From Fleet Street to Picadilly today we cruised the Monopoly board of London thanks to our trusty friends Golden Tours and their hop-on hop-off services.
Before that however..
Bright and early we were up and ready to cease the day!
We managed to catch the tube to the tour starting point without any troubles. One bumpy, high-speed ride later we had arrived at Victoria, and, as the name suggests we 'hopped-on' the bus.
Almost immediately we found ourselves driving by the beautiful gates of Buckingham palace & just around the corner we came face-to-face with the famous man himself, Big Ben. Right near Ben is Westminter Abbey where we decided would be our first stop to explore. In true London style the rain was never far behind us, seemingly catching up anytime we had no cover.
Westminster Abbey.. Wow! What a beautiful church. There is strictly no photos allowed inside so I guess you'll all have to check that out for yourselves, but I can tell you it's amazing. Inside the enormous ceilings are a true work of art, and the tombs of the past Royals are so interesting. I'm still confused about where in the church Kate & Will stood to be married, or where Posh & Becks sat to watch....
Of course we couldn't resist the standard tourist photo booth shots...
Back on the bus & out of the rain we continued on to the London Tower. On arrival we were disappointed to find out that the Beefeater tours were cancelled due to the rain. I'm still trying to work out how that happens somewhere that rains the majority of the year? Anyway, we continued on by ourselves which was still really cool...
We got some amazing views of the bridge..
On the outside of the tower is the most beautiful display of hundreds of thousands of poppies which cover the green grass and run right up over some of the walls.. I really wish we could've gone down there!
The tower housed some really great history & the most exciting part.... The Crown Jewels! Those diamonds... I can't even explain the sparkle and size. I think we read one of them was over 500 carats! Unfortunately no photos allowed of those either so no sharing, I'm kind-of glad though because I doubt a photo could capture even half of their beauty.
After lining up forever to see the Jewels we were both ready for a break so made our way to Picadilly for some lunch at Jamie Oliver's diner right across from Ripley's Believe it or not. We inhaled the food so quickly there wasn't even time for a photo of it...
We were quick to decline the desert menu knowing our next stop was M&M World! Note to future self- NEVER visit here with children. The amount of mums in there yelling at their children who surfaced with baskets full of souvenirs and M&M's was pretty hilarious to watch when they added up the total. We got ourselves some of our favourites (which taste a milllllllion times better fresh...wow!) and stopped in for a quick beer at a nearby pub to rest our feet.
A walk down Oxford Street (and much restraint to not buy everything in sight) ended our day out nicely. No exciting purchases so far but I have a feeling we'll be doing a parcel post home before the end of our trip.
It's now 7pm and Dean is already asleep beside me. I'll give him a few more minutes before I wake him for dinner and another early night in preparation for tomorrow.
Until then, stay safe.
-K
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