After getting a good night’s sleep, we did finally make it out to see more than half a block of London. In fact, the next day we saw what seemed like ALL of London by taking one of the hop-on-hop-off bus tours. We chose the Big Bus Tour since that one had a stop right near our flat.
Since we boarded at the first stop (after Gary valiantly chased the bus for about 4 blocks to try to figure out where the stop was with the driver egging him on by pointing ahead but not picking him up), we got great seats. And the tour began.
For the most part, the tour was great. Here were some pros and cons:
Pros:
- They provided earphones that plugged in at each seat and so you could listen to recorded commentary along the way. The commentary was quite good, pointing out buildings, describing famous people who lived nearby and providing some history. Conveniently, they had commentary in 7 different languages. Daniel took great glee in changing the channel while you weren’t looking so that the next time the commentary picked up, it would be speaking in Japanese. Or Portuguese. Or German. This prank never got old . . . for some of us.
- In between commentary, they played what I have to assume is stately British music. Processionals and classical stuff. This was a nice touch . . . at least the first few times through.
- They gave you a free rain poncho. It did rain on us a bit in the afternoon, so this was a nice perk and allowed us to keep sitting on the upper deck with some pretension at the British stiff upper lip.
- We covered an enormous amount of ground and really enjoyed seeing so much of London from the upper deck.
Cons:
- At times the bus was painfully, teeth-grindingly slow. This was partly because of London traffic, especially around busy areas like the shopping area of Oxford Circus (where we could easily have covered more ground on foot); but occasionally was worsened by the mysterious “rules” that the buses operated under. Our bus would sometimes inch along in one congested lane for blocks and blocks (we sat through one light cycle at least 3 times) while other buses where whizzing by us in the other lane. Other times, we would sit for 15 minutes at one stop while 3 or 4 other buses from the same company came and went. I’m hoping there was some reasoning behind all of this, but I did occasionally want to scream “Great Googly-Moogly, why are we still sitting here??!!” [Yes, I sometimes use the expression great googly-moogly. So sue me.]
- The buses tended to fill up by mid-morning and then it was standing room only. Since you had to plug in at each seat to hear the commentary, standing passengers were out of luck.
- Late in the afternoon, buses could be scarce. Part of our group had to wait about an hour one afternoon for a bus to pick them up at a designated stop while several (again mysteriously) passed them by.
Anyhow, here are some of the sights we saw. Famous ones:
House of Parliament, or is it Houses of Parliament? I'm not sure, but Gary, who was invited there one night to have dinner with one of the Lords at the House of Lords (true story) could tell you ALL ABOUT IT. In fact, he might just have mentioned that he had DINNER AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS a few other times on the trip.
Big Ben. This is crooked-er than I remember it being.
The London Eye (and Austin's Eye):
Marble Arch (aka march made out of marble):
The Tower of London:
Then, I seem to have a bunch of other photos on my camera that I'm not sure what they are or exactly why I took them. I'm sure there was some interesting commentary that now escapes me or that I only heard in Japanese. Or Portuguese. Or German. Or perhaps I was taking the photo as Gary was telling me about his DINNER AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS.
Here's an example. This is a theater (I can tell that by my superior sleuthing skills -- zooming in on the sign) but I'm not sure it's significance. I DO know that this building is more beautiful than any building in the entire state of Arizona. Or perhaps all the buildings in Arizona put together (including that big Burger King in Yuma). So that's a good enough reason to take a photo right there.
I have no earthly recollection why I took this photo. Nor can I explain why I'm blogging about it. Sorry, it won't happen again.
Overall, we really enjoyed the bus tour. Definitely not an efficient form of transportation if you goal is to get directly from one point to another, but a fun way to see a lot of the city.
Have you ever taken a hop-on-hop-off bus tour in London or anywhere? Thumbs up or down?
Hi Dawn ... I am really enjoying your vacation... can't wait to see more... love your pictures!
Posted by: Patty D | July 24, 2013 at 07:41 AM