London

Wow! What a busy day.  I took off this morning and got a seat on the Big Bus double decker  bus tour.  It's a hop on / hop off arrangement with buses running every 7-10 minutes, and there was also a 30 minute boat cruise of the Thames river included as well.  I went crazy with the camera, taking about 250 or more tpictures. A lot of them are junk, taken from a moving bus or boat and under less-than-ideal conditions, but that's nothing new for me.  I tend to do that a lot, then cull out the real stinkers and keep the better shots after I get home.  I got off the bus to try to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, but the crowds were insane.  Unless you get there a couple hours early and camp out to to protect a spot along the fence, there's absolutely no way you're going to get any good photos of that action.  What little of it I got to see was pretty cool, with all the ceremony involved, but the crowd ruined it for me, and I couldn't get out od there soon enough.  Likewise at the Tower of London...I had planned on taking one of the Yoeman Warder-led tours, but they were so mobbed, there was no way I was going to be able to hear anything he was saying. As a result I just toured the place myself, but it was disappointing just the same.   I did get a good shot of a guard patrolling his beat outside the building where the Crown Jewels are kept, though.  

I decided when I came over here that I would be adventurous when it came to eating.  I plan to never eat at the same place twice, except for breakfast, which is part of my cost of lodging.  As expensive as it is to eat here, I would be silly to pass up meals I have already paid for to buy it somewhere else.  I had a roast beef sandwich and chips at the cafe at the Tower of London for lunch, but for dinner this evening I visited an Indian restaurant and had chicken and lamb combo plate, prepared 3 different ways, and washed it down with a beer from India as well. That meal set me back 20 pounds, which is about $33.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but not $33 good!

Well, that's all for tonight.  See you all soon.