By the time we got back to London from paris, it was lunchtime. Jay and I had found the borough markets when we were in London last, so it was time to head back there while walking along the south bank. We had a surprise in store for lunch in the form of an ostrich burger….yuummmm delish! Dad gave his seal of approval! The burgers are so yummmm and full of flavour. We also taste tested some other foods and then unfortunately we had to drag ourselves away from the food to move on……..
As dad hadn’t been back to London in quite some time, we decided it would be worthwhile for all of us to do the ‘big red bus’ around London. The bus is a great way to put things in perspective and to work out what is near what and what tube stations are near the sights and also the distance between different landmarks. We saw lots of sights such as the changing of the guard, Prime Ministers house in Downing street, Trafalgar square, green park, the marble arch, st pauls cathedral, tower bridge and tower of London. The big bus tour also included a river cruise that went all the way up to Greenwich and back. The guide on the boat was politically incorrect and he had a story about every pub up the river and what to do with the kids while you were at the pub….
The next few days in london were spent going back to some of the sights that we had skipped on the big red bus. We went to the Buckingham palace state rooms which are only open a few months of the year and jay and I went and knocked on the queens door for some tea, but unfortunately she wasn’t home….It took quite a few hours to go through the state rooms and there was a special exhibition on the royal wedding to mark the 60th wedding anniversary of queen Elizabeth. They had all the wedding outfits, including her wedding dress and various gifts that they had received. We were also able to walk through the gardens and buy some tacky royal souvenirs on the way out!
Next day, it was time to explore and climb St Pauls Cathedral and what a climb it was. I wasn’t sure that I was going make it as towards the top that stairs are actually wire mess and it’s a long way down…! As you can see from the photos, we did have a beautiful and sunny clear day so when we got to the top we could see a lot of London. We also were given a free tour of the cathedral by one of the friends of st pauls, she was a gorgeous little old lady, but she did seem to keep tuning out of this world and staring into space….but she knew a lot when she came back to earth. St Pauls has recently been cleaned and all the stone work has gone back to its original colour and the roof is all tiled with mosaics which again, are stunning!
After St Pauls, we had one last attraction to see and that was the tower of London where the crown jewels are kept. They actually have travelators in where the crown jewels are so that you can’t stand for too long in front of them! We had one of the beefeaters take us around on quite an amusing tour, but still with lots of historical knowledge.
And, yet again it was time to farewell London discover Northern Ireland!!
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