London Day 1

London Day 1 Pictures
Our first day in London started with rain on the streets all night and it looked pretty miserable.
By the time we had breakfast it looked less so and by the time we headed out it wasn't too bad at all.
We bought some tickets for the hop on hop off bus that seemed to offer the most potential stops, so off we set.
The plan was to get the bus, do the whole circuit, then decide where to get off on the second circuit.

Two ladies in Regent Street

The first bus of the day duly arrived and we hopped on, only to find that Eve had no ticket.
I had purchased two, as she was slightly financially embarrassed at that point, and had slid it across the counter at the YHA for her.
Of course that's where it remained.
Margaret volunteered to give Eve her ticket, and go back t the YHA and get the missing one.
We did not see Margaret again all day!!
The trip started OK past Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, then Fleet Street, past St Pauls Cathedral, over London Bridge (new), then over Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London, The Globe Theatre, out past Buckingham Palace and then the rot set in.
Not only was there a Half Marathon in progress there were protests all over the city about the government's budget cuts and we were in gridlock.
The bus didn't move more than 200 metres in 1 hour! Bugger.
We were offered the opportunity to get off and took it. Then began the walk back, through Hyde Park, along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus, where we took the bus again.
This time we disembarked at St Pauls, out intention to climb the dome to the top.

St Pauls

It was not to be, it's Sunday and there is no sight seeing, there's a service in progress.
It's off downhill to the Thames, across the Millennium Bridge (built in 2000) and closed the day after it was opened as being too dangerous-it swayed alarmingly-and took a couple of years to fix), then to the Tate Modern Art Gallery.
The art was modern and not to my liking, then I am a Philistine.
Eve and I then high-tailed it across Tower Bridge to pick up a free boat trip (part of the bus thing) from the Tower to Westminster.
The boat's skipper was one of those laconic Londoner's with the gift of the gab and quite entertaining.
We disembarked at Westminster Pier to find us , once again, in the middle of a protest rally.
After a few pictures with some leather clad motor cycle police it was back on the bus to complete what we had missed earlier in the day.

It was the leather

More Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Madame Tussaud's, past the Registry Office on Marlybone Road as Paul McCartney was being married and then finally back to our stop near the YHA.