Sunday - London

Our day started with breakfast at 8:00 and then we boarded our coach for a city tour of London.The first stop was a photo op at the beautiful memorial to Prince Albert. Then a drive by Harrod's department store.

London was full of energy since we were there just prior to the arrival of the London marathon runners who had started at Greenwich. Although the marathon forced the canceling of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, we were fortunate to be able to get up close to the gates of the Palace. We saw that the Queen was not at home because her Royal Standard was not flying.

Continuing on our journey, we got some great views of Parliament and Big Ben. Then it was time for a rest stop at the majestic St. Paul's Cathedral. We were greeted with the pealing bells marking Palm Sunday and were fortunate to see the processional led by the Archbishop of London.

After lunch at Covent Garden and a bit of shopping, we headed to Windsor Castle. The Queen wasn't there either. We marveled at the intricacies of Queen Mary's doll house and the grandeur of the state apartments. It was a gloriously sunny and warm day.

Back to London and dinner at Lotus, a Thai restaurant. We enjoyed prawn crackers, spring rolls, rice, stir fried pork, and vegetables.
Back on the tube to Liverpool Station where Duncan met us for our Jack the Ripper walk. We walked through the Whitechapel area following the locations of the demise of his 5 victims. We saw Spitalfields Market and the Ten Bells pub. Duncan was entertaining, informative, and very dramatic. How do you spell RIPPER?

One more late night for the books.