Seeing in the New Year in London

What a decision!
Where to spend New Year's Eve in London?  We knew we wanted to see the fireworks over the Thames, but where to see it? And how to get there?  It was all too hard!  Information was not easy to come by, so as always Google came to the rescue.  Finally the decision was made - a river cruise.  What a great decision that was. The cruise went for 5 hours and included champagne, food, music and dancing and the best bit, an open top for firework viewing. And viewing at it's best.  The boat - Millenium Peace - stopped near Houses of Parliament and the London Eye for an experience of a lifetime.  It is impossible to describe what happened from there because you just have to experience it.  It's life changing and unforgettable.

Whilst googling for firework information, I discovered the existence of a New Year Day Parade through London, it happened to be the Silver Jubilee of this event. How lucky were we? And it started just round the corner from our hotel - even luckier.  It was recommended to get to the parade an hour before the start because 500 000 people were expected. So like good little tourists, we did as we were told and got into position outside the Ritz on Piccadily at 11am and the waiting started. Thankfully we were opposite a Starbucks (yipee!) and we waited.  We could see all the floats getting ready and hear the bands warming up and we waited.  At noon just as we turned into iceblocks the parade started with the first of many marching bands. And for the next 2 hours we watched wave after wave of marching bands, blow up characters, marching bands, car enthusiasts, various floats and did I mention marching bands. It was fantastic and all free - well apart from the massive amounts of money we kept putting into the charity collection tins as they passed by. The Lifeboats got a lot of my money cause they were CUTE!  However, I felt a bit guilty when an elderly lady in a wheelchair came past shaking a collection tin for a hospice and I'd given all my money to the cute lifeboat man.  Luckily Pauline saved the day!