After dropping our hire car off at Heathrow Airport we caught a bus into London where we were staying at the Z Hotel near Victoria Train Station. Our hotel rooms were tiny but the location was great being just down the road from Buckingham Palace and next door to the train station. This was Steve's first visit to London as Vicki, Bryan and I had all been previously so we did all the tourist sites starting with Buckingham Palace. The Palace had a great gift shop we had not seen before and ended up buying a few souvenirs for gifts. When we were at the Palace a horse drawn carriage came out of Buckingham Palace and went to Kensington Palace and we thought we might catch a glimpse of royalty, it turned out to be a mail delivery but was exciting for a while. We walked through St James Park and Vicki and Steve fed the squirrels. We got a day pass for the underground and then walked to Trafalgar Square, the houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and 10 Downing St. We also visited the Tower of London which had 1000's and 1000's of poppies flowing from the tower and on into the moat in preparation for Remembrance Day. After visiting the tower we then had lunch at the dock. Next stop was Tower Bridge where we took some great photo's of the bridge and the Thames. It was a beautiful day so decided to do the London Eye from which we saw some spectacular views of London. If we got back to our hotel by 5pm there was free wine and cheese to indulge which was nice to do and relax before going back out again in the evening. One morning we walked passed the Ecuadorian Embassy where Julian Assange is holed up which happens to be next door to Harrods. It started to rain when we got to Harrods so we got a bit wet today as we continued on and wondered through Covent Garden on our way to the West End to see The Lion King, a fantastic show. After the show we went to Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Sq. and Soho. We also visited Carnaby St. which was not at all like I remembered much more modern and not as interesting. We visited Baker St to see Sherlock Holmes home and then had a drink and dinner at Shakespeare's Head pub where the meal and service weren't that good. Another day we went out to Portabella Markets and Oxford St and went into Selfridges where I bought a great Christmas ornament. We had a drink at a nearby bar and did a bit of people watching. We visited Hyde Park with Wellington Arch on its corner and walked through the park from one end to the other. We can also now tick off having seen most of the Monopoly board.
When it was time to leave we walked over to Victoria Station and caught a train out to Gatwick Airport for our trip home.