The Six Days of London

Thanks to a guidebook written by Rick Steves and our friend Connie, who studied the guidebook and made great suggestions as to where we should go and what we should see, we spent an amazing 6 days in London last week.

Our itinerary was something like this:

Monday- arrival, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the London by Night Tour.
Tuesday: The changing of the guard, Buckingham Palace tour, the Royal Mews and the Queen's Gallery.
Wednesday: The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge
Thursday: Windsor Castle
Friday: Greenwich - the Royal Observatory and the Naval Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral
Saturday: British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery.

We took so many photos that we created several blog entries, so be sure to keep scrolling down to see all the photos.

We're where???? Actually Connie and I are helping the lost....



Below is Westminster Abbey, which we visited our first day. Don't let that blue sky fool you- it was cold in London for the entire week. Please note that we are wearing jackets.

We visited Westminster after normal tourist hours by attending an Evensong service. That way, you do not have to pay an admission fee, and you can appreciate the spendors of the architecture along with the music of the organ and choir.


There were a lot of tourists in London :-) so we didn't get very close to the changing of the guard.

if you double click I think you can see some hats - and lots and lots of people... Nope, no hats- I just checked!!

Our visit to the Royal Mews allowed us to see the carriages and cars still used for transporting the royals today. We were disappointed that most of the horses were on vacation in the country, but they did keep a few in the stable for the tourists to view.

Big Ben, with the huge Ferris Wheel called the London Eye in the background....

A view across the Thames....

Although we were on the lookout all week, we never did see a humped pelican...

The next two photos are the exterior of St. Paul's Cathedral. This is where the wedding of Diana and Charles took place. We went to an Evensong Service at this cathedral as well, and we were blessed to arrive early enough to be allowed to sit in the ancient choir stalls at the sides of the nave. What a thrill that was- no sitting with the peasants for us! Again, this was the perfect way to experience this great church; choir, organ and all.

We became quite adept at finding our way around via the tube and the busses - double deckers are everyone's favorite!