The first day of an exciting adventure! Day 2 in London 2015 European Tour

Technical difficulties solved.....let's get on with the adventure:

We slept a little longer this morning until about 9am and just took our time getting ready and out the door of the hotel.  As much as we were eager to get busy discovering London....we still were on vacation and didn't want to rush and not get enough sleep.

As we walked out of the hotel, it was a gray and rainy morning.  No problems for us.....we were equipped with the perfect clothing, umbrellas, and rain ponchos if necessary.  Of course, we snapped a pic of our moment!

Our plan for the day was to buy a bus tour ticket on The Original Bus Tour.  This allows you to ride around the city and see all the exciting tourist spots.  We also had a ticket for a boat cruise on the River Thames.  This tour bus gave you the opportunity to "hop off" and "hop on" at the places you want to visit.  Since it was raining, we were lucky enough to get a seat on the top deck under the partial covered roof on the bus.

 

 

 Unfortunately, the view from the 3rd row back isn't that great from the front.  But the view got a whole lot better when the people in the front got off the bus.  I was in predator mode and scooped up a front row seat when we had the first opportunity.

 Most of the rest of these pictures I snapped as we were taking the bus tour......but I cannot exactly tell you where most of them are.  I was so fascinated with the crazy roads, the beautiful buildings and the excitement of this city.......that I was just snapping pictures like crazy.  So as you enjoy the rest of these pictures.......I'll just pop in a note or two about the places that I do remember!

This was a photo opportunity by the bus tour guide to snap a picture of the London Eye with Big Ben in the center of it.  Lucky for me I was on the good side of the bus to get this awesome shot!

This was crossing the Thames River on one of the many bridges that are located in the city.

What's more iconic.....a shot of all the double decker buses.

 

 It seemed like very little side street was amazing and had a character all its own.  Just turn your head sideways on this one.  It really demonstrates the awesome buildings in this city.

This was St. Paul's Cathedral directly in front of us.  This is the church where Prince Charles and Pricness Diana were married.  I just have to say......some of the most beautiful buildings you will see in any city are always the churches.  They were magnificent in London.

We went inside the church, but did not do the full tour since visiting churches is never a high point on Paul's list of things to do.

 

This picture reflects the new and the old of London.  In the background is two of their modern buildings.....the Gherken which is the one on the left that looks like the top of a missle.  The other building on the right is The Cheese Grater.  I must say that have unusual names for their structures.

 

Well there was still lots more that happened on this first day......but since this blog has gone on and on and on......we'll save the rest of our day for the next installment of Debbie's exciting life.

 

I'm so excited to be finally getting this written......looking at the pictures bring back so many wonderful memories of this awesome trip!