Hopping On and Off

It's been another beautiful day, weatherwise in London - what the heck? Where is this rainy, dismal weather for which they are world famous? I'm actually not complaining, but it has been a pleasant surprise. Today's plan was to get the big picture of London and for that, we bought the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off ticket for approximately $55 each. Our ride began at Paddington Station, with recorded commentary along the way. The first stop of note was the original Madame Tussaud museum and the Sherlock Holmes museum. Although he was fictional and had a fictional address on Baker St, he still warrants a museum.

We then drove down Regent Park and past the House Guards, which is at the back of St. James Park. Notice how well the lady in the horse's face is paying attention to the sign.

Then, it was past Canada House and into Trafalgar Square with Lord Nelson's Monument.

Near here, we passed some bachelorette parties on pedal contraptions. Cute!

From there, we drove along the Thames, with views of old and new London and our first closeup of the now-silent Big Ben or as it has been rechristened, The Elizabeth Clock.

Included in these views was the London Eye, a previously temporary attraction, but now pretty much permanent.

All the bridges were swarming with tourists - interesting, including Westminster.

London is made up of 32 boroughs - the number of cars on the London Eye - and every time you leave London proper, you come upon one of the London dragons.

We crossed London Bridge into the burough of Suffolk and then over the Tower bridge and past The Tower of London, famous for its torture chambers.

At this point we hopped off for a cruise up the Thames, included in our ticket.

Then it was back to the bus, where we passed photogenic Churchill Pub and Westminster Abbey.

We next hopped off at Harrods and immediately headed for the food court - surprise!

There were various food stations, but we opted for their fish and chips. It was probably the best fish and chips we have ever had.

Back on the bus, we rolled through Kensington and hopped off at Notting Hill Gate, where we proceeded to the lively and colourful Portobello Road.

From there we got back on the bus and started to retrace this morning's route to get to Oxford St., the closest stop to The Dominion Theatre where we had tickets for An American in Paris. We later discovered that this nearly century old theatre on Tottenham Court road was host to the Queen musical We Will Rock You, which played here for 12 years following its refurbishment in the early 2000's.

The musical was heavily balletic which required some pretty demanding casting for amazing dancers who could sing lead roles. As the show got out, along with other theatres in the area, we following the masses into the Tube and had our first experience with the famous London subway system. It was slick! We got back to the hotel 14 hours after we left this morning - another long day, with not as much walking thank goodness. Boy, did we see London!!