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Published: August 8th 2008
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Tower of London
Historic palace that preceded Buckingham. It is very famous or notorious for the famous prisoners tortured and executed at this facility.
Scott and I headed out for The London Hard Rock to have dinner. When our cabbie dropped us off, there was a line down the street to get in. We decided to walk through Leicester Square to find a place to eat. We were fortunate to get an outside table and people watch. It was a lot of fun.
We decided on a scoop of ice cream for dessert. The ice cream was good. However, the point in mentioning it was the price. We each had 3 scoops in a cup….but 3 scoops was about like one scoop at Cold Stone. And you could not get any less than 3 scoops. The price was £9.95 (9.95 pounds) which equals approximately $20.00 US. So guess what? We enjoyed our $40.00 worth of ice cream in two (2) small cups with no toppings. Just plain ice cream
The pubs were happening places all over London in the evening. Interesting how people actually stand around in the street in front of the pub drinking and hanging out. It is interesting that they were all drinking beer and drinks in glasses and bottles. This is outlawed in most US cities as we tend
Royal Guard
Royal Guard at the Tower of London. to go nuts; throwing glasses, bottles, etc. The pubs were beautiful and everywhere. Legal drinking age in London: 16 years old.
Bright and early this morning, we headed out for the Tower of London. I had no idea where we were headed or what the Tower of London. It was an amazing site that had been the historical Palace of Great Britain. It was the home of the Royals before Buckingham Palace. It was also the site where many royals and people of importance were held prisoner, tortured and executed. Ann Boleyn was one of the more famous executed. This is an amazing historical site that is a must-see for London visitors. We took the self guided walking tour through the Tower. It was amazing.
Our next stop was the famous Abbey Road (re: Beatles album cover photo and studio). Of course, we had to get a photo walking across the street as if we were the Beatles. Joan and Scott were photo shy. We nabbed 2 young Brits who looked like young rockers and the “struck the pose”. It was fun. I couldn’t come to London without going to this spot and getting this photo. This is
Tim & Guard
Making a crazy face at the Royal Guard! the actual spot. Crazy! There is still a studio right on the corner…Abbey Road studio. And Paul McCartney lives right around the corner.
The next leg of today’s adventure was by cab from Abbey Road to Harrods. According to our cab driver who was quite an old crusty London guy, Paul McCartney is a bit eccentric in his old age. Kind of crabby; not a good tipper. He said Lennon was quite the normal chap; just a regular guy. So was Harrison. He used to drive George Harrison quite a bit (So he claimed). McCartney won’t ride a cab anywhere, according to the cabbie.
Harrod’s was the most swank department store I have ever seen. Off all the fancy stores in NYC, Chicago and LA, nothing comes close to matching the ‘over the top’ wealth displayed at Harrod’s. This is especially true of the cars dropping off customers out front (common cars: Bentley, Rolls Royce, Mazerati, Lamborghini, etc.). We went to the food court area of Harrods and had an ice cream. It was incredible. Again, the price was shocking. Three (3) malts and one (1) hot fudge sundae: $54.00 US. We also went to the jewelry section
Abbey Road
The Beatles have nothing on us. Does anyone know a talent scout? of Harrod’s. Having sold jewelry in a previous life, I was especially interested to price a piece that I knew to be over the top in the store. I saw tons of pieces that were like nothing I had ever seen. I was able to price a ladies diamond necklace for £2.8MM. That equates to approximately $5.6M in US. Incredible! The lady did not even know how many carats the necklace included. Or at least she did not want to bother telling me as I obviously could not afford it with my shorts and Dirtbags Baseball t-shirt!
We closed the evening with a ride on the London Eye, a large Ferris wheel just across the Thames River from Big Ben and the Parliament. This is also a ‘must’ for a London visitor. The ride is approximately 30 minutes. The 360 degree view of London is amazing.
Joan and Hunter Barnes fly back to Dallas tomorrow after a two (2) month adventure through much of Europe. Scott and I will make is as bachelors for the coming week.
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Tammy
non-member comment
oh my
drink a beer in a glass for me...... sounds like such a wonderful time.