Hello, London!

This morning we had a bus tour through the city. We hit up a lot of points of interest and since it was a Sunday, traffic was lighter and we got to see more than normal. At least according to the tour guide.

Unfortunately I only remember a few of the things we saw.

1. The neighborhood in which Sean Connery lives
2. Westminster Abbey
3. Buckingham Palace
4. Parliament
5. The Eye
6. Some monument that Queen Victoria had erected in honor of Albert

#6

#2

#3


We were supposed to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham, but there was some kind of stupid race going on that stopped them from doing their normal thing.

After the bus, we found a place to eat, then walked toward the Eye. It was completely and ridiculously packed with people, but there were street performers and music, and it was cool, even though it meant we didn't get to ride it So we just walked around a little bit before deciding we didn't want to wait and left to see the Horse Guard. We did get to see them switch out the two on duty horses. They were very pretty, very, very well behaved horses.


Then we walked around St. James Garden. There were alot of water birds, including the most enormous pelicans we had ever seen. Their legs were like 1" thick. We also saw a crazy bird man with pigeons all over his arms.


We went by Downing Street to try to see No. 10. There it is, from the other side of the gates.


We went looking for a pub to rest our feet and ended up just down from the hotel at the Sherlock Holmes pub. Cute little place.

After a restorative cider, Jeff decided he would go back to the hotel, and Brian, Pat and I decided to make our way to Covent Garden. We made it up there all right, however, Brian was apparently under the impression that it was an actual garden, even though the tour guide very clearly said it was a shopping place.

Brian was a good sport, though and walked around anyways. After that, we decided to try to find an actual garden or park. On the way to find a tube to get to Hyde Park, we ended up finding a cute little garden with a whole bunch of sling chairs.



We went back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner, and then went to an Indian food restaurant to try the Chicken Tikka. On the way to the restaurant we saw a cool street performer who was playing a euphonium with fire coming out of it.

Here is what the restraint looked like.

And here is my food!

It was at least as good as Masala Wok. This place was called Masala Zone and they called the Chicken Tikka Masala "Butter Chicken." Which was confusing, but still delicious.

After that it was off to bed. Tomorrow me and B are going on a Special Access Stonehenge tour which we are super excited about.

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Location:London