Day 2 – London by double decker bus

Day 2 – London Calling (by bus)

Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey

The hotel provided a full English breakfast buffet (eggs, ham, fried potatoes, grilled tomato, and baked beans).  I’ve never thought to ask why baked beans are a breakfast food, nor did I try them.  Unlike Bill’s there were no egg eyeballs and the food was just OK.  I tried a blood sausage, which is made from lard, oatmeal, onions, and blood.  Not gross in taste but not worth trying a second time.  This was where we made our discovery that English kids, at least the ones on a London holiday, are brats.  There’s no meanness to them but they don’t respect queues or seem to be deferential to adults.  The adults were either doting or complained about their brats without taking action.  Nothing is universal but this was common throughout the trip. Adults reflexively say “Sorry” for any offense but kids seem not to notice or care if they've wronged you.  Perhaps they learn manners in secondary school?

An old building that seemed interesting in gridlocked traffic.

Bus tour

Another old building that seemed significant whilst idling in traffic.

Parliament.  The Funkadelics were on break.

A horse guard with a silly helmet.

We decided to start with a hop on, hop off bus tour.  Purchase a daily ticket and you can ride the tour bus all day long, getting off and back on again at will.  It’s a bargain and a great way to orient yourself to the city.  Our first ride used rather boring recordings as a guide.  Traffic was so bad that the recording couldn’t stay in sync with the bus location.  We didn’t stay on it long.  Oh, and we braved the open top double decker in the cold, wind, and rain because we are badass travelers.

Monument to the Shame of England's National Football teams.

Canadian Consulate.  You can smell the evil emanating from it.

New Zealand Consulate. Like Lord of the Rings!  Murray sends his best.

Buckingham Palace

Queen Victoria and some gold stuff on top at Buckie's Palace.

There was no changing of the guard that day so all we saw was them occasionally taking a bit of a walk from the guardhouse to stretch their legs.  However, a City Policeman who was actually guarding the place (with serious machine gun in hand and at the ready) was happy to chat about his job and answered all questions asked by tourists. One didn’t get the sense that he could be lulled into inaction, though.  Got back on the bus and had a real British guide who offered entertaining bits of information as we sat idling in traffic.

Lunch at a Polish pub

Surprisingly few places to eat around the Parliament area but we found what was likely a real, independent British pub (most are owned by chains).  Interestingly, everyone who worked there appeared to be Polish.  The bartender had no idea what beers she was dispensing, although she let us try them all before ordering.  The fish and chips and sausage and mash were good enough.  The Badger Ales were even less memorable than the Fuller’s.  More driving around on the bus, this time with a truly awful human guide.  Her tone of voice literally put us to sleep so we stayed on the bus far longer than we intended.  Once awake, we got off in the Tower Hill section.

Dinner at Hard Rock

An acoustic Pistols guitar?  Has to be a joke.

If you’ve been to one Hard Rock, you’ve been to them all as far as menus go but this one was the original before it went global (now owned by the Seminole Indians and based out of Orlando).  As such, the rock memorabilia was top notch.  And the burgers were welcome after a long day in the cold and rain.  An English brat seated next to us pitched a fit by head butting his “Da” and punching his mother but I didn’t care at that point.  I’m pretty sure we had Boddington’s to drink.  You can get it in the US with a nitro widget in the can but the cask version was much better.

You can't read the sign but this is an antique Asian chair owned by Freddie Mercury.  The sign also says that he had an impressive collection of Asian furniture.  Wait a second, does that mean he was gay?

Doesn't seem heavy enough.

Not sure why I was impressed by Tony Iommi's jacket.

 

 

 

Steve Jones played a Les Paul in Never Mind the Bollocks so this donated Strat isn't terribly cool.

  The Tower at Night

The Tower of London is accompanied by the historic Tower Bridge.  Very lovely at night and worth walking over across the Thames.  Didn’t pay the 8 pounds it costs to see the insides.

Tower of London at night.

Tower Bridge

Hey Beavis, that says "Balls".  Heh heh.

The 13-year old boy traveling with us thought it was hysterical that Horniman's and Balls Brothers were right next to each other.  Oh wait, that wasn't a 13-year old boy, it was me.