London Overview

After a 7 1/2 hour flight from Dulles International airport, we arrived in London. We're staying at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House, a really nice Hotel that we are fortunate to have enough Marriott points to stay at.

We arrived at 6:30 a.m. and were doubly lucky that they had a room available for us when we arrived.

We were not lucky that soon after we started our sight-seeing tour on the Hop-on-Hop off bus, it started to rain. We were sad to not get a nice clear day to take a picture of Trafalgar Square.

We were not lucky that traffic was so terrible that walking was faster than riding the bus. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a walking tour provided by the bus company to see the changing of the guards.

We were not lucky, because they guards couldn't come out in the rain as it ruins their bearskin hats. However, we were lucky to see a parade of horse soldiers ride by!

We enjoyed seeing the British Museum, despite the fact that the buses couldn't get through and we had to walk all the way there. We took the opportunity to rest our barking dogs a little and ponder this beautiful Roman ruin pilfered from Turkey.

Happily, while we were in the museum, the sun came out. Unhappily, we had to walk all the way to the Thames from the museum. But, happily, this provided us an opportunity to get a picture of us in Trafalgar Square on a sunny day. (That's Big Ben in the distance.)

We got the the river where we intended to take a cruise, but first we got sucked into the draw of the London Eye.

This is a half hour ride in a bubble over London with 25 of your closest friends!

There were some terrific views of London from the Eye, especially of Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. Who knew that Big Ben was connected to Parliament? I'm glad we came over here to clear up a few things we didn't have straight!

Luckily, after riding the Eye there was still enough time for our Thames River Cruise from Westminster Bridge to the Tower of London! We got back to the Marriott about 6:30 p.m., after walking 25,000 steps today! It was amazing that we got so much done on just two hours sleep on an airplane! Just think what we'll be able to do tomorrow with a full night's rest behind us!