London in a Day? Can't Be Done

How can you do London in just one day? You simply cannot. But that's all the time we had there so, we did the best we could.

We started with Big Ben, Parliament building and Westminster Abby -- they're all right there so you can check three sights off with one Tube stop. 

Then we walked through St. James Park to Buckingham Palace. We decided to hang out for an hour for the changing of the guard ceremony. The girls were pretty impressed with the palace and the amount of people but were underwhelmed with the parade as a whole. The most entertaining part was we were situated next to two families from Liverpool who where not so well-behaved and asked the Constable walking around a bunch of awkward questions. ("Can you ask the Queen to adopt me?") 

From there, we walked into Trafalgar Square for lunch then met up with an old co-worker of David's who relocated to London five years ago named Lauren. She hung out with us for the rest of the afternoon and it was good to have someone new to talk to after days of just our own company. 

Walking north from Trafalgar Square and you'll quickly hit the 5 Dials neighborhood for some good shopping and then over to Covent Garden to watch the street performers. Alice especially loved the street performers. Dave and I were surprised by how built-up the area was from the last time we were there, 10 years ago. 

Then a taxi back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and a quick rest before our last stop for the day ... The Tower of London. 

Now, I'd been talking up the Tower of London since we made plans for the trip (head chopping, jails, torture! Crown Jewels!). And we choose the hotel based on it's very close proximity to the Tower. So, imagine my disappointment when we arrives 16 minutes late to buy tickets for the day. 

No! 

The rest of the gang were ok, as I think they were all burnt out from a full week of history lessons, but I really wanted to get back in there. 

Oh well. 

We took some pictures outside the walls and of Tower Bridge up the street, then hit Wagamama for dinner and to celebrate Alice's 7th birthday. Then, back to the hotel to pack up and collapse from an exhausting week of being tourists. 

OUTSIDE the Tower

Covent Garden - Watching Street Performer


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