With all the ads around town advertising the London Marathon April 13, apparently we decided to do a little marathon touring ourselves, including walking almost 9 miles today! We started our day off VERY early with a city tour of London. Now, I'm always a little worried about doing these tours because sometimes the tour guides are really great (like the one we had for Kuekenhof Gardens in Holland) or they can be horrible (like the one we had for Stonehenge). So, we got to our tour and before we even got on the bus, I knew we had a good one! This guy was absolutely hysterical and knowledgeable at the same time.

During this tour we stopped by to see Westminster Abby (just the outside, we ran out of time to come back and tour the inside, unfortunately), Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, St. Paul's Cathedral (again, just the outside), the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge (not to be confused with the London Bridge.....which EVERYONE does according to Alan!) and the London Bridge......which disappointingly looks just like an ordinary bridge after they moved the previous London Bridge brick by brick to Lake Havausu, AZ! We also did a short river cruise for a better view of the Tower Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theater and the London Bridge. The tour was capped off by watching the changing of the guards......sort of! We started at St. James's Palace where the Old Guard assembled along with their band. Once they were ready to go, we headed off down the street so we could see them marching as well as hear the band play. As they continued on to the palace, we ran (literally!) through St. James's Park to where the New Guard was assembling to head to the palace. We also watched them head off towards the palace but because of the huge crowds at the palace, we didn't see the actual changing of the guard. We probably would have had to waste at least a good hour just standing so we could be at the front to actually see anything, so this was the next best thing. Very interesting to watch how similar they are in their military precision like we have in the US. The young men serving as the guards for the palace are active military for the UK. Same with the members of each band. They are very young and people often think they are filling in during some free time.....they don't realize they are actual soldiers!  

From here we parted ways with the tour and walked to Buckingham Palace so we could see where the queen lives. Because she was in Italy (or possibly on her way to Windsor Castle), the Union Jack was flying atop the palace today instead of the Queen's flag. The weather this spring has been very good for us as it's been mild, so the gardens are in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous. We decided to take a quick lunch break to plan the rest of our afternoon. We found a pub that has been in the same building since 1797. Fish and chips was the meal today (it's Friday and when traveling with the Catholic girls......). Delicious, but holy cow, I think they gave me the whole entire fish! We were served our lunch on cutting boards with this huge piece of fish, chips and mushy peas (i.e. smashed peas). You can guess that the peas were not on my list of favorites, so since my mom always said I should share.....I let Helen enjoy those wonderful things!!! After plotting our afternoon, it was off to the tube again for our next stop.

After a short walk from our train station, it was Kensington Palace next on the list. This palace is MUCH smaller than Buckingham Palace where the queen lives. This is the palace where Prince William, Princess Kate and baby George now live. We were hoping to catch a glimpse, but shucks, they really do have some pretty high walls around there.....no such luck today! The Kensington Gardens again were in full bloom and beautiful! By now, we were all completely exhausted because we'd been up and on the go since 5:45 am (it's now 2:45 pm). So back to the hotel for a little rest before the big finale. 

Our final tour of the day was a private black taxi tour of all the sites from the Harry Potter movies! This has to be one of my favorite things so far. We saw the Leaky Cauldron--two different locations for this one. One was in a very well hidden Victorian market (Leadenhall Market) that used to be frequented by Charles Dickens back in his day. This was a very nice little area with bars and shops and restaurants. And because it was Friday night, it was a full house! You'll still see the old cobblestone streets as well as the hooks on the outside of the buildings that used to be used to display meats when the markets were going on back in that time. The second site is also in another market (Borough Market) that is very busy on Friday nights as well as there are bars, shops and restaurants there too. There is also a market that happens on the weekend with lots of vegetables and other items. Also on the tour, the bridge where the ghost bus squeezes between the two red double decker buses. This happens on Lambeth Bridge across the River Thames. The other bridge used in the movie, the one destroyed by the Death Eaters, is the Millennium Bridge. This is a pedestrian bridge that runs across the river from St. Paul's Cathedral to near the Globe Theater.  

Of course, you can't miss the place where Harry and Ron drove the flying car.....that's outside St. Pancras Station....which is the outside of the station used in the movie to get to Platform 9 3/4. The platform itself, is actually located inside Kings Cross Station. We were able to see where Platform 9 3/4 is, but you're not able to actually get to it without a ticket because after the movie came out, fans were coming to the station and taking a luggage trolley and trying to recreate the trip to Hogwarts Express by running into the wall, just as Harry, Ron and Hermione do. Because of injuries and safety concerns, you are now only able to see the actual wall from a distance. In the new concourse that was added, they do have a photo op area with the luggage trolley sticking out of the wall so you can take your picture looking like you're about to go through Platform 9 3/4! Located just down the hall is the gift shop. Bring lots of Great British Pounds as this place is spendy!  

Another location from the movie is where they shot the scenes from Gringots Bank. We were only able to do a drive by of this one as it's the Australian Embassy. They do not allow visitors in unless they are Australian visitors. We also visited the Ministry of Magic, which is actually Great Scotland Yard off Trafalgar Square. With the magic of computers, a couple of changes and you have the Ministry of Magic entrance. We ended our tour at Westminster Train station which is also featured in the first HP movie. From here, it was back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep...tomorrow we start our actual tour with Brendan Vacations/Trafalgar Tours.  

Good night all......see you in northern England tomorrow!!