London Day Two - The Tour

Wednesday day two of London began after waking up from a good night's sleep in our hotel room followed by a wonderful English style breakfast that was included in the tour package from Monograms.

There was a Monograms desk in the hotel lobby to coordinate activities that a client may have arranged. We signed up for two tours during our five days in London. One would be the basic bus tour of the city highlights and then we also signed up for a Taste of London followed by a River Thames boat tour.

We met with a group of people and then climbed on board a large tour bus to see the sights of London. We drove through London and the guide pointed out landmarks and special buildings as we traveled through many fancy neighborhoods like Chelsea and Soho. The tour took us to places like Buckingham Palace where we stopped to see the beautiful grounds, the

Scottish Guards, the fantastic gates, the statue of Queen Victoria, the Queen's quarters from afar and lots of royal stuff. Even Prince Charles' London residence. We saw a lot of buildings that were used to film Downton Abbey and The Crown. Our tour guide Clive was very entertaining and knowledgeable. He told some very funny jokes.We drove around and saw many interesting sights including Fleet Street, The London Eye from a distance, London Bridge etc.

Then we stopped at St. Paul's Cathedral which is one of the most famous and recognizable sights in London.

This was Christopher Wren's church and his very distinct dome. It was fantastic building and there was a lot to see. We especially liked the mosaics and also the American stained glass area. We enjoyed the crypt and saw areas dedicated to British luminaries such as Churchill. There are many famous people buried in the crypt.

After finishing the tour we opted out of the bus ride back to the hotel and decided to continue exploring this area of London on our own.