London Day 3

We made an executive decision for the girls and the guys to go their separate ways. The girls started the day at Westminster Abbey. We were very impressed and glad we made the effort to return. The next stop was the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. There were thousands of people there, 15 people deep at the fence. We found a place to stand across the street on Queen Victoria's Monument. The "changing" is done with a lot of "pomp and circumstance" and was great. It took about an hour.






After that, the girls headed for Harrods. What an amazing place. It is huge and overwhelming.



After leaving Harrods, the girls headed for Hyde Park to have Afternoon Tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace. We enjoyed finger sandwiches, orange scones, raspberry tart, chocolate torte and the Orangery's private blend of tea.



While the girls were off doing their thing, the guys went to the British Library. They saw the Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta, Handels Messiah, and Da Vinic's notebooks. They loved it.

They took the "Tube" to the Waterloo Station to pick up the rental car. During the very crowded "Tube" ride, Tom was pressed in to a corner and a female voice behind him said, "If you get any closer, you will have to marry me." Tom replied, "Was it good for you too". They drove the car to the car park near our hotel and popped into a pub for lunch. Over "Bangers and Mash" and "Fish and Chips" they meet 4 guys from Newcastle who were in London for the Bears - Bucs football game. The conversation soon turned from sports to politics and the Brits discovered that Tom was the more reasonable chap.

The Brit wanted to know why everyone in America drives a gas guzzling pick-up truck. The Brit continued, "Why don't drive a car like mine?" Tom replied, "Because I would be run over by a pick-up truck." The Brits informed us we were drinking "wife beaters"; we just thought we were drinking Stella Artois.

After lunch, the guys headed to the Imperial War Museum. They thought it was the best military museum they had ever seen.




We met back at the hotel and walked to a restaurant recommended by Chuck. It turned out to be the a restaurant frequented by Princess Di. We had a great dinner and walked back to the hotel to do our blog. Tomorrow it is off to Scotland.

.....and this is London. Good night and Good Luck.