May 23rd, 2011 - London

We walked/took the tube to Trafalgar Square.  We got tickets for the day to ride on the red double-decker buses. We hopped on the first bus and listened to the tour guide for a while and then hopped off when we got to Buckingham Palace.  We walked around out front of that for a while.  A few of the guards walked right by Laura and I got a picture of her with them right behind her.  Then we headed towards Picadilly Circus and then over to Westminster Abbey and Pariliament/Big Ben.  We ate at a neat little pub - St. Stephen's - and then toured Westminster Abbey.  No pictures were allowed, but I didn't realize this until after I had snapped my first picture!  It was 16 pounds to tour, which is about $25 each!  Then we walked down to the River Thames and took a boat tour down to Tower Bridge.  We got off there, got some Starbucks.  I went to check on tickets for London Tower, but since it was already 3 pm, the last Beefeater tour had already left.  They suggested we come back tomorrow instead.  So we headed up to grab a double-decker bus to catch the end of the tour.  It was so crowded that we couldn't sit by each other.  I sat in the very back of the top deck, between a family group in the only open seat back there.  A young girl was sitting next to me and eventually poked me to ask "Excuse me sir, do you mind if we swap?" in a strong British accent.  When we got back to Trafalgar Square, we hopped back off again.  We had decided that we'd try to race home, change clothes, and then race back to catch the 7:30 pm showing of Wicked.  So we rented bikes there and rode them home.  We didn't realize until we were already on our way how close the taxis and other cars drive to bikes.  They definitely don't move over lanes - they ride within a couple of feet of you - it was very intimidating!  We rode back through Hyde Park on the way, which was kind of neat to see.  We got back to our hotel, changed clothes and then headed for the tube back to Picadilly Circus for Wicked Musical.  When we made it to the ticket office around 7 pm, we realized that the show was in Victoria instead.  Since we wouldn't have time to make it there, we grabbed dinner at an Italian cafe instead, then drinks at O'Neil's pub.