Saturday in London

After we left our stuff at the hotel, we got directions to Buckingham Palace. We went there after a couple of wrong turns. We were going to watch the "changing of the guard". We got there more than an hour early so we walked around in Green Park. The park is quite beautiful. The daffodils were blooming as well a crocuses here and there. Most of the trees are still leafless though. Bought a 6 oz cup of coffee for 1.5 GBP, it was very good. Took some pics of the palace the fountain out front and misc and sundry other things. When the changing of the guard stated one would hardly know if they were paying attention. It turns out that it's an approximately 45 minute ceremony that is really pretty boring except for when the band played. They were quite good and we enjoyed that. The weather was quite cool and we were both chilled when the ceremony was over. And of course we were tired when it started.

After the changing of the guard we walked or somehow else got down to the area where London Bridge crosses the Thames River. London Bridge has been in the same relative location for over 2000 years. It was first constructed by the Romans for access to the city from the south and east. Not really pretty or anything but has been there for a long time. Took a few pics along the way. We crossed the bridge and ended up at the London Fire Monument. It's a couple of hundred feet tall and costs 9 GBP to walk up, we didn't. We do have some pics though.

From here we went to the Tower of London but decided not to go in because it was late in the day and wanted to have plenty of time there. So we went and did the Tower Bridge tour instead. Most people think the Tower Bridge is London Bridge because of the song London Bridge is Falling Down but that is not the case. It's the last "draw bridge" on the Thames. So talk boats can go no farther up river than London Bridge because it doesn't raise. Tower bridge has been in use for over a century and until 1972 the bridge was raised and lowered by coal fired boilers working the hydraulic systems. In '72 they replaced the boilers with electricity. The bridge is still operational today. The lower section for the roadway is the part that opens. The upper section has two pedestrian walks.

From the tower bridge we made our way back to the hotel. It was about 4:30 PM and we were really tired. We took the tube and had an interesting journey. We went the wrong way on a train at least once and moving from train to train was a challenge until you got a few things figured out. Once we got back to the hotel, checked in, dropped our bags in the room. We went and got something to eat. We were so tired we don't even remember what we had but it filled a void. Got back to the hotel and pretty much crashed. I got up at 1 AM thinking it was morning took a shower and then went back to bed. Slept in on Sunday, 'til about 8 AM.