Canyons and Curls: London by Night: Double Decker Bus Tour

OH, to be in England now that April’s there

And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough

In England—now!

-Robert Browning

It took less than five seconds of being in London for me to fall in love with the place. My love for London may even surpass my love for Washington, D.C. which is saying a lot. I can't totally commit to that answer completely because I love Washington, D.C. an awful lot. It is such an amazing city! So much history, so many things to see and to do, interesting people, so clean. Granted I stayed in South Kensington which is fancy, but truly the streets and the subways were so clean. I asked some Brits that I sat next to on the plane home about why people don't litter very much there (because really garbage cans were sometimes hard to find) and their response (with shrugged shoulders) was that perhaps people are just more conscientious and that it was a cultural thing. Whether their answer is right or wrong I don't, know but my sister and I really were impressed. I would say the one and only downside I found to London is that it is so expensive!

The first thing we did after flying back to London and checking into our hostel, was head down to the Westminster area. We crossed the Golden Jubilee Bridge to the South Bank and got dinner at a Mexican food street cart called Wahaca. I was curious to see what the British take on Mexican food would be, because I come from a place where we can find pretty good Mexican food. I will say that my dinner was tasty, although not as spicy as I am used to. Anyway onto the pictures.

Left: I have a weird fascination with taking pictures in different subway stations. Right: The Shard is hat pointy building that looks like a clear piece of glass. It was beautiful in the evening light. It is an office building as well as a tourist attraction but they ask way too much money to view London from the top floor.

My first sight of the Elizabeth Tour that houses Big Ben. Another one of those moments that felt surreal, seeing it for the first time.

The London Eye. According to one of the travel books I read before coming, it is "London's answer to the Eiffel Tower." It is much newer.

We caught our tour bus on Westminster Bridge. Of course we wanted to ride on the top of the double decker bus. Who rides on the bottom? Ha, those who want to stay warm. It was a pretty cold right but amazing nonetheless. The bus had a pretty all inclusive route, and there was a live guide on board. Unfortunately for me my headphones weren't great so I missed some of what he had to say with the noise of traffic surrounding me, but he was pretty funny. My favorite joke that he made was about the US wanting to purchase the UN building in NYC. He said: "Give us back Virginia, and we'll sell you the building." Pretty funny. I tried to label and remember as much as I could about these pictures, but if I'm being completely honest there are a few pictures that I forget why I took them. Oh well, London is a beautiful city so enjoy pictures of random and very expensive houses (if indeed I took a picture of the wrong building. I know there is a Madonna house picture in there somewhere.)

Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Houses of Parliament.

Statue of Richard the Lionheart outside of the Parliament building.

The New Scotland Yard

Left: Hyde Park Statue of Achilles, often said to have the face of the Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon. (Right: Marble Arch's 6 ton Horse Head Statue.

Hyde Park

Left: Marble Arch Right: I could be wrong because I cannot remember with certainty but the guide pointed out this house as once being owned by Madonna and worth several million pounds.