London Trip Report, Part I

It is certainly easy to understand why so many people love London!  You can now count Greg and me among the fans of this great city.

We arrived at the Gatwick Airport early Friday afternoon and took the Gatwick Express train into Victoria Station, where we hopped on the Tube (subway) to get to our hotel.  When we came out of the Tube station, I was immediately enamoured by the charm of the neighborhood; it was just very...England.  It was only a short walk to our hotel, the Marriott Maida Vale, which was a wonderful home base for our trip, with the added bonus of having a Starbucks and a grocery store just down the street.

Since we arrived at the hotel earlier than expected, we had time to catch the Tube into the city for a bit of afternoon touring.  We passed through the Wellington Arch and walked to Buckingham Palace, finding the best views from on or behind the Queen Victoria Memorial...enhanced by a beautiful floral display.  The Queen was not at home that day; you can tell because the royal standard is flown above the palace when she is at home, and the Union Jack is flown at all other times.  We opted not to join the masses to see the changing of the guards at 11:30 each day, so this was our only stop at the palace.

From here, we entered Hyde Park and took a leisurely and lovely stroll through a few of the 600+ acres of "London's Backyard," joining other locals, tourists, and lots of cyclists in enjoying the scenery and the beautiful afternoon.  We then made our way back to Victoria Station for a bite to eat and to catch the "London by Night" double-decker bus tour (http://www.london-by-night.net/).  It rained for most of the tour, but we stayed nice and dry in the upper deck of the closed-top bus and enjoyed a great perspective of the city as we took a two-hour drive around the city, passing all the major sights and listening to a commentary.  I tried to take some pictures through the window, but that didn't work out so well.  :)  I've still included them in the below slideshow, though, so you can pretend that they aren't blurry and aren't taken through a bus window covered in raindrops.

Here is a slideshow of our pictures from Friday, day 1 of our trip.  Check back for the next post to get Saturday's trip report!