London Day 1

Sorry we dropped off of the blog face of the earth for a few days! We have been having difficulties charging our electronics over here. My straightener burned the fuse out on our European adapter and we can't find a fuse. So we spent days searching for an adapter that would work. We finally found one the last day in London but then I was too tired to blog. Now that we are in Paris, their outlets are different than the UK's so we are back to square one. Looking for an adapter yet again. We found one this afternoon and bought it but it isn't one that is grounded so now we have to take it back! I will make this one long London post in case I don't get to post again for a while.

London was fun, but out of all the places we have been (including Paris) I think it will be our least favorite. It was very neat to see all of the historical buildings and sites but it is crazy expensive in London. We didn't even feel we could justify the expense of going into some of the places knowing we would see similar things in Paris for free (primarily churches). We did do a LOT though. Pictures of these items are below.

On the first day we did the 24 hour hop on hop off tour bus. This takes you all around the town and shows you the major sites. Included with this we also did a short Thames river cruise. So not only did we get to see the river from the bus, but also as a view from the Thames.

Below are some pictures of our London flat that we stayed in. Not big but it had everything we needed. Including a washer and dryer! Mind you that washer took FOREVER but at least it worked.

On the first day we did the 24 hour hop on hop off tour bus. This takes you all around the town and shows you the major sites. Included with this we also did a short Thames river cruise. So not only did we get to see the river from the bus, but also as a view from the Thames. Below are some pictures that we took from the day. Notice there was one building that was on fire there for the better part of the day. We took some pictures of that. One thing you will notice lacking in the London posts are the food. We had some good food on day 2 but for the most part the food in London wasn't nearly as amazing as it was in Amsterdam.

After the river cruise we stopped at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge to walk around see the area. They are finishing up painting tower bridge for the Olympics next year, so the colors are vibrant and beautiful right now. 

After checking out Tower Bridge and the Tower of London we walked along the Thames some more and found a place to eat at. Once again the food was okay but not amazing. We are still getting used to the service here at restaurants. They don't really serve you in Amsterdam or London. For the most part in the pubs you are just supposed to walk up to the bar and order then they bring you your food. This definitely takes some getting used to. The one benefit is then you don't have to tip, or rather the 'Value Added Tax' is already added into the price of the meal. So what you see on the menu is what you get.

Cole has been surprised by the fact that they don't know what Stout beers are here, even though they have Guinness. If you ask for a beer similar to Guinness you get a blank stare. Cole also tried just ordering a 'dark' beer and they came back with a beer that was more of an amber ale. 

We have mastered the Underground. We have taken the Underground from Victoria station to our flat further out in London as well as to some of the tourist sites. We even found the discounted 'Oyster' card which gives you reduced fares with a max charge of 6.50 pounds per day for travel on the underground and bus system. After this trip we will be experts on public transportation! 

Day 2 for London coming soon....