Started off the day by walking a short distance from our hotel to St. Clement Danes Church that Jack had heard about through a photography website. It’s a small church dedicated to the Royal Air Force and is quite ornate and overlooked by tourists.
Then we took the tube to the Tower of London. We did an audio self-guided tour because the next yeoman tour wasn’t for another 1/2 hour (and the groups were very large). The tour and our own exploring (a lot about beheadings!) took a little over two hours. From there we boarded a river cruise on the Thames. It was getting chilly but we braved the top level for better views. That cruise took us under the Tower Bridge and over to Westminster. From there we took the tube to Notting Hill where we had the traditional fish and chips at another pub. By the way, England doesn’t seem to have as many craft breweries as we do in the U.S.
Next we walked through the expansive Kensington Gardens to Kensington Palace. On Trip Advisor the palace did not receive great reviews recently because some rooms are closed for a new exhibit about Queen Victoria opening later this month. But we were glad we went. The rooms that were open had beautiful artwork and all the staff kept making sure we saw the Tiara Room which was just as it sounds. Do you think Jack should buy Kathy a tiara (that also doubles as a necklace) for our anniversary?
From there we walked to the Prince Albert Memorial statue which was HUGE. Across from that was the Royal Albert (concert) Hall. To bad we couldn’t get in there to feel the music in the walls, as Jack’s brother Jim would say. We took the tube back to the hotel, explored the large and partially outdoors Covent Garden Market, and called it another day. 21k+ steps.
We’re glad we have an hour train ride tomorrow to Oxford. We need to rest our legs.