A Photo Safari

Oooh, the irony. This isn’t photoshopped. Someone stenciled that
into the stone wall between Westminster Bridge and The London Eye.

I had quite the busy day today. Woke up quite early but didn’t get moving until 10am. I walked over the Richmond Lock to the Richmond Tube station (which would have taken less time had I not gone the long way.) Took the District Line to Westminster station. I popped my head out of exit 3 of the station and Big Ben towered over me.

I checked my watch and it was 11:59am. I managed to get my Microtrack audio recorder out in time to catch this:

CLICK TO LISTEN

Big Ben chimed twleve noon and my long trek around Westminster began. After snapping some photos of The Houses of Parliament, I headed to Waterloo station to fetch my Eurostar tickets for next week’s train trip to Paris.

Since I am a dullard, and forgot my confirmation code, I didn’t get my tickets. They’re booked, though, and I can retrieve them on my travel day. So, back to the water front I went to check out The London Eye.

At 135 metres, it boasts itself as the world’s largest bicycle wheel. Well not, it’s an observation wheel. For £13.50 (or $28 CDN) you get a half-hour flight high above the city of London.

Luckily, the queue wasn’t too long but the security was tight. All bags were searched and they wave a metal detector wand over you.

After my flight, I went back across Westminster bridge. Snapped some shots of Westminster Cathedral. Walked to #10 Downing Street. But Tony Blair wasn’t up for tea with me today. I could tell by the high security around his residence. It could be that 3 of his Cabinet ministers quit today. Poor sap.

I cut through Whitehall with my aim being Buckingham Palace.


I got there and to my disappointment, not only is the changing of the guard in two days, but that the guards no longer wear the old uniforms with the fancy black hat. They’ve gone to more modern uniforms in recent years. 


From there, I headed towards St. James Street, then to Old Bond Street to buy the chocolates Cindy asked me to buy her. After getting those (and some for me), I stopped to eat lunch near Piccadilly Circus. From there I walked through Leicester Square, Soho and eventually ended up at Trafalgar Square. 

By this point, my feet were killing me and it was 6pm. So I headed back home.