BRITTOUR 2001: LONDON

The AMA UK/Isle of Man Tour (25 Aug - 6 Sep)

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I spent several days in London (21 - 24 Aug and 7 Sep) doin' the usual touristy bits, seeing the town, riding a double decker bus and a boat on the Thames River, hitting some of the museums.  Also rode around the city on the Tube or Underground (what we in the US call the subway; in England, a subway is a pedestrian walkway under city streets).

I stayed in the Metro Hotel, an inexpensive place with a sink, bed & TV in the room, showers and toilet down the hall.  My room was on the freakin' top floor!  AND NO ELEVATORS!  It was a pain going up and down 6 flights every time I left the room!  But I had a good location and it was cheap.  First place I went to was Hyde Park.  Got there late, just before it was going to close and never got back to make a longer visit.  Anyway, yah see one park, you've seen 'em all. The last photo shows the area around the BritRail train station at Paddington. I took a Thames River train from here through Slough to Windsor.
 

Easy way to tour the city?  You can get a £4 ticket to ride the Underground all day, getting on and off when you want.  Or you can get a ticket on a double-decker tourist bus (many have no roof on the 2d floor - sit there to really see the sights).  Mine was £16, same deal, get on and off when you want.  My bus company had 3 routes that pretty much made most of the city a short walk from a busstop.  I was also given a free boat ride on the Thames River, from Tower Bridge to Parliament.

The first 3 photos in the next table show views from a "big bus" - London traffic and Trafalgar Square (dedicated to a great naval victory over the French fleet of Emperor Napoleon).  His "Column" is in the center of the square.  The Tower of London is a castle along the Thames River, used in the past to execute people, now it houses the royal jewels and other treasures.

 

Near the Tower is the famous Tower Bridge (the London Bridge is in Arizona).  If you squint hard, you can see one of the double decker buses I rode.  The boat is the freebie that came with the bus ticket.  It went from the Tower Bridge down past the heart of the city to Parliament - the British equivalent to the US Capitol building.