Day 3

London Eye - large, magnificent and spectacular panoramic view of London - excellent weather too - virtually clear skies, a bit of smog haze in the distance, but nothing too troublesome. Very good 5 minute 4D presentation beforehand - very slick and professional - the English have obviously learnt an invaluable lesson from the Americans on how to package and market these sort of 'products'; all geared of course to extract as many pounds as possible from the average tight-fisted punter, but nevertheless, very well done.



Mum and the kids in the "eye pod"!!



  

London Eye



  

The London aquarium - excellent display of fish. Weather conditions neither detracted nor enhanced the viewing experience. Again, very well marketed, and again, we managed to boldly resist the cleverly designed tactics to relieve us of more money. I can see that this trip is fast becoming an exercise in how to avoid buying stuff which, when we get back home, we wonder what on earth we were thinking at the time.

 



Entrance to Tower of London



The Tower of London - large, magnificent, and a rambling architectural hodge podge reflecting the many historical periods it has been witness to over the centuries - Patrick and Isabel (hereafter to be referred to collectively as 'the 'kids' or 'the children') suitably impressed - they even read stuff and excitedly showed us bits of information which they had gleaned and thought it noteworthy enough to share with us - perhaps their schooling hasn't been a waste of time after all!

  

Crown jewels suitably impressive, as were the more incidental pieces, such as the massive, intricately designed gold (gold that is, not golden) punch bowl, capable of holding over 100 bottles of champagne. Weather very warm, and as I am miserly enough to think that paying for water is a travesty, and as we ran out of the bottled tap water we brought with us, and as we hadn't found an ATM to withdraw some money to (reluctantly) purchase some bottled water in spite of my objections on principle, and as the authorities at the Tower in their wisdom had turned off the water fountains because it was no longer summer (seriously - there was a permanent sign which said so), we were rather in danger of expiring from dehydration - luckily we escaped the Tower and located a nearby ATM and re-hydrated with a refreshing Coke®.



Walls of the Tower of London









Tower Bridge



Dinner at a local pub, where Patrick informed us that he wanted to stay in London, and Isabel let us know that at least she was willing to return to Adelaide with us. An interesting observation from both kids was the excitement at seeing the tower of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament as we exited the tube station.



You guessed it!! Big Ben!!





Houses of Parliament (from London Eye)



Up until then we could have still been back in Adelaide - buildings are buildings; likewise roads, trees, cars, shops, and even trains (in spite of none in Adelaide running underground, nor, as Patrick observed, anywhere near as frequently and efficiently, especially for such a large and seemingly unwieldy system. Patrick has become our Underground navigator and is quickly coming to grips with the ease of the system generally). But seeing these magnificent icons left them in no doubt as to where we now are.