Tuesday, August 7th

Tuesday was off to a slow start, largely due to the long day the day prior. Before I had met up with everyone on Monday, they had also been to Covent Garden and had lunch with Johnny and Becky Long at some Italian joint. After everyone finally got up and moving, we headed back into London for a final day of sightseeing.

We opted for the Big Bus Tour. I know I've mentioned this before, but I really do recommend this as a good way to see the sights of the city. All but my dad had done it before, but even so, it was enjoyable, and the prior time it had been rather cold and wet, and Tuesday was largely sunny and reasonably warm. So we rode around and saw the sights of the city, including Tower Bridge - please, please, please, whatever you do, understand that the bridge with the towers on it is called "Tower Bridge". London Bridge itself is rather unimpressive, although it seems to afford the English great amounts of joy to speak of the Americans purchasing the previous bridge, now located in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

At any rate, we spent a bit riding around on the bus, and then my dad wanted to get off at Westminster Abbey, so we hopped off there. Dalton was yearning to eat, so we ended up having a picnic in the grass in front of Westminster, but we decided that time was running short, so we didn't actually go in after we got through eating. We hopped back on the bus, took advantage of the river boat ride that comes with it, and then hopped on again. The bus happened to pick up a Canadian who was clearly ecstatic about being in London (although she was leaving the next day for a European tour) and who was taking pictures of everything. I was reminded of the time when Michelle and I went to Ireland - on the last day we were there, we bumped into a couple from New Orleans while we were in The Brazen Head. The lady made the comment that since The Brazen Head was the oldest pub in Ireland, it stood to reason that the fireplace there must be the oldest fireplace in Ireland - and we should take some pictures. She then went on to make the comment that she had taken over 1,000 pictures in about a week of sightseeing there. I imagine that the Canadian on the bus was well on her way to 1,000 pictures in one day.

We finally got off the last bus of the day close to St. Paul's, and went to a pub (Ye Olde London, above) for some fish and chips. I would call it a good day, much less demanding on the feet than the previous days, for certain.

So that wrapped up the visit - fairly short, yet enjoyable. I enjoyed the opportunity to act the part of tourist guide for a few days and it was a welcome break from routine. So, I guess I'm saying Maison Johnson is officially open for business...