Hop-On, Hop-off Bus Tour of London

Achilles in Hyde Park

We woke up on our second day in London to a breakfast of toast and cheese, cereal, and coffee. As a group we took the tube downtown and were handed the tickets for our hop-on, hop-off bus tour of London. The way the bus works is that there are stops all around London in front of various popular attractions such a Big Ben, Tate Modern Art museum, and the Tower of London (home to the crown jewels). The pass works for 24-hours and includes a head-phone jack to listen to a pre-recorded tour of the city.

The egg-shaped
Swiss Re Tower

The first stop I jumped off at was Hyde Park where I was greeted with a massive statue of Achilles, his bow drawn and ready for battle. The entire city of London is preparing for hosting the Olympics in about a months time and Hyde park will be especially transformed. Large portions of the park where closed off for the construction of bleachers and bathrooms, the swimming portion of the triathlon will go right through  the middle. I visited the underwhelming Princess Diana memorial fountain, more like a small lazy river than a fountain but peaceful none the less. Hyde park had less statues and lush vegetation than Merrion Square and St. Stephens Green in Dublin and after 40 minutes of walking around I was ready to see what else the city had to offer.

Tower Bridge with the Olympic rings

Big Ben

A group of about six girls and I jumped back on the big red bus and rode it for quite some time, past the  very popular wax museum and Sherlock Holmes' fictional home and street. We snapped pictures like crazy as we cruised past Big Ben's elaborate watch tower and the massive, sharp tower points of Westminster Abbey.We jumped off, starving, at St. Paul's Cathedral and agreed on getting hot subs at a nearby restaurant named "The Earl of Sandwich." We congratulated ourselves on our awesome restaurant choice as our inexpensive sandwiches came out perfectly toasted and over-flowing with fresh ingredients. We were disappointed that St. Paul's had an entrance fee and decided to jump back on the bus and ride to the Tower of London, home of the crown jewels. We rode across the Tower Bridge, adorned with the Olympic Rings and passed the Swiss Re Tower, an Easter-egg shaped glass building nicknamed "The Cucumber."

Monet "Water Lilly Pond"

Van Gogh "Sunflowers"

Rather than spend the pretty expensive entrance fee for the tower of London we jumped onto a nearby cruise boat on the river Thames. The cruise ticket was included with our hop-on, hop-off ticket and we had a great view of the city from the river. When we got off the barge I split off from the rest of my group and headed to the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. The exhibits started off old and got more modern with time, After about an hour of frowning, bearded men, fat babies and angels I finally got to the exhibits that really make me pause, the impressionists. Because the museum entrance is free I was surprised to walk into a room completely dedicated to Monet. His paintings on display included "The Water Lilly Pond", "Bathers at La Grenouillere", "The beach at Trouville" and "The Gare Saint-Lazare". In the next room I stumbled onto Van Gogh's work including "Sunflowers" and "Van Gogh's chair." The next few rooms included "Surprised" by Rousseau, multiple works by Dregas, Renoir, Signac and Seurat as well and my personal favorite "Harvest: Le Poulda" by Paul Gauguin. I walked around to the back of the museum and was pleasantly surprised to find an entire exhibit dedicated to portraits completed within the past 20 years. Some of the portraits were done so well I would have sworn they were photographs and the power of personality that the artists were able to capture absolutely amazed me.

"Harvest: Le Pouldu" Paul Gauguin

I walked a few short blocks to the restaurant "Silver Cross" on Whitehall road where our tour group had our complimentary welcome dinner of Bangers N' Mash with a pint of beer. After dinner we went to "The Zoo Bar" a local club that plays American dance music. I have actually noticed that all of the music played at European restaurants and bars is American, but usually a slightly tweaked version. The bartenders did not understand a single drink I tried to order, including the seemingly simple "whiskey water with lemon" so I settle on drinking beer from the bottle. After the Zoo Bar I walked with Alexa and Justine to the nearby Big Ben to see the amazing structure by the light of the moon. We met a friendly French boy named Jonathan who shared tips about safety in Paris and his views on American culture/politics. (obese, greedy and fear-mongering).  We called it a  night at nearly 4:30 a.m. knowing that in a few short hours we would be loading the bus for Stonehenge.