After a good night's sleep thanks to wonders of modern chemistry, we headed out to see the sights. We got on one of the tour busses and took the tour. It is great way to see the city with a guide identifying the major sights and giving you some other history.
On our way to the tour bus, we walked by a memorial to animals killed in war.
What you can't see in this picture are the wreaths layed on the step along the monument with artificial flowers and dedications. One of them that was readable was dedicated to all the dogs, especially Irish terriers who died in war. It was from www.weloveirishterriers.com. I don't know about you, but I
(Chuck) found that a bit bizarre. People do love their animals Charles. (Caroline)
We drove down London's main shopping district. As
happens in other big cities, they will do pretty much anything to get people to come into their store. Theses people were outside getting attention for a toy store. Many of the stores were the same names as we are used to, including Starbucks.
I mentioned yesterday about the juxtaposition of the old and new. Here is a perfect example of that.
We saw many of the famous sites: Nelson's column, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster, Westminster Abbey (where Princess Diana's funeral was held), Big Ben, the London Eye, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and others.
We had a pretty dreadful lunch at cafe near Westminster. I knew better to eat near a huge tourist attraction, but we were hungry. The food was not only bad, but it was expensive. In fact, London is a pretty expensive town for sure.
We went to Buckingham palace
where we found out that the apartments don't open for public viewing until late July. We went to the shop where Caroline noticed the odd fact that Diana was not in evidence at all. No postcards of her, nothing. Lots of pictures of Charles and the "Rottweiler" as Caroline calls Camilla.
In the afternoon we went to Kensington Palace where some of the Royal Family lives and toured the old King's apartments where William and Mary lived among others. Very impressive. In this picture,
Caroline is standing on the King's staircase, a very impressive entry to the King's apartments for sure. It is hard to imagine living in such opulence as they did, and I don't think I would want to try.
We walked from the palace to our hotel across Hyde Park where we saw the memorial
fountain to Princess Diana. The fountain is a circular stream that runs both directions from a high point and ends in a small pool. It was not easy to capture in a photo.
