This is London

Owen being bored at breakfast

Thursday, Sep 8 -- London

Today we had lofty goals of being super tourists by setting our sights on more than one attraction.  As usual we started the day down in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Owen usually gets cranky around this time as he's already eaten and is ready to go so we need to resort to holding him -- which is quickly becoming a meal time ritual.

Hoping to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye and time permitting the Tower Bridge all before Owen's "babysitters" would arrive at 1830.  We set our foot course back through Green Park and past Buckingham Palace.  By chance we were passing by again during the changing of the guards.  There were noticeably more tourists about on this day.

Classy.

We cut through St. James Park once again ...

Buckingham Palace in the background from St. James Park

and followed the throng of tourist until Big Ben appeared.

"I see it!"

The name of the big bell in the north clock tower, Big Ben is often used to referred to the entire tower. I'm now one fact smarter -- and so are you.

Two of London's icons.

Westminster Abbey was our next stop ..

Most will remember the recent wedding of Prince William and Kate at the Abbey. 

Owen wasn't that interested in the Abbey nor audio tour

From the Abbey we headed across Westminster bridge, which boasts stunning views of the parliament ..

... over to the London Eye -- a ferris wheel providing panoramic views of the city. But first we stopped for a quick lunch on a patio.

Then... on the London Eye we go!

 

One of the pods on the ferris wheel at the top over looking Parliament and the river Thames

Even Owen enjoyed the views!

We hurried back to the hotel picking up some cupcakes from Selfridges for our babysitters on the way. A friend who formerly lived in London put us in touch with some of her good friends who were willing to tend over Owen for a few hours -- and to boot, they were OTs!

Mandy & Karen; Owen's London babysitters!

Julie and I headed over to Randall & Aubin a small joint in SOHO that doesn't take reservations.  On the way we ran into some trouble.  After 60 quid we had only traveled part way to the restaurant.  Traffic was absolutely stopped and it was Vogue's fashion night out so people were absolutely everywhere with lots of places booked for private events.  We bailed from the cab about 3/4 of the way when we saw a pedestrian accidentally knock a cyclist over and to asphalt. Not pretty.  Randall and Aubin had a small line down the sidewalk but we joined the queue and were promptly served the bottle of wine we ordered.. while outside in line on the sidewalk.  Not too shabby. While in a bit of a seedy spot we'd definitely recommend the restaurant.