Some London Tourist Attractions are more iconic than most. Over the last couple of days we have played true tourists, in our nations capital. We have been, seen and bought the T-shirt (literally).
The trip started with a 7:30am Train from Manchester which got us into London by 10am. By booking weeks in advance Mrs RJR had secured tickets for all 5 of us at a bargain rate of £90 return total. Buying on the day would have cost us double that much each ! The train arrived in at Euston Station and there we bought 2 day tickets to hop on and off the capitals fantastic bus service. Straight onto a 73 bus and 10mins later we arrived at our pre-booked Bed and Breakfast accommodation.
The B&B was very nice and the only one we could get that accommodated the 5 of us in one room. Most places had a maximum of 4 occupants, which would have resulted in us having to pay for 2 rooms. As we had such a busy schedule we didn't want to pay extra, just to have somewhere to sleep.
After dropping the bags we hopped on another bus and dashed to Buckingham Palace just in time to catch the end of the Changing of the Guard. This only happens on alternate days, not to say the guards have long shifts !! They just don't make such a fuss for the benefit of the tourists every day !!
Above, the guards can bee seen escorted by a rather large band !
Below the new Guard is left on his own to do his duty.
From the Palace we went walking round lots of Famous Places including, Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards and Piccadilly Circus.
The Guardsman in the Red Tunics are incredibly disciplined standing perfectly still despite the crowd and their attempts to distract. Within the gates a second Guardsman stands in three arches that lead to the barracks. One tourist got a shock when she attempted to step into one of the arches and he yelled without moving ..
"Standing in the Arches"
She moved back pretty sharpish
A very bizarre shop we went in around Leicester Square was M&M World, an entire 4 floors of a shop, that sold just M&M chocolates and related merchandise ?!?!
After a Lunch break at TGi Fridays in Leicester Square, London Tourist Attractions continued with Parliament, Westminster Cathedral, The Cenotaph, Big Ben and Downing Street
The evening was fantastic as we went to see WICKED which I posted about a few days ago here it was an excellent show and I would recommend it to any one, Rachel Tucker, the lead was brilliant.
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| The stage set pre show |
The next morning, after a Full English Breakfast it was off to The Tower, a London Tourist Attraction that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Unless you are one of the 365 that had your head REMOVED from your shoulders !!!
The guided tour by one of the Yeoman Guards was very entertaining and as ever the girls took every photo opportunity. I would show you pictures of the Crown Jewels but they are displayed in a NO CAMERA area. Something to do with security ..
A brief stop at Nando's for a lunch break then onwards..
The afternoon was a bit more daring, as we went on the London Eye. The London Eye is a 470 foot wheel that gives fantastic views of all of the London Tourist Attractions, if you are brave enough to keep your eyes open !!
After the London Eye it was a short break to let Mrs RJR get her "land legs" back, then on to St Pauls Cathedral, famous for a lot of things one of which was The Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana.
Then back to collect our bags and a diversion to Kings Cross Station famous for...
This is actually a mock up on the front of the station. I don't want to shatter any ones illusions but the real one doesn't exist. Platforms 9 and 10 are actually on opposite side of the tracks, not back to back !
These are just a few of the pictures we took, if you want to see the rest they are uploaded to an album in my PhotoBucket account and can be seen HERE all 5 pages of them !!
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