I love London pub names.
I think that's Monopoly street number eight we're up to...
OK, this doesn't count as a Monopoly street, but Poppins Court? How cute is that? Hello Mary Poppins!
You'll have to ignore the blatant branding in there, I couldn't get clear shot of just the street name while the bus wizzed past.
We passed by St Paul's Cathedral, where we were informed (amongst other things) that the statue in front is of Queen Anne. There's an interesting theory that the reason her head is turned and not facing straight is because she was particularly fond of drinking, and the statue was positioned thus so that she was looking towards a pub that used to stand on the corner. Cheeky, huh?
And then, we finally saw London Bridge!
We passed by the London Dungeon...
Yet another pub...
And then we got to drive over London Bridge. I may have got a little excited taking photos of it.
We got a lovely little backwards glance at the Tower of London...
And then turned back to the bridge.
We hopped off the bus back near Trafalgar Square to meet up with a friend of Tom's who is living in London.
This isn't him, in case you're wondering.
Tom's friend then took us on a bit of a wander down towards Buckingham Palace, since the tree-lined boulevard that runs from the Admiralty Arch near Trafalgar Square straight down to the palace, and it's closed to cars on a Sunday making it a lovely walk.
We had a minor detour to peek at the Horse Guards' parade ground.
And then it was back on track to the Palace.
Yes, for anyone that's interested, this is the balcony where Kate and William kissed after their wedding. Sigh. What can I say, when I was a little girl I used to walk town the corridor with a curtain as a veil and plastic flowers as my bridal bouquet, as the video of Charles and Diana's wedding played in the background. And yes, I did it with the Sound of Music as well for those paying particular attention to these anecdotes. I have a soft spot for weddings, alright?
Speaking of childhood anecdotes, don't these Royal Mail vans remind you of Postman Pat? Aaaah, the memories.
We moved on from the palace to pay a visit to the Australian War Memorial...
And then we walked our way back towards the river, to meet up with Dave and Cassie for dinner.
Tom thinks this guy was a bit full of himself.
This is about as close as I got to seeing any Princess Di related stuff. Considering I was practically obsessed with her when I was younger, this may be a sign that I'm growing up.
We spotted our first ever photographable squirrel. He even raised his tail and posed for us! At least I'm going to believe that's what he was doing. He's not a skunk, right?
We passed a really colourful deck chair party in the park along the way...
We spotted this royal guardman person on our way back, positioned securely between these two gates. We started walking towards him, and he immediately turned on his heel and marched away. That's me in the corner looking a little puzzled.
But don't worry, we found another one who was willing to pose for us (i.e. didn't move).
We found our way to the walking bridge to cross the river again. The boys took pity on a couple with a pram who couldn't get the lift to walk. How very manly and chivalrous of them.
So close to the Eye!
We met up with Dave and Cassie and another friend of Tom's near the Eye at some festival type thingie that was held just outside of a giant blow-up purple upside-down cow that I forgot to take a photo of (seriously, not kidding about any of those adjectives).
And then... excitement builds... we were booked to go on the Eye on the last ride for the evening, 9pm. Amazing that it was only just beginning to be sunset, isn't it?
Not before we stopped to giggle at the street performers. They really love these no-head people in London!
The line to board the Eye was, surprisingly, not that long.
And then we watched the sun set over the city.
Dave and Cassie enjoying the view...
And here we are, doing the same.
In no time, we were back down to earth. Didn't stop us from keeping our eyes glued to the river.
We couldn't bring ourselves to buy tube tickets to get back to our hotel that night, so we walked. This window made us stop, though.
In keeping with our non-English-food theme for London (having had Mexican and Vietnamese so far), we stopped at an Italian restaurant for a little shared dessert.
Their Julius Caesar was a tad feminine looking.
And then we kept walking. And walking and walking. Here's Picadilly Circus's homage Times Square. Or did Picadilly's big screens come first? I'm not sure. It was pretty dazzling.
I had to take one last building shot (they're never as good at night, are they?), and it was bed time for busy sight-seeing boys and girls!
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