August 29, 2001 - Day 1 of the London trip

We landed in Gatwick, London around 11:00am. After completing the formalities we took the Gatwick express to town. The first thing that strikes you when you board British Rail is how small the loading gauge is. After a 30 minute train ride from Gatwick to Victoria Station we took a speedy half hour cab ride from Victoria to Aldych a distance of less than three miles. We stayed in Aldwych which is the theater district of London. Our room was not ready when reached the hotel so we got some lunch and wandered around the area. After we checked in we walked to the houses of parliament and then to Westminister Abbey. It started to drizzle so we ducked into Westminister Abbey and toured it. Later we walked down to Trafalgar square and below you can see the first picture we took in London. The building in the background is the museum of fine arts which we never explored.

Here is another view of trafalger square with one of us in the picture.

A shot of a London bus. Had to get one of these.

A view of Big Ben from trafalger square.

The column at trafalger square. If you look hard you can see one of us.

A complete view of the column.

Here you get a good view of Big Ben.

And now you get the view from the other side with a little bit of the houses of parliament

Now you have the big picture, Big Ben and the houses of parliament. The river is the Thames and no it is not on fire. That happened a little while before we got there. That was the end of sightseeing for the first day.

August 30, 2001 - Day 2 of the London trip

The next day we had a full english breakfast and set forth for the day. We very soon got used to having a full English breakfast. We turned our attention in the other direction towards Buckingham palace. After a long one mile walk we reached the palace and photographed it.

This was the result.

The gates of Buckingham palace. Looking at this building I can see why people say it looks a lot like Bangalore palace.

After going through the palace we stopped to see The Mews. The mews is where all of royalty's transport is based and unlike many places in London they actually allow you to take photographs inside. Above is one of the state coaches.

And here for the first time you see the other person who made this trip.

Rear view of the Queen's car.

And now you get to see it from the front

This is the inside display where one of the older coaches has been put up for display

A closer view of the older coach.

Another view of the same coach.

The backsides of some of the horses that pull the Queen's coach.

After the changing of the guard the troops marching off. By the time we finished the Royal Mews the changing of the guard ceremony was almost over. So we came back two days later.

St. James park outside Buckingham palace.

Buckingham Palace again

And yet another view of the palace.

We took a boat to the tower of london and passed Cleopatra's needle.

St. Paul's Cathedral as seen from the river.

Do not quite remember the point of this picture, but you get to see it anyway.

A cruise ship and a naval ship of some sort on the river Thames near the Tower Bridge.

A good view of the Tower Bridge.

A closer view of the Tower Bridge.

And there you have it - The Tower of London