After taking sleeping pills, we woke up & had breakfast downstairs in the hotel. We had to hurry & eat as our London sightseeing tour began at 8:30am or what would be 2:30am Idaho time. We boarded the bus with about 40 other people & had a British tour guide named Carlotta. She was very informative & very funny and sarcastic. As we drove around London, Carlotta showed us where Sean Connery, Roger Moore (both played James Bond) lived, they are actually neighbors. She also showed us where Elton John currently lives.
Our tour took us to St. Paul's Cathedral, the famous cathedral where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married (the last marriage to take place in that cathedral). You weren't allowed to take photos on the inside. The church is over 300 years old, it is the 4th church to occupy the site, it was hit with a couple of V-2 rockets in WWII.
After St. Paul's, we took a short drive to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. We stood across the street on a corner railing that faced all angles of where the guards would be coming from. There were thousands of people lining the streets. Shortly after arriving, ahead of us the band of Guardsman came. The band played in front of those coming off duty. Once they left from our right, came those coming on duty. A band played in front of them as well. They were dressed in long grey coats, a black bears helmet (for lack of a better term), and they marched with synchronized precision. I got some great pictures as they passed right in front of us.
Our morning tour ended and we only had a few minutes to eat lunch then it was off to another tour. We had Carlotta as our tour guide again. We went to Windsor Castle. This is where the Queen lives. This castle is breathtaking. This castle is over 900 years old. There were slits in the wall that allowed the guards from the inside with bows & arrows to shoot intruders. We walked to the courtyard area where there was yet another small gated fence that prevented you from going into a well manicured lawn in the middle of the castle. A guard was across the way, he did not move, just remained standing still. I couldn't do that job. There were so many beautiful things inside the castle, china, paintings, and wood work just to name a few.
After we got back to the hotel, we walked through what they call little Beirut, it is full of Islamic shops, smoking parlors and restaurants. We turned in early tonight because we need to be up early in the morning to go to Amsterdam, Holland.
No comments:
Post a Comment