Excuse me, are you a tourist...?

Day: 4

Let there be light!!! Today it was actually sunny!! (Mostly) Of course it didn't stay around al day but after yesterday being freezing and rainy any sort of sun was most welcome.

Today I did an open bus tour of London. This is why I was lucky it was sunny because then I got to sit in the open part and appreciate London from higher up.

The bus tour was excellent and very informative. It is incredible the amount of history that lies within the city boundaries. From Roman walls from 600AD to buildings that still bear significant shrapnel scars from the WWII Blitz.

The bus traversed all over London and I saw such sights as...

Parliament House (with Big Ben)

Parliament House and Big Ben

London Eye

St Paul's Cathedral

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

I also did a short boat trip on the Thames. It was a lovely way to see the city from a different angle. Plus inside the ferry was warm!!!!

Due to the threat of terrorism no double decker buses are allowed to drive past Buckingham Palace so I had to visit that separately.Even though the sun was out it was still cold sitting outside while driving around. Also sitting still doesn't help so off I hopped and headed off to see Buckingham Palace, hoping the walk would warm me up.

On my way I passed a gentleman sitting by a park, painting. I stopped to have a look at the paintings and got to talking. He was Ian, a former architect and we ended up talking for a good long while. We talked about politics and politicians, Australia, art and history. He was a really amazing guy and so nice.

He pointed me in the right direction to Buckingham Palace and recommended I walk a little bit further and walk around the lake of St James' park. The lake is well known for its many different species of birdlife.

St James' Park was lovely and there was a little pub there where I had lunch. I also saw my first squirrel!! It was so cute.

View from where I had lunch

Squirrel!!

After wandering through the rest of St James' Park I set off to see the Queen!!! Well, at least her house and offices. I walked up a few stairs, looked across a roundabout and there...was Buckingham Palace....

Which, quite honestly, was a bit boring. It's a large grey building, surrounded by a fence with loads of tourists pressed up against it.

Buckingham Palace

Coat of Arms on the gates of Buckingham Palace

After that exciting jaunt I climbing back on the bus for one last spin around London before calling it a day. 

Today was now the second day I had spent several hours (average around 9!) hiking it around London and I am so incredibly exhausted.

 Perhaps I should have done some preparation for this trip, exercise of some sort....