Today is here! After an exhausting night of sleep, I was only motivated to run the Hyde Park minimum mile again today.  My wife zonked out early last night, whereas I was up and down countless times with an achy bladder. When I got up for the final time at 6a, there was a lot more activity outside with bicyclists, joggers, and horses on patrol, It was also more difficult to cross the busy street, unlike the Sunday morning quiet. 

I once again felt like a bunny rabbit, hopping on and off the double-decker Toot Bus all day long. We covered both the yellow and blue lines on Sunday with photo stops at Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, and Gillray’s at the Marriott for a martini lunch after the cruise down The Thames. I ordered the traditional fish & chips while my wife had dover sole. We also got a top deck view of Piccadilly Circus, not quite as crazy as Saturday night but still active. The Brits use the word “circus” rather than what we know as a circle or roundabout, but to me, it was more like a circus atmosphere with the pub crowds extending out into the sidewalks. 

Today, we had some bus issues like a driver who abandoned the wheel to apparently go to the loo, while leaving the engine running for a good fifteen minutes with no explanation to us passengers. We were frustrated because it made us tardy for our 10a Beefeater prepaid tour of the Tower of London. We then spent an hour in line waiting to see the Crown Jewels and lit some candles at the Chapel Royale of St. Peter ad Vincula. It is the burial place of some of the most famous prisoners executed at the Tower, including Queen Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Lord  Guildford Dudley, and Sir Thomas More.

Next, we hopped on a blue, hopped off to catch a yellow, and hopped off again at Westminster Abbey, walking over the inscribed burial sites in the marble floor of David Livingstone, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Frederick Handel, and Charles Robert Darwin. There was also a memorial dedicated to William Shakespeare. It is also the final resting place of 30 Kings and Queens, but hardly comparable to the Tombs of Egypt.

Tonight, we’ll make the long walk back to Piccadilly Circus and the nearby Theater District to see the highly acclaimed musical, Back to the Future, at The  Adelphi.  We then have to be up early for our tour of Stonehenge, after the late walk back to our Marriott home at 47 Park Street. The busses don’t run after 5:30p, so tonight there will be no hopping on or off.