On a personal note ...

Whenever I have visitors and they say they want to go to London, my heart usually sinks a little; BUT yesterday I had  a truly marvellous day with my friend Joke (pronounced Yo-ka) from Holland, who I've not seen since 2012!

Our day began with me having us sit on the wrong train and only realising when I saw the Victoria train leave from the platform opposite!!  Well, it all worked out in the end because a few minutes later a train that had been delayed arrived and because it was so late made a straight run through to London!!!  The conductor insisted on showing us the evidence of a tree on the track to prove why the train was so late.

We had purchased tickets for the hop on-hop off day trip with the Big Bus Tours but decided, initially, to walk to Buckingham Palace.  I was soooooooooooooo excited when I realised that we'd arrived just in time to see the Changing of the Guard :-)

We then took the bus from Buckingham Palace Road to Covent Garden.  On route we saw Westminister Abbey, Big Ben (surrounded by scaffolding), the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

Matt earns himself an employee of the day award for being the most entertaining tour guide

- as well as a fountain of interesting facts!! 

We were actually very impressed by the service we got from the Big Bus Tour and the helpfulness of various staff that we met.

At Covent Garden it was time for a quick coffee and a look around, and the purchase of a new hat each :-)

Unfortunately, we just missed a bus from Covent Garden, so decided to walk to St Paul's and pick up from there ...

New hats!!

From St Paul's the bus took us over London Bridge, round the Shard and back over Tower Bridge to the Tower of London (home of the Crown Jewels).

 

Our tour then included a boat trip from Tower Pier back to Westminister Bridge.

Taken from the boat.

 

Rather than wait for a bus, we had a wander around Parliament Square, then walked to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

 

 

Passing Downing Street and Horseguards on route ...

F

Finally, we jumped back on the bus and went to Harrods.

From Harrods it was a 20 minute walk back to Victoria, where we managed to get a train almost immediately. Our day was rounded off with an Indian take-away :-) What more could you ask for!!!