Taste of London and Thames Boat Tour

On our last evening in London we had signed up for a Monograms tour that took us on a bus tour of London that included A Taste of London in a restaurant and then down to the river for a evening tour of the Thames River.

Our bus took us through Friday afternoon rush hour and it was truly spectacularly slow but interesting. There was a lot to look at. Our tour guide on the bus was very entertaining and informative about the neighborhoods we were driving through and was very good at pointing out special sights which were everywhere.

We eventually stopped on Fleet Street at the Ye Olde Cock Tavern for dinner. This pub dated back to 1549 but renovated in 1887. It was a hangout for Pepys,

Dickens and Dr. Johnson. We were in a tour group of about 15 people and we sat together at a large table. The people around us were all from Australia. We had a traditional English dinner of steak pie, fish and chips and mushy peas. The desert included liquid ice cream. The food was good but not great. We've had better but it was fun with the group. However, I'm glad we were not doing everything with a tour group. I had a cask Greene King House bitter ale from Greene King Brewery.

Then we were back on the bus and heading to the dock on the river wherever that was. Traffic was still very crowded. We eventually boarded the tour boat and began a very nice ride on the Thames. We saw a lot of the London sights we had already seen earlier but this time from the river and lit up at night. It was really great. We had a wonderful time on the river seeing the sights. We took a lot of pictures. 

It was a wonderful evening and we eventually got back on the bus and took the bus back to our hotel after dropping most of the people on the bus at another hotel. 

This was our last night in London and our last chance to be in an English pub and I wanted another cask ale so when the bus dropped us off we walked across the street to the Stanhope Arms Pub where we had a nightcap. Mine was another Fullers London Pride cask ale.

Tomorrow would be a busy day taking the Chunnel to Paris.