UK Vacation Day 9 Recap

laelene Post in lifestyle glimpses, photo blog,Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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I took my time with this post since it was one of the most touristy and there are a ton of pictures. This was our true tour day of London – we started off by Buckingham, went through St. James’s Park, checked out some house guards and stopped by their museum, went through Trafalgar Square, tried a Thai place, found an M&Ms World, explored parts of the British Museum, found some gifts in small shops and waited around for free wifi, crossed the River Thames, walked through the Southbridge Centre and Jubilee Park, fed pigeons, and got tons of pictures of the London Eye, British Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Bridge and Abbey. For dinner we tried to find a Bella Italia but were unsuccessful so we had tapas at La Tasca instead. All in all a busy day filled with walking that allowed us to see a ton before we headed out.

[Catch up with Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, and Day 8 recaps.]

pretty red flowers against green grass in front of buckingham palace

A beautiful day to explore London!

panoramic of buckingham palace and gates of green park

The fancy gates of Green Park.

guards on horseback riding towards buckingham palace

Queen’s Mounted Guards trotting off in formation.

queen's guard standing by gate

One of the Queen’s Guards standing watch by a gate.

pigeon mid-motion flying in to park and landing

A pigeon flies in to get fed.

holding out piece of food for goose to eat

It’s a battle of wills and I win if they’re hungry enough.

swan family swimming in single file line with four gray swans and one mature white swan

A swan family all lined up.

young gray swans with ducks and other birds

That little swan has a funky leg!

view across st. james's park lake with london eye in distance

From St. James’s Park, we catch a glimpse of the London Eye.

girl mid-talking in front of st. james's park lake with view of london eye in background

Caught me in the middle of saying something!

girl posing in front of st. james's park lake with view of london eye in background

A normal pose for posterity.

girl using iphone to take picture of lake

I grab a shot of the lake from the side.

view of st. james's park lake from bank

And here’s the picture I took.

churchill war rooms entrance

No time for the Churchill War Rooms, but maybe on the next visit.

mounted guard sitting on horse guarding gate

Quite a job, sitting still on a horse all day.

girl standing next to horse with guard sitting on it

I didn’t want to get too close in case the horse flipped out.

closeup of girl searching for wifi on iphone

Gettin’ up close and personal as I find some free wifi to use.

trafalgar square with nelson's column and the national gallery in background

We find our way to Trafalgar Square.

lazy pigeon sitting in middle of plaza not moving

The world’s laziest pigeon resides here.

national gallery across trafalgar square

Tons of activity in the square.

bright blue rooster at trafalgar square

What’s up with the bright blue rooster?

chalk drawings of international flags on plaza at trafalgar square

Carefully laid out grid of flags drawn in chalk in the plaza.

sidewalk chalk artist sketching face of diana princess of wales

This guy was working on a chalk portrait of Princess Diana.

t-shirt with sperm in place of nike logo and "just did it" messaging

We stop by a local store and find random t-shirts like this.

t-shirt with image of guy with heart at crotch and girl with heart near heart and "the simple truth" messaging

And another cheeky shirt here.

basaba eathai sign on street

Trying out a Thai place for lunch.

yellow flowers and floating candles on water

What a cute decoration idea!

spring rolls and noodle soup at busaba eathai restaurant

Food was pretty good and the place was very modern.

m&ms world london and sign with tons of crests

After lunch, we stumble across an M&Ms world.

shop fronts at london's chinatown

Our walk randomly brings us to a strip of Chinese establishments.

girl standing by starbucks holding out phone

Yet again standing outside taking advantage of free wifi…

entrance to british museum

Then it’s time to visit the British Museum!

shadows of seagulls seen standing atop dome from inside of british museum

Inside the museum, we look up to find seagulls.

seagull standing atop dome seen through from inside british museum

They sure seem to be enjoying the view.

storefront of amway in london

I had no clue Amway made it over here (and was still in business).

black british taxi on london streets

The taxis here look so funny.

view of london eye, british parliament, and big ben from waterloo bridge

Onto the Waterloo Bridge and we gaze over the River Thames for a lovely view.

view of eastern london buildings from waterloo bridge

On the other side of the bridge are all sorts of funky buildings.

sign on waterloo bridge detailing london skyline

Here you can pick out the attractions using the guide.

large statues and mural by waterloo bridge in london

We head into Southbridge Centre and find quite an artsy scene.

storefronts at the festival of neighbourhood area by river thames

A stroll along the waterfront includes plenty of restaurants.

festival of neighbourhood sign in london

What is this Festival of Neighbourhood??

street performers by the river thames

Street performers doing their thing.

brightly-colored merry-go-round in london

What a bright merry-go-round!

swing ride at jubliee park in london

A swing ride at Jubilee Park offers thrills.

feeding a pigeon a piece of bread

I sit down to feed some pigeons.

crowd of pigeons fighting over food

Gettin’ kind of crazy in here!

closeup of little brown bird with white specks

Some brave birds got super close.

view of people standing in pod of london eye as it slowly goes up

We watch as people pile into their pod on the London Eye.

set of condensed tank top and shorts that expand with water

I was so tempted to get one of these.

silhouette view of british parliament building across river thames

Against the glare of the sun.

girl posing with view of london eye and aquarium

Nice view from the bridge!

choppy waters of river thames

Rushing waters of the Thames.

closeup of big ben clock tower

There are so many points to the clock tower.

panoramic view of westminster from side

Westminster Abbey was closing for the day so we just looked.

boat-shaped tour bus of london

What a fun tour bus look.

pedestrians walking on streets of london

Blending in with the pedestrians.

metal map of london attractions

Another map of attractions.

tapas dishes at la tasca restaurant in london

A dinner of tapas.

churros with chocolate sauce, strawberries, marshmallows, and powdered sugar at la tasca restaurant in london

Ending the day with churros!

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