June 21--London Sights

Since we were in London for only a day and a half we decided that we'd each pick one or two things we wanted to see.  I knew immediately that I'd like to see the ship Cutty Sark in Greenwich which was the last stop on the boat bus route and would take about an hour from where we started.  The good thing was that we went by many of the other sites and could plan other stops during the day.  We arrived in Greenwich (Greenwich is where the 0 meridian is which is the divider between the eastern and western hemisphere) about an hour early so were able to have a bite to eat, then walk around town a bit and we found a small flea market with an antique dealer where Betsy bought a couple of things.  Then on to the Cutty Sark.  What a magnificent ship!  It was a real thrill for me and Betsy enjoyed it too.  After that we headed to a park along the river and Betsy sketched while I went in to the Royal Navy College and looked around, then back on board the boat bus.  Our next planned stop was going to be Betsy's choice of The Tower of London.  But as we approached the pier a crew member got on the intercom and announced that we couldn't stop at that pier because the Queens Speech would be held at Parliament and the Tower artillery would be firing salvo's to celebrate the occasion.  So the artillery fired several rounds as we floated by. Very exciting.  So we decided to get off on the next stop to find something to eat.  After that we rode to the Westminster & Parliament area.  We couldn't get close to the Parliament area due to the Queen being there, but we did go into Westminster which was unbelievable with all the famous people and royalty buried there.  We meant to get back on the boat bus at Westminster but got mixed up with a protest march so we had to walk several blocks to another pier for the trip back to the Tower of London.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived the Tower was closed.  We had a great day in London.