Jolly Good Time (Continued)

On to day number two in London.
(If you read this yesterday, keep reading because I added the rest of day two to the bottom!:))

We were still on VA time and we had dark curtains in our room so we had a hard time waking up very early (to our dismay because we had limited time in London). We ended up getting quite a lot in but not nearly as much as we had hoped. We decided to go to The National Gallery first.
That's teeny tiny me in front (in orange-ish :)) We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum so the outside is all you get. :( It was neat to see a lot of famous paintings and a lot of cool paintings that aren't so famous. There were a few artists (not famous as far as I know) who came and were copying some of the paintings but adding their own variations. It was fun to see the techniques they used. One guy had it all drawn in pencil and then he just started painting from one corner going diagonally down (maybe that's how they all do it?) it was neat to watch!

Here's what we saw on our way:
When I saw this I said to Tim "They really do exist! Remember on Parent Trap (the newer one) when she uses the phone...this is what it looked like!"
This road leads to Buckingham Palace...hence all the British flags lining the streets :) (the pictures of Buckingham Palace are coming later :))
This is what the opposite direction looks like.


Next we went on a tour of the city. We hunted FOR-E-VER to find where to buy tickets and after we FINALLY found it (the street changed names half way down the block and no one bothered to mention that!) we discovered we had passed it a few times earlier that day but had no idea that is what it was! :( Well, we got to see more of the city that way, right?

We got to ride on a red double-decker bus...only ours was the cool kind that all the other busses are jealous of because it was a convertable (at least that's what the tour guide said :))


Here's what we saw on our tour. If I remember what the name is I'll write it, otherwise enjoy the pictures!
This is St. Paul's Cathedral... it is HUGE! (This is only a small part of it)


Heading onto Tower Bridge (more pictures of the entire bridge to come on day 3:))
Hyde Park (well, just a small part of it:)) for all the Logan-ites :)
This reminded me of New York...in fact London in general reminded me of NY with all the tall buildings and crowds of people.
Behind this wall and barbed wire is the Queen's private gardens (40 acres worth). I saw a tennis court and there are lots of houses that apparently some of her relatives live in.
Dun dun dun... Buckingham Palace! (Teeny tiny Tim in front:)) We jumped off the tour bus and saw it, took a bunch of pictures (as you will see) and then got back on another bus.
Tim a bit closer :)
This is in front of the palace. Outside the gates of course.
We were really bummed that we didn't get over in time to see the changing of the guards because we heard it is a must see. Oh well, next time!
Speaking of guards... here is one of the two posted inside the gate. I was actually really disappointed because I always pictured them with those big puffy black hats with the strap held on by the tip of their chin! What a BORING job though! Tim tried to zoom in on his face to see just how bored he was! :) (Just now he told me "yeah, but then I stopped because I thought 'I would hate it if this were my job and people were zooming in on my face and treating me like a statue or some other tourist attraction'" What a nice guy... but I still had to post the picture! :))
Every once in a while they would march back and forth with one hand swinging in the air and the other holding their gun. When they would turn around their knees would practically be up to their chest and they would march in place forever and then turn...it was quite rediculous looking!
Here's me in front of the palace. The next picture explains why I'm laughing ...other than just at the guards :)
Isn't this hilarious!? The sign on the back says "sale". He had about 6 different horns on his bike and he would honk every single one of them and they all sounded SO funny! About a minute after he arrived a HUGE crowd of people started pulling in on bikes. One had a little teeny trailer on the back of his bike with a boom box blaring Michael Jackson music! Someone came up close enough for us to talk to him and ask what they were doing and he said that the last Friday of the month is world wide bike day (who knew?) So they all met somewhere and rode here. He said it was his first time and didn't really know much more than that. We thought we were in for a real treat. Some sort of protest or something but nope, just out riding their bikes according to that guy!
Look how teeny this car is! It seemed like all we saw were taxis, busses, and teeny cars! Tim claims it's because England is more eco-friendly and they take less gas. In the US we like our huge gas-guzzling SUVs :)
When we got back on the cool double-decker convertable bus we saw Westminster Abbey. We were VERY sad we didn't have time to see the inside of that. That was on our list of sites to not just see but tour the inside and we just didn't have time :(
More of Westminster Abbey
It's the clock from Peter Pan! ... AKA (you should know this!) BIG BEN!
We've got plenty of pictures of this big guy :)

We got off the bus again at The London Eye. It looks like a ferris wheel and is "the worlds highest observational wheel". It is a 1/2 hour ride all the way around and we heard that they stop letting people on at 9:00pm so we jumped on right before nine thinking it would be perfect timing and we would get to see the city at dusk and when all the lights were on in the city. But, darkness didn't come fast enough and we only got to see it at dusk. Much to our dismay they were still letting people on long after we got off! They must stay open later on weekends. :( We did get some shots of the city in lights on our way back to our hotel though!

Going UP!

This is some sort of concert hall that looks like a purple upside down cow. Odd, very odd. So odd in fact that we just HAD to take a picture and show it to you! :)
London! You don't realize just how big it is when you are crammed between all the tall buildings!
Tim did a good job with this one. I think it looks cool with my hair glowing.:)

This is what the glass capsules look like that we rode in. They have a big wrap around bench but hardly anyone sat down. There was WAY too much to see!
This is looking out as we went up.
This is looking out as we went down.

(I LOVE these last four pictures!)

London's skyline.
BIG ben in lights.
The London Eye and Thames River at night.
Good night London!