Saturday 27 June 2009

We slept like logs and woke up feeling fresh at 06:30. We had an early breakfast and then set off for our bus tour of London. On the way to the bus stop we spent some time in Trafalgar Square. It was early, so everything was very quiet and peaceful.

We saw all the major tourist spots from the bus. The tour we took was with “The Original Tour”, a hop-on, hop-off bus - a great way to see all the major sights in a short space of time.

A pretty pub

Houses of parliament and Big Ben

I particularly enjoyed driving over Tower Bridge, something I’ve always wanted to do!

We got off the bus at Marble Arch and had lunch at a McDonalds (I know, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it!)

After lunch we set off to catch a tube to the Tower. It was at this point that I realised I had lost my purse! Panic! After some thought I realised that it must have been left at Leicester Square tube station, in the shop where we had topped-up our oyster cards (prepaid card for the tubes, highly recommended). We headed back there and, amazingly (well to us South Africans anyway), the shop-owner had kept it for me, and there it was, safe and sound. Relief!

Grant then headed back to the hotel, to check once again whether Rox’s luggage had arrived. The rest of us set off for the Tower. We realised just how hot England can actually get as we waited in the queue to get in. Fortunately I had booked our tickets on-line, so we were in the Fast Track queue. We didn’t have to wait too long and soon found ourselves on a guided tour of the tower, with one of the yeoman warders - a very interesting and entertaining chap. We spent some time in the church where Anne Boleyn is buried, ogled the crown jewels and heard how Guy Fawkes and many other poor souls were drawn and quartered….eeuw!By this time Grant had met up with us, still no luggage! Getting a bit nervous about heading off on tour tomorrow with Rox with no luggage….!

Then it was off to catch a river cruise (included in the price of our bus tour) to Greenwich. I LOVED the cruise. We sat downstairs and had a drink (more cider!) while listening to a fantastic guide telling us all about the river Thames and the interesting buildings along the way. This guy grew up in the area and you could hear his passion for it in his commentary.

At Greenwich we met up with Jeanne, who blogs at Cooksister. It was SO nice to meet up with her in person after following her blog for so long. Can you believe that neither of us thought to get a photo?! We watched some Morris dancers, ambled around a lovely market in Greenwich and then went and had a drink and got to experience a UK thunderstorm, hail included! I’d love to have spent more time with Jeanne, one brief afternoon was not enough!

Morris dancers

After a looong tube ride back to our hotel, we discovered that Rox’s luggage had FINALLY arrived! We grabbed a quick supper in the hotel (delicious Lamb Rogan Josh) and headed to bed, exhausted! There was a letter waiting for us in our room, telling us what time to be at breakfast and giving us details about our tour. It suddenly seems real!