Day 1: Getting our bearings

This is our street: Tottenham Court Road.  The sketchy white door next to the electronics store leads to our flat - we are the top floor.



Here’s the Studio style flat:






We landed at 6:15 am and got to the flat around 7:45, too early to check in so we had pancakes (Where the Pancakes Are) and then found a bus!



Partial bus tour: Trafalgar Square (getting ready for an event. It probably looks better without the line of porta-potties)  



Nelson’s Column above


Piccadilly Circus




St Paul’s Cathedral. Churchill hired “fire watchers” to make sure the cathedral wasn’t destroyed or damaged in the war. Someone was taking wedding pictures here!



                                The Tower Bridge




People can rent these bikes all over the city. (After the bus we opted to walk or take the Tube.)


The London Eye. And a selfie with sunshine and post-boat-ride hair. And a pretty shot at night!




The (Queen) Elizabeth Tower…the bell behind the clock is Big Ben. Ben was his middle name (according to our guide). His first name was Richard, so it would have been less appropriate as Big…Richard. 😂


Tower of London


Then our phone batteries died and we went back to the flat to recharge! 

Took a ride down the Thames in the afternoon. Sun was shining and I got some better shots of some places which I’ve replaced. 


It feels very much like New York here but cleaner and with historic centuries-old buildings next to new ones. This is The Shard. The architect was offered £2 million for the design but wanted the Penthouse apartment at the top instead. He lived there approximately 3 years, then sold the apartment to Will I. Am for a reported £48 million. He made a good choice. 



And of course Starbucks found us (but didn’t go in)!


Note to self: we were going to stop at one of the one million pubs we passed today for dinner, thinking 6:00 would be on the early side for Europe. We tried at least 10; all had lines out the door. So delicious Tagliatelle with Beef Ragu at an Italian place instead. And now we know when not to go to a pub. 


Seriously, is everything free today?🤯 They all looked like this. 

It is 8:30 here. We ran all day on about 2 hours sleep so we’re pretty pleased with ourselves.16,800 steps.  Good night!





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