Friday in London

I feel like I have a lot fewer pictures from today than I have from other days, but we did a lot more learning and riding today than looking at different things.  We started out with a bus tour with a guide around London. Keith the tour guide was fabulous. He took us down into the business district and into an area where tourists normally wouldn't be traveling. We got great shots of the amazing architecture of the city and learned all about the incredibly modern buildings called The Walkie Talkie, the Gerkin, and the Armadillo with the Tower of London nestled among them. The buildings were amazing, and it is hard to believe that someone could be so creative as to think of these designs.

Once we got our fill of the modern architecture, we traveled down to Buckingham for the Changing of the Guard.  This truly is an overrated spectacle.  But, the horses are beautiful and the tradition is impressive. Keith managed to move our group regularly to get the best views.  It's hard work getting oneself in prime viewing position for some of these events. In the future, since we come in early June, we will work to see the Trooping of the Colors for the Queen's birthday. Much more impressive. 

We made our way through the crowds and back to our bus for a ride out to Windsor Castle. It takes about an hour to get through traffic and out into the country, a day's march, we learned.  Windsor was beautiful, and the dining room and the armor rooms were most impressive. We walked throug fairly quickly, but I think many adults would have loved to have spent a full day there.    

We had a tough lesson about being on time as a girl from the other group did not get back to the bus on time. Hence, the bus driver left her!  Thank goodness her mother was there so she could stay to find her and work things out. Keith had to remind all of us when being in a group like this, everyone must work together for a group. We were nearly 30 minutes late leaving Windsor which meant we were caught in rush hour traffic on a Friday which caused us to miss our dinner reservation.  

Our dinner was from a middle eastern restaurant with humus, pita and falafel. Since we were late, they packed it up for us in take away and we ate in a nearby park. That was actually quite nice as it was much cooler in the park than it was in the restaurant. 

The Phantom of the Opera was our final stop, and everyone seemed to love it. Our tour guide from earlier in the day was impressed that we had these tickets as he says it is incredibly difficult to get seats. If there were any empty spots, I certainly didn't see them. We all decided the production was amazing. The music, the singing, the dancing, the special effects! All unbelievable. However, there were a few times when we turned to one another and said, "uhhh, what just happ . . . ?"

It was definitely a full day and a late night. We got back to the hotel around 11:00. We rushed everyone off to bed and told them lights out and crossed our fingers.