Typical Australian Tourists

Actually, probably more like typical tourists.
Sunday and Monday were spent on the hop on, hop off bus around London which included a river cruise and a ghost walk and because it is winter we got a second day free. It was excellent value for money and allowed us to see a lot of London from a lot of different angles.  Starting at Green Park, we headed around Wellington Arch, along Park Lane so we could see Hyde Park, around Marble Arch, up Baker St to Madame Tussads then to Oxford Circus and along Regent St to Piccadilly Circus.  And then everything was suddenly there - Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, House Guards, 10 Downing St, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, The Eye and then we had to get off for a rest. Why? Because the tour bus was open top, the outside temperature was about 1 degree when the bus wasn't moving and as typical tourists we sat up there!! It was freezing!!
I have to say Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are magnificent! Just the mere sight of the place makes me all warm inside. Just think how much influence that place has had in not just England, but all round the world. No not all of it was good, but decisions have been made there for centuries. And it makes you realise just how damn insignificant our little worries are.
After our break the tour continued with the Royal Courts of Justice, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Tate Modern and the Monument - oh and a 90 minute break to walk around the London Dungeons.  We had earnt another break, this time a double brandy break in the Sherlock Holmes beforing walking to Traflgar Square (and another look at Big Ben) for a quick look at the National Gallery and then meeting up for the ghost walk. Really lame ghost walk.

Day two saw us getting off the bus more often to explore some of the famous landmarks; firstly Westminister Abbey where we saw the tomb of Elizabeth the First (just get your head round that for a minute), a better walk around the Houses of Parliament, the Horse Guards and Downing St. Of course you can't actually get near anything in Downing St.  An interesting observation of the horse guards - the police guard them; so the police guard the guards that are guarding the Queen!!! To finish the day we had our photo taken with Prince William and Prince Harry who were very obliging - maybe cause they were made of wax!

For the past two days we have been out and about on foot to fill in some of the gaps that we missed on the bus tour - Buckingham Palace, a ride on the Eye (great view of the Houses of parliament and Big Ben), the Natural History Museum and the Tate Modern Gallery. I learnt something very important during all this - I don't like modern art, I really don't like modern art! To top the day off yesterday we took ourselves on a ghost tour around Newgate where the infamous Newgate Prison once stood.  Creepy, but that's the subject of another blog!

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!