Wednesday Sept 19 – Third Full Day in London

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Today was another busy but fun day of touring in London. But let’s start at the beginning. We woke up a little after 8:00 and went down to breakfast about 9:00. We have gotten used to the same breakfast each day, but the good news is that David can anticipate what Janet wants while she makes her tea. The room was crowded at first with a lot of new faces, but there still was a place for us.

Our plan for today was well defined by events but not by schedule. All we knew for sure was that we had the rest of the morning to lounge around the room and read or watch English TV. There are a couple of British games shows are based on trivia questions so they really appeal to Janet. David doesn’t know hardly any of the answers so he was reading.

We left the hotel room and flagged down a taxi at 12:30. It got us to the Kensington Palace pickup point for the Big Bus Tour. We rode the same “Blue Bus” route as yesterday but David had his own headphones today and could hear a lot better. Janet says the recording actually had more info too, so maybe his hearing wasn’t so bad after all.

We got off at Marble Arch and caught the “Orange Tour”. This was actually a shortened route than the “Red Tour” yesterday, but it gave us a second look at some things and some new things. Anyway, our main objective was to get to the London Eye fairly early, but not too early. It was hard to guess how long each segment would take but we knew we needed to be there before 4:00. It worked out that we got there about 3:10.

We had tickets for the scenic river cruise up the Thames River. David thought we would be able to board the skip on the London Eye side of the river (based on the brochure) but 4 different people were asked and they ALL said we had to walk back across Westminster Bridge and down a long set of steps to Winchester Pier. The walk was pretty tiring for Janet and hard on her ankle, but we made it by3:30. This was good because the boat was just pulling in soon after we got to the end of the pier. After we boarded they announced that the 4:00 cruise had been cancelled because of high winds and this was the final cruise going all the way to Greenwich.

When the boat sailed, it cruised directly across the river to the London Eye pier where a bunch of other people boarded the boat. Anyway, Janet was settled in on the lower level and David had a good position on the upper deck. For about 20 minutes the boat cruised up the river until it reached Tower Pier, with assorted commentary along the way. We eventually got them loaded and the boat cruised under Tower Bridge and further up river. At this point David came down to sit with Janet and cruise the next 30 minutes to Greenwich.

We had originally planned to get off and explore for a while, but since there were no more boats going back down river, we only had the 20 minutes they gave us before sailing again. Janet stayed on the boat and rested her ankle while David tried to make a quick dash to the Observatory and to stand on the Prime Meridian Line. We wanted a photo of us standing with one foot on each side of the line but that wasn’t possible in the available time. David found a guide on shore who said the Observatory was a 15 minute walk through town and up the hill. You can do the math and understand why he didn’t get there – he sure didn’t want to miss the last boat back to London.

We sailed back to Tower Pier, and then Westminster Pier, and stayed on until London Eye Pier. So there! We made our way up the walkway to the shore and along the bank to a restaurant. We had a couple of snacks but no real lunch. By now it was close to 7:00. Janet got a large hot dog and Hot Tea while David got Fish and Chips (we shared the chips). We ate as much as we wanted and then hurriedly headed further up the back to another large flight of stairs back up to the main road when we got off the bus in the first place.

Our next tour was “Panoramic London by Lights” and the us boarded exactly at 7:30. We have never done a nighttime tour and it was interesting. Actually we got off before the tour was over but we were at Marble Arch again. At the point we were able to catch the “Purple Tour”, which was actually a “take them back home” ride by the bus company. They only took us back to Kensington Palace stop, but that was a lot closer than we would have been back at London Eye. In theory we could get back using the Underground, but Janet’s ankle was really hurting so this was the right choice. We flagged down a taxi and he brought us back to the hotel. We got back a little before 9:00.

So our two days of touring have been very interesting. We had windier weather today with partial overcast, but it wasn’t too cold until we got on the river and then after dark. So we are happy with the tours and were lucky with the after effects of Storm Helene.

Now we are back in the room and settled down for the night. We are pretty tired and should sleep well tonight.

We have not heard anything about Abigail’s broken collarbone, but we hope that No News is Good News. We did get a picture from Valerie showing her 3 kids have cheap Slushies because the Cardinals had scored a lot of runs. Tessa looks like she was trying to make a smile, but it just wasn’t working. Valerie did confirm the surgery would be next Thursday but she did not know the time yet. We did get some interesting “new house” pictures from Elizabeth too.

Pictures today were added the next day - sorry but we were too tired this evening.

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Photos

Statue of Shelock Holmes
where we changed "orange buses" at Baker St Station

Harry Potter actors
outside Hamley Toy Store - claims to be largest in the world.

London Eye at Night
from moving bus in the dark - what did you expect?

Comments

[Jerry and Joyce]

Around the city!
Good job with minuvering around the city.