Sunday in London

Sunday was a very busy day. We began with breakfast at the hotel. It was very good and we were starving after going to be so early. Our initial outing today was to go to the town of Westminster. It is in London but that's what the area is called. The tube we needed to take to Westminster was closed for new track so we took the surface transport, a double decker bus, to Westminster Abbey. The Abbey is closed for tours on Sunday and Monday so we didn't get into the abbey but it sure is beautiful from the outside. On the grounds with the abbey is St. Margaret's Church which is also quite large and beautiful. We will have to come again to get inside of these churches.

On the opposite side of the street from Westminster Abbey is the clock tower known as Big Ben (that's really the bell inside the tower) and the Houses of Parliament. The building are both stunning and probably the most recognized landmarks in all of London. The Parliament building is closed on Sundays and there are only tours of the clock tower in the summer. Non-British citizens must apply for entry to Parliament building through their respective embassy or consulate.

From here we crossed Westminster Bridge and took a spectacular ride on the Eye of London. The morning was bright and sunny and we had a wonderful view of much of London as we took the half hour circular journey that was probably the highlight of the whole trip. It is worth every penny of the admission fee which is more than I can say for many of the attractions. We bought our tickets and walked right on but in the summer (high season) that may not be the case. You can get advance tickets on the web for the Eye. Pictures are posted in an album on Picasa or soon will be. We met a local man and his son on the Eye and they recommended that we take a river cruise down to Greenwich.

From the Eye of London we went to the London Aquarium. The place is under construction so the tickets were half price but much of it was not available for viewing. Should be really cool after Easter when they get it all done. We still enjoyed the time we spent in the exhibit.

We did take the river cruise and it too was well worth the price. We just should have done it in the morning so we could have spent the day in Greenwich instead of just a few hours. Not many pictures from the cruise as we just sat back, listened and enjoyed the trip down river. The captain of the boat did a running commentary as we went down the Thames. It was humorous, informative, and very enjoyable. When we left the boat we walked into Greenwich and poked around a little and had lunch. After lunch we went up the hill to the National Observatory. It just happens to lie on the Prime Meridian. This is obviously where Greeenwich Mean Time come from. Book have been written on the significance of time in the world of navigation so I won't dwell on it here. Movements of the moon and stars were also charted an studied at this observatory. I could have spent a whole day just in this one location. They have a wonderful planetarium here that I had no time to see.

The cruise back up to Westminster Pier was very pleasant and quiet, no commentary going up river. When we left the boat we made our way back to the hotel. We cooled our jets for a little time and then went to an English Tavern for dinner on the recommendation of our receptionist. The atmosphere was quaint and the food was excellent as was the wine.