Friday, May 9th

Today was our last day and we made our best attempt to see as much of London as possible.

We had made the decision to go on a double decker bus tour where you can hop on and off. The weather looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, so we set out with high hopes for our day.

A wee bit into our bus ride, it began to rain. We were sitting atop the bus and my sister and I decided to head below. Good timing. The clouds opened and poured upon London. Imagine that, more rain in London.

We decided to make Buckingham Palace our first stop. We stepped off the bus not forgetting to grab our "yes we are tourist" complimentary rain ponchos.

The walk across Green Park was very beautiful.

As we approached Buckingham, we noticed crowds and crowds of people. We didn't know it, but we were arriving in time for the changing of the guard.

Here's my view.

Good thing I had my iPad. I used it like a big screen. The people around me and I watched parts on my iPad. All the pomp and circumstance was fun to see, but I really hate crowds.

The four of us got separated and waiting until the crowd dispersed before trying to find each other. Once we found everyone, we took a few pictures and then put our cameras away. Next thing I noticed was a caravan coming down the street. I thought it sort of looked like the Queen's caravan. A moment later she was driving by us! 

I can't believe I saw Queen Elizabeth II today!

We were all in disbelief. A "Bobbie" who was standing along the street turned to us and said, "didn't think you'd see the Queen today. Did ya?"

Such fun. Such good memories.

We made our way to St. James Park. We made a stop along the way for tea and coffee before heading to Westminster Abbey.

When we got to Westminster, we learned the Queen had been there for service today. She only goes there for service three days out of the year.

Down the road we continued to Elizabeth's Tower (which houses Big Ben), Parliment & Victoria's Tower.

Next we (not my aunt) took a ride on the London Eye. You can see it pictured above with Big Ben.

Here are some pictures from our ride.

(L to R) Victoria Tower, Parliment, Elizabeth II Tower (Big Ben) Westminster Abbey

The white dome is St. Paul's Cathedral

If you go from the tall building and move left, there is a greenish/blue building, an off-white building, and a brown building behind that. If you look closely (or make the picture larger) you can see four white towers from the Tower of London.

River Thames

Next we were off on a boat cruise on the River Thames. We went from Westminster Pier to Tower Pier. The guide was a character. The pictures aren't great. I was too lazy to get up and move. 

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Finally we hopped on the tour bus and saw more of the city.

We ate our last dinner of Fish-n-Chips before heading back to our flat.

Tonight is our last sleep before going home.

This has been a great adventure, but this girl (can I still call myself that now that I'm forty?) is ready to go home...