Beyond the South Bay in LA: London, England

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abbey

Holy cow did we get pounded in London...no...I didn't get pissed (British slang for drunk) but I got pounded as in £ ed. At 1 British pound = 1.8609 (closer to 2 to 1 with exchange fees) the U.S. dollar does not go a long way. Even if you eat a pubs and order fish and chips you will end up spending around $20 and that is just one medium sized piece of fish.

My son had his first international trip and we flew from LAX to LHR. I have been to London quite a few times so I have seen most everything so now I was able to show my son around like his own personal tour guide. He turned 17 in London.

We walked many miles every day and he quickly learned how to navigate the Underground/Tube (subway) which he was not so fond of...too many people I guess. He really loved London though...except for most of the food with exception of dim sum at Harrods.

On the right is the first and only beefeater/yeoman warder that is a woman. (You have to have 20 years of military service before you can become one.)

Big Ben and House of Parliament
(Big Ben is actually the name of the bell inside of the tower)

View of Tower Bridge from the river Thames

London Eye (ferris wheel) and our boat arriving to take us to Greenwich

Queens Guard at Tower of London

Admiralty Arch



Other places we visited was Trafalgar Square, Leister Square, British Museum, National Gallery, Odeon theater (Dark Knight movie), Victoria Station

Greenwich
(look closely at the sky...see the plane? That was one of the planes above the stadium at the
Red Bull Air Race)

Prime Meridian Line in Greenwich

The trip is half over...now we are off to Paris via the Eurostar. See you in Paris!