Day 57. London. 15.4.24

Today we walked to the Victoria Coach Station, just over 1 km away to go on a London highlights tour.  This tour took a lot of research as I had specific things I wanted to see. We had to eventually book 2 separate tours to do it all.

We drove around the residential area first looking at old buildings. 

It rained while we were on the bus, which didn't make for good photos. 

Vertical garden. 

It stopped raining just as we approached Buckingham Palace. 

Clarence house, the white building,  where King Charles lives. Buckingham Palace is under going renovation/replacement of the electrical and plumbing.

A big ✅ on the list was the

**changing of the guards ceremony** 

So many people watching. 

A tribute to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (know as the Queen Mother)

The next big ✅ 

**St Paul's Cathedral **

Wow just wow 😍 and this time I was allowed to take photos.

This is where Charles and Diana were married.  He chose it because he loves the architecture and she chose it because she loved music and the dome made the music sound beautiful. 

Silver trumpets installed as a surprise gift for Queen Elizabeth II on her silver jubilee. 

The front door where Diana entered on her wedding day and exited as a Princess.

A prayer was given. This happens every hour, every day.

There was a section up the back dedicated to the American soldiers who were stationed in London during the bombing.  They raised money to help repair the church after it was hit with fire bombs. 1 night it was hit 23 times.

Every morning a prayer is said for the men in this book and a page turned. It takes about 13 months to go through the whole book.

When the wood was re carved they had a bomb carved in amongst the leaves as a reminder.

We went down into the crypt. We would have liked more time to explore. 

The dome of St Paul's. 

All Hallows Anglican Church,  of Saxon origin.

The next big ✅ on the list was

**London Tower**

The moat ↕️

Prisoners were bought in here.

Lots of coins could be seen at the bottom of the well.

No photos allowed inside. The rather large display of golden treasures and jewels was incredible. 

Heading down to the pier to catch a boat back to Westminster and then walk home. **Thames River ** was also on my list ✅ 

Almost everything has been changed over from Queen Elizabeth to King Charles.  They missed this one.

More modern side of London. Storm brewing. It's very cold and windy outside on the top deck.

The dark sky didn't make it easy for getting a good photo. 

The only selfie of the day!

Just as I went back inside the boat it started hailing.

We did get a little wet on the walk home but it didn't last long. We found a little cafe around the corner from our hotel and had a coffee and danish for dinner. We had eaten a big noodle box lunch so weren't very hungry. 

Another wonderful day. We definitely like prefer London over New York.  It's much cleaner and not so crazy. Tomorrow is our last full day here then we're going to Turkey 🇹🇷 for 2 weeks. 

Today's temperatures were 8-13°. We walked almost 9kms.