London Sunburn by Double-Decker

Third day in a row of sun filled skies and warm weather. It's a day of sights departing Russell Square. The hotel I'm staying in is called Hotel Russell (pictured above). To use Cece's words is very old British. Very clean, comfortable and super-convenient (plus I found a great deal), it is located adjacent a tube stop (Russell Square on the Piccadilly line and within two blocks of a hop-on / hop-off tour. 

I decided to do the drive-thru sightseeing to take in as much as possible visually without having to queue for things I'd seen ages ago. My how I'd forgotten about the queues! Below are some of the snaps of my experience:

 Gorgeous building in the Theatre district.

On the outskirts of Chinatown my street name is called out. Ha! Wrong city but nonetheless serendipitous.

Next are a few interesting buildings...

A bit of glamour in Knightsbridge...

A nod not only to Princess Diana but Patsy and Eddy...

Royal Albert Hall:

and the Albert Memorial:

Gorgeous residences and

streets along the way to Gloucester Road...

... The Victoria and Albert Museum 

Harrod's store:

 

Another beautiful building...

The London Eye peeking out, juxtaposed with a more 'traditional' piece of architecture:

The Royal Courts of Justice. 

St. Paul's Cathedral (up close and personal):

We head into the East End and the modern and contemporary architecture becomes more prominent. 

We will be crossing Tower Bridge soon:

First, it's a drive by the Shard in-process.

A fascinating pub facade:

And now the Tower Bridge:

The Tower of London, whose high dome dates back to around 1000AD.

Can't recall what these two are but they are beautiful...

A bas-relief to the women who fought in WWII.

One of the entrances to Buckingham Palace.

Big Ben

My photo of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey were big blurry blobs, so you'll have to visit to see it for yourself.

The London Eye:

Street Market in a Westminster neighborhood:

Gorgeous little pub in Westminster:

Well, there it is. The tour, in blurred, almost focused images. 😋

The highlight of the day was meeting my new(er) colleagues at City Place House. Sorry, no snaps as I was running a bit behind. I'd really like to thank them for their most appreciated welcome and for the opportunity to disrupt their busy lives so that we could have a chance to get to know one another better. 

London's East End and then some...

I apologize in advance as this blog entry is being written on the fly. I will do my best to go back and label things when I have a mo...

Trip to Liverpool [train] Station 

as I head to London's West End 

to Spitalfields Market 

 

and on to Brick Lane Market.

Then I decided it was time to be the typical tourist and jump on a tour bus.

Please watch carefully as I love to find the clash of the modern and the 'traditional.' 

Clearly, London is full of them and its just as amazing as when Chicago does it but the expanse of time between the one or two contradictory periods is greater. 

And now just a few images of the 'touristy' stuff. 

They've ordered even more sun for today. My rain jacket is getting bored in the bottom of my luggage. 😎