England! Day Five

Flyboy and I returned from London this afternoon and I can categorically say, without hesitation, that is the most amazing city I have ever visited.  The architecture was beyond belief.  The transportation system makes moving 7,000,000 people around a relatively small spot of land seem somewhat effortless.  The city is kept spic-and-span all of the time.  And of course, the history is everywhere.  We could have easily stayed another day at the very least, and there were several things we hated to leave without seeing (like the British Museum), but we just ran out of time and energy.

Today, our last day in London, there were labor union workers demonstrating in the city (kinda felt like home) and we were wondering for a bit how we'd get back to Bicester when they closed down the trains.  Fortunately, an alternate mode of transportation (a coach bus) was readily available and we made it back without a hitch.  We were pretty pleased with ourselves for figuring out the underground system and finding our way around the city, but truthfully, it is very well laid out.

We took the tours at the Tower of London and at Westminister Abbey and they were worth every cent.  We also took the double decker bus tour of the city, which included a boat tour on the Thames.  Given our short visit we felt the bus tour would give us the best overview, and that proved to be the case.  It also allowed us to get off and on wherever we wanted and that gave us an added advantage in trying to fit the most into the least amount of time.  We stayed at a unique B&B - it was a row house in Belgravia (which is actually a very uppity area, but our accommodations were quite affordable) that was very narrow and four stories high.  We were on the third floor of four, which in England is known as the 2nd floor (ground, 1st, 2nd, etc.), and the dining room where we ate our traditional English breakfasts of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, baked beans and fried tomatoes, was in the basement.  Our innkeepers were delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed them.  Derek even put a board under Flyboy's side of the bed, which made our second night much better for him.

I can't begin to post all of the pictures I took, but I'll try to hit the highlights.

Here's Flyboy, figuring out our route.

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 Waiting for our first underground train.

 Victoria Station.

First stop, the Tower of London.

Peter the Beefeater was most entertaining.

On our bus tour, we saw hundreds of buildings as fabulous as this one.

Piccadilly Circus - which is not really a circus at all.  "Circus" is Latin for circle, and Piccadilly Circle is a section of the city that is literally in a circle.  You can see how that would look by viewing this curved building.

This is at Trafalgar Square - an Olympic countdown clock.

A shot from the boat of the Tower Bridge.

Cruising underneath the London Bridge.

Fish and chips!

Long story, but this is Green Park, called such because of a jealous queen who had the royal gardener rip out all the flowers.

Approaching Buckingham Palace!

 

 

This is a Scotch egg - a hardboiled egg surrounded by a pork breading.

Westminister Abbey - photographs inside the Abbey are not allowed, but probably wouldn't begin to do it justice anyway.  It was the most incredible edifice I have ever beheld.

 

The bed and breakfast where we stayed.

 

A memorial to those who died in the Battle of Britain.

 Big Ben and the House of Parliament.

A statue of Abraham Lincoln in London!  

 Westminister Cathedral.

We got back to Bicester this afternoon in time for a trip to the park with our two favorite five-year-olds.