Cruising the Thames

Feeling like we were running out of time to see everything there was to see in London, we pushed ourselves to get up early(ish) after our night in the skies above London, and use what remained of our 24-hour hop-on-hop-off bus ticket that we had begun the previous day.

We got on at Marble Arch again, but went in the opposite direction to yesterday. The first sight to see?

A brightly coloured Union Jack flavoured London cab...

And then more characteristically English pubs.

Buildings...

Statues...

We went through the old mews, situated just behind the royal palace, that have now become very fashionable tiny houses.

This is one of the more intriguing building facades I've seen... in case it's not clear, it's covered in plants.

We 'hopped off' near Westminster and walked to the river again.

Parliament Square is a very popular place for protests. They've actually fenced off the grass to protect it, so all the protestors are squished on the footpath.

Our bus ticket had included a free river cruise, so we planned to take full advantage of that and let it take us all the way to the Tower Bridge. Dave and Cassie had done it the previous day and had to wait in line for about an hour to start the cruise, so we were trying to skip the crowd by getting on the first boat of the day.

Our brilliant strategy succeeded! We waited in line for approximately three minutes, and boarded the boat with no issues.

By the way, the sunshine looks gorgeous in the photos, doesn't it? It was slightly less gorgeous in reality, because we were already sweltering at 10am. The price you pay, eh?

Nearly to the Tower of London...

And the Tower Bridge.

We disembarked at the Tower of London, and finally had a chance to feel grateful for our London Pass, looking at the many many people waiting in line to buy tickets while we just strolled straight through, flashing our passes.

More on our Tower adventures shortly, but in the meantime, have a peek through the windows at the Tower Bridge!