London, day 2

It was suppose to be an early start to our very first full day but the tourist office did not open until 10:30 . . . I needed to pick up our London Pass which enabled us to free entry to many museums we wanted to visit. I swear it amazes me the number of idiots who stand in line and have the wrong documents or just have no clue . . . it took forever because so many forgot to write down their confirmation number or bring the print out . . . seriously they need a line for people who are clueless. So we finally got our pass and took off to get busy! We also had a pass for unlimited travel on the tube but man oh man was that a pain in the neck; not the pass but the connections. There were times we had to make three changes on the train . . . while I know Colin was less than thrilled I too was going crazy and about to throw in the towel.
We finally made it to our first stop, the Tower of London which apparently every tourist visits. Colin was in a not so happy mood with all the morning waiting, and I too was quickly becoming just as moody. We walked around the grounds and climbed stairs and looked at this . .

. . . and took a few random shots too . . .


It was becoming later in the day and HOT, HOT, HOT! Apparently London is having hotter than normal temperatures which are still not that hot by Texas standards but hot for Europe. We took a break under a tree to look at the ravens . . . last year it was a swan chasing Colin and this year it was a raven that got his feet moving!
We got up and started moving along when Colin started acting not so nice . . . something to do with ice cream and then he said something to me that was not so nice so I got out of line and we left. It only escalated and I sat him on a bench and told him if he wanted to treat me that way then I was going to ask to go to jail and he could take care of himself . . . I walked off . . . he got up and followed me in tears but it was a not so proud parenting moment but he sure got his act together. So we walked down the street to the Tower Bridge . . .

. . . in my opinion it is the best bridge in London. I mean it sure is more massive than the London Bridge. There was a Tower Bridge Exhibition which was well worth our time. You take an elevator to the top and walk along the top which is enclosed and has some photos of different exhibits. When you reach the top you take the stairs down to the engine room which continued to keep Colin's attention. We had one more stop on the list for the day and since it was nice out we decided to walk along the river . . . I bought Colin his ice cream as he really did earn it back and I had my first taste of Pimm's. It wasn't too bad but prefer my Sangria!
And the final stop of the day was the battleship HMS Belfast . . .

. . . it was such a boy thing and he really did enjoy roaming around and seeing what was around each corner. It was becoming hotter and I was getting hungry so we headed to the Picadilly Circus area for a taste of America for dinner . . . The Rainforest Cafe, LOL. We really wanted to get off the streets as the Germany versus England World Cup soccer game was about to end and it was going to be pure chaos whether they won or lost. So as we came out of dinner, it was drunk people who were not very good sports about the final results . . . oh well we headed back to the hotel for a quick swim in the pool which was totally nice!

Colin's favorite: the battleship . . . big bullets and guns but . . .
Colin's Photo of the Day