Photos from Day One

Our beautiful bed where we spent three nights in East Finchley, London.

It's the details that count.

The view from our window.
How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?

We ignored jet lag on the first day and took the tube into Westminster.
Big Ben rules the skyline.

Did you know that Big Ben is actually the name of the bell that chimes every hour, on the hour? The structure is officially called the Clock Tower. The hour hand is 9 feet long, the minute hand is 14 feet long. 

The Clock Tower is part of the Houses of Parliament, or the Palace of Westminster, as it is also known. There are no adjectives to describe this view.

The mind-blowing thing is that every time you turn a corner in London, you see something like this.

Security is tight, but, strangely, not as ominous as when I was here with Bethany in the 90's and the IRA  was still a threat.

This enormous ferris wheel is called the Eye of London.
We wandered over the river to take a look and possibly ride it.
The fare was about $30 each so we opted for visiting the sights instead of viewing them from above.
Yes, I am as cheap as ever.

This is on the Thames River Walk and was built to commemorate the emancipation of slaves.

There are a crazy number of cyclists in London and they are crazy too. There are few bike lanes and they zip right along with the cars. We saw more than one woman in a skirt and high heels, commuting from work. About ten cyclists die a year on London roads and many more are injured.

The Houses of Parliament are an imposing view from the other side of the Thames too.

We wandered into a courtyard at the Marriott and this sign made me laugh.
And then we went back to East Finchley and couldn't sleep because we were over-tired.
The end.