Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Africa Trip Day One (Tuesday evening/Wednesday, Nov 25/26)

Three of us traveled by Virgin Atlantic to London with a 15 hour layover there before flying on to South Africa.  November 26 was in London.
Virgin served us well

Map of London.  We mostly went on the red route and some of the blue.


Where else would Paddington Bear be, but at Paddington station? 

Bookseller on a canal

We took the "Big Bus" (red double decker buses) tour.  One of those convenient "hop on, hop off" tours with commentary all the way.

Passed some ritzy places!

Lovely flowers

Trafalgar Square with St. Martin in the fields

Not sure the significance of the blue rooster but on a day like this, it sure stood out!

Trafalgar with St. Martin-in-the-fields


Near 10 Downing Street.  Note the mounted guard.

Entrance to 10 Downing Str. where the prime minister lives.

Houses of Parliament

Big Ben on his tower

The London Eye over the Thames

How nice to get the Eye and Ben superimposed!

Crossing the Thames

A London alleyway somewhere


Nooooooo ooooo ooooo!

Entrance to the Tube

Tower Bridge


Tower of London

The moat

C standing by her great great great (plus or minus) grandfather's name on Tower Bridge

Our relative, John Staples, was the mayor of London when the Tower Bridge was built.

Ahhh, we found wifi!

Walking past the Tower of London

Poppies in the moat to commemorate Armistice Day on November 11.

The famous, or infamous...





Tower of London - a horrible place in times past.






Please don't throw me in jail here!

Agh, it looks fierce!
I think they were starting to take up the poppies                            

Part of our Big Bus tour included a ride on the Thames

S and I went outside for a better view


Hmmm, another, more modern London Bridge.  The original is in Arizona I believe.

A few autumn colours still around


Houses of parliament





It looks like each of these capsules could hold 20 or more people, and it didn't stop moving.  Apparently slow enough for people to embark and disembark safely.







Westminster Abbey








Hard to get all of the front in one shot!


Buckingham palace.  The Queen was in and seeing people.  We saw them going in and coming out in small happy groups.



You MAY not make us laugh!


Candy stripes? 
Fountain at Buckingham Palace.  At least it's only water!
The golden statue




Road through St. James park from Buckingham


A London street

Ditto

Must be an easy day

So thankful we weren't on the regular public transport although I'm sure it's very efficient.  It was just nice to sit on one bus set and get taken to all the touristy spots, no hassles. TY Ruth, for the heads up about it!

Whole foods market

Heathrow international waiting area.  Camera on the charger!

Our "little" flight.  Doesn't look too bad, does it? Seriously though, it was only 10+ hours.



And so ends our day in London.