How To Do the London Blitz Tour

So what do you do when your brother comes to visit for the first time ever and only has one day for London?  I call it the London blitz tour.  Unless you've been to London you may not appreciate the scope of the tour, but here goes . . .

We arrived Waterloo station and headed for the London Eye.  After a ride around the Eye, we walked over Westminster bridge for that supreme view of Big Ben.  From here we walked to Westminster Abbey, and took a tour of the Abbey.  Then we walked up Whitehall, waving to the Prime Minister on Downing Street ending at Trafalgar Square.  We watched a little street entertainment before our whirlwind tour of the great highlights of the National Gallery.  After we stopped for lunch at one of my favourite lunching spots in the West End.  We took a quick walk down Cecil Court, AKA book sellers alley.  Then we stopped at one of my favourite bakeries to get some take away French pastries to eat on the square at Covent Garden.  After our French treats we shopped the markets at Covent Garden.  From here we took our market finds and headed to Leicester Square, through China town and over to Piccadilly Circus.  Then we walked down Piccadilly, past the Ritz, and through Green Park down to see the Queen at Buckingham Palace.  Then we walked back up through Green Park and hopped on the tube to NW8 to show Chad our old hood.  After we stopped by our old flat, we walked by the kids' old school and then swung over for a little Beatles moment crossing Abbey Road over the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing.  From there it was back on the tube to head down to southbank, getting off at London Bridge for a stroll through Borough Market before walking along the Thames, then walking across the beautiful Tower Bridge.  After crossing Tower Bridge we visited the Tower of London for a gander at the crown jewels.  From here we got on a bus towards St. Paul's.  First we crossed Millennium Bridge for a look across the Thames to the Tate and Shakespeare's Globe.  We headed back to St. Paul's for a quick look, and then it was dinner time.  We walked down the street to Fleet Street for an old world pub dinner at Ye Old Cheshire Cheese.  After a nice dinner we got back on the bus to Trafalgar Square, hopped off the bus there and walked back down Whitehall, past a beautifully illuminated Big Ben, over Westminster Bridge, past the London Eye finishing where we started at Waterloo.  And that my friends is the London blitz tour!  Whew!



























































With one day for non city exploits we took a tour of our neighbourhood palace, Hampton Court Palace, and made a visit in the freezing rain to Stonehenge.
























It is so great having my brother here.  It means so, so much to me to have been able to share my favourite city with him, but mostly just to share a piece of our life here.  I hope this is just the first of more visits to come!