Friday, July 6, 2012

Last day in England

The Scenic England tour included a 1/2 day sightseeing tour of London. This one was not done by Trafalgar people but was subcontracted. Our tour guide was Valerie. She gave us three stops. The first was at Royal Albert Hall. Across the street from the Hall is a statue honoring Albert, consort to Queen Victoria. As this statue was showing its age it was renovated a few years back. When the new one was unveiled the queen (Elizabeth) reportedly commented. It’s a little OTT (over the top) don’t you think. Seems like classic English understatement.

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Our second stop was at Westminster Square where got another shot of Westminster Cathedral.

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Finally we got to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was raining lightly so there was some question as to whether they would actually do the guard change so Valerie took us to a spot where the horses would come by as the horse guard changes irrespective of the weather. My favorite shot of the guard change was not of the guard but of one of the police escorts on her beautiful white horse.

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This tour did not return us to the hotel but dropped us the better part of a mile away. As we didn’t realize just how far from the hotel we were we decided to walk. Walked. Walked. Walked. Stopped at a Pret A Manger for a sandwich. Lovely sandwich shop. Hot and cold sandwiches, salads, fruit cups, soft drinks. Good lunch. Walked to hotel. Passed this delightful wifi kiosk.

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Tom

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