London Layover

On my flight back from Mexico to Cape Town I had an eleven hour layover in London. My first time in Europe! I decided to take a hop on hop off bus tour, so that I could see everything. Since I was travelling between Isla Mujeres and summer in South Africa I was a bit concerned about not having appropriate clothing for the forecasted rain in London. It was freezing on the open air top deck of the bus, but other than that it was a beautiful day to be in London. 

Start of the bus tour just outside of Paddington Station.

I refused to go into Madame Tussauds because wax figures are the ultimate of creepy. 

BBC headquarters where U2 gave a free concert from the roof. 

Classic London telephone booth.

Big Ben!

View of Big Ben through the London Eye.

Monument to the Great Fire of London.

When finished the Shard is going to be the tallest building in London.

Amazing.

It was such a nice day.

Parliament.

This is my best attempt at getting a picture of myself. You can just see the top of Big Ben behind my head.

Everyone hears about how wonderful London is, but I didn't expect to like it so much when I was only there for half a day. I fell in love with the amazing culture and rich history. Old historical buildings like Buckingham Palace and St Paul's Cathedral are mixed throughout the city with stunning new works of architecture like the Shard and the Gherkin. I visited the street where punk rock started and where the miniskirt was invented. I saw the London Bridge and went by the fictional residence of Sherlock Holmes. It was so much fun to see the places I've read about in books, and seen in movies. I can't wait to go back and spend some real time exploring London.