Monday, July 27, 2015

Go West! (Minster) Part II


June 29th, Continued...

     So, this turned out to be our busiest day in London...

     Having spent a wonderful morning at Westminster Abbey, we proceeded to find somewhere for lunch,all the while taking in the sites of Big Ben and the House of Parliament.  I'll skip the sordid details, but the conclusion was that Dan and I will never go on The Amazing Race together, or if we did, we'd be the most entertaining couple on there, and not in a good way. Suffice to say that after much walking and getting lost, we finally found a recommended pub on our list to eat lunch at (thank you Rick Steves for producing amazing travel books with superb recommendations!).  We ate at the Red Lion Tavern where Matt enjoyed fish and chips, and Dan and I had ham sandwiches...he liked his better than I did. But, the tavern was adorable, and we loved how the locals were sipping summer shandies at lunchtime.

   After lunch, and refreshed, happy and rejuvenated, we walked the road along St. James Park to Buckingham Palace, which is much more glamorous in real life than photographs. Where the edging along the building looks dark and black in pictures, it's truly gold and stunning. The Queen was in residence during the week we were in London and therefore BP is not open for tours, but it was still fun to actually stand at the gates and admire.

  After BP, we walked back on the other side of St. James Park, leading us to Trafalgar Square in all it's magnificence, and then we completed our walk back to the Tube and passed The Horse Guards Arch and Parades where the royal horses are readied for events. We also passed the Churchill War Rooms (which we did not go in, but I would have liked to.) For some reason, and this was the source of our frustration earlier in the day, we could not find Downing St, and therefore could not find the Prime Minister's digs, but we'll just put it on the list for next time.

Big Ben




House of Parliament


Pub we had lunch at.




Downstairs in the pub.

That beer was not as big as it appears.



St. James Park

Buckingham Palace

Ditto (where it appears black on the building, it's actually gold!)

Another view.

Seriously, can we get a photo without other tourists running into it?








BP Gardens

Ditto
St. James Park and Big Ben

Statue outside BP


A shot from the road
Archways to Trafalgar Square Area







Trafalgar Square and more tourists!

View of street from Traf. Sqaure

Statue in Trafalgar Square
Matt at statue in T. Square

More from T. Square

Read and see below





Beautiful monument in memory of those lost in Bali Terrorist Attack

Horse Guard Palace

Ditto


Next Blog: Kensington Palace and Diana's Memorial Wading Pool























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