Tourists for a day!

The other weekend was so beautiful we just had to take advantage of the weather. It got up to 16C! Which I think is around 60F. We decided to train into London and do some sightseeing. We were tourists for a day. We started by waling across the Thames to the London Eye. We bought our tickets and stood in line, which went by really fast for such a long line. Our bubble came around and Ken was amazed at the construction and pure physics of the Eye. We learned from a coworker that the Eye was built horizontal over the Thames and then when it was done, they lifted it vertical with pulleys, I think. Look it up online, it is really cool! But here are some pics when it is vertical and the view from our bubble. It was a great way to orient your sense of direction by seeing where everything was from above. Big Ben and Parliament was a site to see from above and the vantage point was great for pictures.

After the London Eye, we were walking along the side of the Thames and there we spotted a doughnut vendor. We decided to split one since we are watching are figures :-). It was so different than any other we had ever had. It was really cakey, moist and delicious! You have to get one when you visit!





















We walked over Westminster bridge and past Big Ben from the bottom end this time. Originally we were going to head to the British Museum, but we couldn't waste such a beautiful day inside. So we headed to Trafalgar Square and lo and behold there was a big St. Patty's day festival. Everyone was dresses in their Irish pride and green crazy hats. We saw that there was going to be a parade coming through in an hour and so we stayed around and ate lunch nearby at the Texas Embassy. No Texas does not have it's own embassy, I thought it did at first, then I realized it was a restaurant. I couldn't believe that we were going to try tex-mex/mexican again, but we decided to give it another go. I would have to say that it was the closest to what we think is mexican that we have had. Even free salsa and chips! At the end of lunch the parade came through and we saw quite a few leprechauns and crazy Irishmen. We even saw a group of smart cars that were covered in sod (or fake grass)!

On a full tummy, we walked toward Buckingham Palace. We walked through the grounds around the palace and all the daffodils were blooming and there were thousands and thousands! I think there is a daffodil fairy that goes around England and throws out bulbs because they are absolutely everywhere. They are even randomly on the side of the road and at intersections around the signs, just in the most desolate places! But it sure does make the countryside bright and sunny! It jsut makes me want to go and pick tons of them!
Buckingham Palace was huge, but not as impressive from the front gate as I was imagining. I guess all the tourists in the driveway kind of ruined the majestic views. It was still beautiful though. We walked down Constitution Hill towards Hyde Park. Everyone was laying in the grass with picnics and wine and ice creams cones were everywhere! Spring has sprung! In the middle of Hyde Park is the Serpentine, a lake, that people were rowing boats. It looked like a movie. We sat on a park bench and had a coffee and just watched people walk by, very relaxing.
We had heard about a Speaker's Corner from a friend, so we decided to check it out and see what people were speaking about. For those of you who have never been, it is a corner of Hyde Park where people gather to speak their minds. They get on little step stools and lecture about anything and everything and people gather round and shout in agreement or mostly disagreement. We definitely heard some people disagreeing. So much so that we decided we propbably needed to leave. But there were actually some there that were pretty funny, they were in essence making fun of the other speakers, more like stand up comedy in lecture form.

From there we walked down Park Lane where a lot of the car dealerships are and we ran into the Hard Rock Cafe. We went in and had a few cocktails to relax and then we ordered the BBQ trio platter to share; BBQ ribs, BQ chicken and pulled pork! Definitely hit the BBQ spot! I remeber in Italy we would go there to get our BBQ fix. After dinner we went to the Hard Rock Vault across the street. It is below the Hard Rock retail shop. There they have pieces of rock and roll memorabilia. We saw Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Kobain, and Eric Clapton's guitars, Madonna's cone corset, Elvis's red velvet jacket and lots of other stuff.













All in all we did a lot of walking and sightseeing and really just getting to know London. There are still a lot of things we still have to see and do. But we are slowly checking the boxes off.

Here is a link to more photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2317179&id=7008058&l=1e9673420a

Cheers!