“You Americans like to cram a lot in, don’t you?” More about that later.
This morning we started a bit slow after catching up on sleep. We boarded the Big Bus (Hop on Hop off tour bus) and got off at the St. Paul’s Cathedral stop. From there we walked to 1 New Change (which is a mall) so Jack could take pictures of St. Paul’s from the building’s top outdoor observation floor. The observatory isn’t known much to tourists being in a mall.
We got into St. Paul’s quickly with our London Pass and were directed to the guided tour. While the tour guide was informative, we realized this was going to take a long time (at least 2 hours) and we had so many things yet to see. When we handed back our headsets (used to hear the tour guide better) and told another guide that we only had a few days in London, she was the one who responded above. Before we left, we did have time to climb the 378 steps up to the Cathedral’s dome (tiring but great views), climbed another untold number of steps to the Golden Gallery, and then descended and saw the American Chapel on the cathedral’s main level dedicated to the American’s who died in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. In the gallery photos, one can see the 1 New Change observation level, far below.
Went to lunch at a local coffee shop and then got back on the bus. Coffee shops in London are a fast growing trend. We were going to get off in a few stops but ended up with great seats up top and a knowledgeable tour guide so we decided to stay on for the full loop. We got off at Whitehall (by the gardens we saw yesterday) and walked to Westminster and Westminster Abbey (which unfortunately was already closed for the day). We found a pub for refreshments and then walked to Buckingham Palace. According to the flag flying, the Queen was in residence!
Got back on the bus and got off at Trafalger Square, which is the geographic center of London, walked toward the hotel, found another local pub for dinner, and called it another successful day! As mentioned yesterday, we have found that most pubs serve food on different levels - above or below - than the main first floor bar area. Seems happy hour, or whatever they call it here, is popular every night cramming the bars, but the dinner areas we have found so far to always be open with plenty of seating.