July 18 London

What a day today!  We had decided we would take the tour of London on the hop-on hop-off bus.  We’ve never taken a city tour before so this was quite an experience and a great experience it turned out to be. 

What a wonderful way to get to see all the highlights of a city so that you can then go to whatever struck a chord with you.  We would have loved to walk over the Tower Bridge because the scenes of the city and river are just fantastic, but we ran out of day.   I did take some photos while on the bus but they’re not the same as when you are not moving and can focus better, at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 Tower Bridge

 Big Ben

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

We saw so many things and heard of so many things that we would not have had we just gone off to a site or two.  It made the city more real somehow and not just another big city with some specific tourist areas.

The highlight of the day, however, was our tour of the Royal Albert Hall.  We were somewhat familiar with the Hall because of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and also the movie “Brassed Off” which is one of our favorites.  They didn’t allow any photography, more’s the pity.  What a phenomenal place!

Royal Albert Hall

I am adding a link that allows you to go on a virtual tour of the Hall http://www.royalalberthall.com/about/

It just takes your breath away when you walk inside.  There was actually a rehearsal going on while we went through for the BBC Proms Tour which runs from July 18 to September 13 and this is the official explanation:

“The world's largest classical music festival is back and this year's BBC Proms is boasting its broadest line-up ever.

Staying true to its classical roots the Proms will feature performances from artists, composers and orchestras from around the world.

But children and sports fans are also being considered, with 2014 seeing the first ever BBC Sport and CBeebies Proms.”

It was 90 degrees today in London; lots of sweating and short tempers going on. It’s been pretty much wall to wall people here.   Last night there was a huge thunder and lightning storm which is supposed to repeat tonight and then tomorrow afternoon.  Hope we get to Saint Ives before the torrential rains are supposed to hit.

To add to our comedy of things lost, we discovered when we got to London that we had forgotten to empty the dresser drawers in Stratford Upon Avon so we have to go back there tomorrow morning to pick up our stuff before carrying on to Saint Ives.  The good news is that we’re talking about a 3 hour drive (not withstanding traffic issues) so it’s not terrible.  Just another thing to giggle about!

Really disappointed in the photos today.  Not sure what’s happening; so much seems washed out as there isn’t much contrast but this camera has always been great in the past so I don’t know if it’s the camera or what I’m trying to take – sigh.

Sending love R/P