London town

Flew into London City airport on Friday 30th March with Air France from a 2hr stopover in Amsterdam.  Caught the tube to Liz and Paul's house in Clapham which turned out to be pretty easy, even though we were pretty hagged!!  The next day to kick off our London stay Liz and Paul gave us a whistle stop tour of the main sights of London.  A bit chilly and cloudy which was a nice change from the crazy heat of KL..  Managed to catchup with Mitch and Tom for a few beers at the Clapham Local "Windmill on the Common" for a few Crabbies (Ginger beer/beer) and onion rings in the sun outside and a bit of a chinwag goodtimes - 3 deep.

Red phone booths and red doubledecker buses

Us with Big Ben in the background

Big Ben

 

Squirrel in St James's Park

Buckingham Palace

Kat, Liz and Paul in Green Park

"The Ritz"

Tower bridge

On the Tower bridge

The grass area around the the historic Tower of London where the moat used to be

A Yeoman Beefeater giving us a rundown on the history of the main "white tower".  Random fact of the day: Beefeaters were soldiers who had served many years of service, and drafted into the Kings guard in the Tower of London.  They were fed well to ensure they were strong and healthy to defend the King.  They primarily ate beef unlike commoners who found it expensive and generally not available.  The "Beefeaters" were slandered by commoners in the streets on London giving them the nickname.

Kat outside the building housing the crown jewels

Famous tower of London raven and guard outside the house built for Anne of Boleyn by William VIII.  The house took four years to build, pity Anne didn't live that long.  There are six ravens on the grounds, legend has it that if the ravens leave the tower the tower will crumble and the kingdom will collapse.

Tower Bridge

Innercity London on our way to St Pauls

St Pauls Cathedral

Jeremy outside St Pauls

Crumple map - thanks Lu was very handy today! likewise on the Oyster Kate! ; - )