Tour of London
Started late at 10:37
Rode in an all electric taxi
First thing we drove by was Royal Alberta Hall
Then Saw Kensington park, palace,
Bill Wyland's sticky fingers
Jimmy Paige's London Castle home
Street with converted Stable Garages
Drive around Holland Park
Summerkand Hotel Where Jimmy Hendricks died - sept 18th 1970
Next we go to Notting Hill famous for the Movie and Portobella Road Market
George Orwell's home- 1984, Animal Farm
Alice's shop in Paddington movie
Blue door where Hugh Grant lives in movie Notting Hill
West Indian settlement post WWII to help with man power - they still come back every year to organize the Notting Hill a carnival in August
Thomas Hardy's home - came to London to work as an architect in the railways
Paddington Barge in little Venice (called because of canal system)
Abbey Road Studio - Iconic recording studio. We stopped at the shop and bought trinkets
Lord's cricket ground
Drove thru Regents Park
London Zoo - very first scientific zoo. First animals came from Tower of London
Romanesque Architecture Buildings by John Nash
Primrose Hill
Chalcot Square - #32 hi Ouse for Paddington movie
Regent Street - Oxford circus tube station, Bond street station, Piccadilly Circus station on the other end
Picadilly Square
Hatchard Bookstore - oldest library
Westend
Trafalgar Square
The Mall - Buckingham Palace
Great hall of Westminster- built a thousand years ago
London eye, Thames River
Big Ben - all covered up for repairs
Parliament Square
Westminster Abbey - all the coronations in the last 1000 yrs, also more that 3000 famous people buried - Thomas Hardy, Charles dickens, Stephen Hawkins
Buckingham Palace - built in 1706, monarchy bought the house and queen victoria moved in 1837
Knightsbridge - High end shopping
Harrods - biggest department store in Europe. In early 1900s you could even buy lion and tiger cubs at Harrods! Today you can buy just about anything else - including sports car and speed boats. They were first to include escalators in store. Staff would stand at the top of the escalator and hand out glasses of brandy as people felt woozy from the experience!
On Cromwell road ... also have natural history museum, science museum, ...
Back to the hotel.
It rained all the time - good thing this wasn't a walking tour!
