were throbbing.... Note to self, next time buy the ugly comfortable shoes... seriously, they didn't look that bad!!

From Westminster Abbey I wandered down to the Houses of Parliament and found out Big Ben is not the clock tower, but the name of the bell inside the tower, the one that chimes the hour.. Yep interesting tit bit, but it probably won't change your life..

I then toddled down to the Thames and brought a ticket for 14 pounds 50 pence that allowed me to travel all day on the boats, getting off and on whenever I pleased... I thought that was rather good value. I took a boat down the Thames to the Tower of London. What a history filled place that is, rather tragic but interesting too. I then took another boat to Greenwich village. You know where time is taken!! I visited their market and wandered around the area. Quite a nice place. The boat captain pointed out the building that has a large T shape on the roof, there is a ball on the T and every day at 12:55 pm the ball lifts to the top of the T, then at exactly 1 pm it drops, it is how people can check that their timepieces are correct to Greenwich mean time, or you could just check the radio, that works too..

It was really good travelling on the boats, the captain gives a running commentary on many of the buidings and history of the river side. I travelled on several boats and all the captains did it, it made the trip really amusing and actually educational too. I also learned that London Bridge is dead boring, the Tower Bridge though is not. I always thought they were one and the same, but no, the Tower Bridge is the nice one. It very rarely is raised these days, but today we were fortunate enought to see it, a really tall yacht needed to come down river as we were there, so bingo, I have photo's..

By the time I had finished on the river my feet were insufferable. I made my way slowly home to the hotel. I have found the slippers my daughter threw in at the last minute and if I go out at all tonight, I'm wearing them!!

I shall pop some photo's at the bottom for you to see, I hope you enjoy them

Cheers

Lones


Palace Guard


Westminster Abbey


Houses of Parliament


Tower of London


Tower Bridge


The red ball at Greenwich village, you can bearly see it, but it's there..Right in the middle at the back of the pic. The red ball is at the bottom of the T part, I just missed the drop.