LONDON BUS TOUR

Today I took a bus tour of London and was able to cover a lot of ground. On the tour we visited Buckingham Palace, West Minister Abbey (drove past), Big Ben (drove past), Tower Bridge (drove past) and St. Paul's Cathedral. 

(St. Paul's Cathedral-front view)

(side view)

(fountain close up)

Buckingham Palace was my favorite stop of the day. The Palace is so grand and ornate and had too many guards to count. Your question might be, "Do they really have guards like the ones in the movies?"....the answer is YES! However, due to the cold temperatures they wear a gray overcoat on top of their red uniform. I also learned today that the correct word for the hats that the guards wear are bearskins, these hats are actually made out of Canadian Black Bear skin! I was able to snap a few great shots of the guards as well as the castle!

I must admit that overall I was a little underwhelmed with the tour because we didn't stop very many places. I really wanted to get out of the bus and check out Westminster Abbey as well as get the standard pic in front of the Tower Bridge. Lucky for me I'm here for 4 more months so there will be plenty of time for that!

(Westminister Abbey from the bus)

Tomorrow......classes start!

-AMV