Where was I?  Oh yea, the boat tour.  (It is still Thursday, June 12th)  The ticket stand is on the river behind the London Eye.  It was a grand way to see city Central.  We got great views of the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and more bridges.  There are many, many bridges across the River Thames. The Tower Bridget in this pic is the most majestic especially when seen from the river.

Many people often mistake this bridge for the London Bridge and probably because the latter is very dull and boring.   See for yourself.  I took a picture when we went under it on the river boat tour as the name is etched in the concrete foundation. 

The current London Bridge, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. This replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old medieval structure. This was preceded by a succession of timber bridges, the first built by the Roman founders of London.  The previous bridge which was built in 1831 was dismantled in 1967when it was determined it could no longer support the heavy load of traffic.  The City of London sold this bridge to Robert McCulloch, of McCulloch Oil Corporation, who is the founder of Lake Havasu City, AZ.  He had the bridge dismantled brick by brick and rebuilt in 1971, and links an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City.  Other than the historical significance of the London Bridge being rebuilt in AZ, I would not go out of my way to see it.  

Wouldn't you agree the Tower Bridge ( below) is the more spectacular?  Well, enough of the history lesson.  London, as you can well imagine, is full of historical significance and there is so much to see and I am already overwhelmed.  Big Ben in foreground and Westminster Abby in background where royal weddings are held. 

The river boat tour was a neat way to see the sights...sort of like a hop on hop off bus on water except no hopping off.  Oh, that was next but I will save that for tomorrows (June 13) adventure.

So after a 9 hour plane trip and three hours of touring, we were beat and decided to head back to the hotel and prepare for dinner.   We stopped at a local neighborhood grocery near the Marriott hotel where we were staying and bought a couple bottles of wine to take to our room ready to settle in for the night.  We are Marriott Rewards members so staying at a Marriott we can use the concierge lounge which we planned to use as our dinner spot.  But by the time we got back to the room, enjoyed our wine and got caught up some with Michael and Chuck it was late.  So when we got to the lounge there was only snacks but some marvelous cheese and crackers and also free wine.  Oh my, I'm loving this life already.

Back to the room and go online to the BA lost luggage website again to see about our "not found" luggage.  It is not lost yet according to BA so cannot call it lost luggage....still tracing they say.   Since we had bought a couple London t-shirts today, we figured this would get us through tomorrow hoping the luggage will appear tomorrow (Fri.) as we do not leave London until Sat. morning on an early bus to Dover to board the cruise ship to Norway and the Midnight Sun.

Tah tah for now. Check back for the rest of London in the next log.

Norway Cruise to the Midnight Sun via London

June 11th, 2014 - Fly from Durango, CO to Dallas,TX connect to Austin, TX to fly to London Heathrow International Airport.  Austin to London direct flight, who knew.  And why?  Anyway, upon our arrival at Heathrow no luggage.  This is the next day already, June 12 as England is 6 hours ahead of our Mountain CO time.  British Airways does a search and they say our bags did not arrive. Duh, we sort of figured that out already.   BA cannot locate luggage and can only say the bags are in transit.  So we file the search form and leave for hotel.  Good thing we are going to be in London for a couple of days, bags will arrive tomorrow for sure, just come on one of the next flights.  We head to find the "tube" to get across London to our hotel to meet up with our two friends Michael and Chuck.  They were kind enough to get us very very discounted cruise tickets on Holland America for sailing with them on this trip.  It is the "Voyage of the Midnight Sun" which leaves from Dover,England and sails up the coast of Norway into the Arctic Circle and back to Dover, two weeks altogether.
(Thanks guys!)



We had done some research on navigating once we arrived in London so we had an idea of what to look for and where we needed to get on and get off the "tube."  But switching subway lines to get there was still a challenge. 

Once we got to the station nearest our hotel, we walked out into the new world of London city streets, quite different even from our big city days in Tucson, AZ.  And they drive on the wrong side of the road too!

After a short 10 minute walk, we find our Marriott Hotel on the north side of London near St. James Park and meet up with Michael and Chuck.  We decide not to waste the day so chart out a day to take in sites and head back to the "tube" to catch a boat tour on the famous Thames River.  The big tower is "Big Ben" but that's not its' real name; more on that later.

The big Ferris wheel structure is the Millennium Wheel or London Eye that opened in 1999 as part of the New Years millennial celebration.  There are 32 pod "capsules" which can handle approx. 25 people and it continually moves in a circle.  As the "capsule" comes to the landing area, people exit, cleaning crew jumps in to remove trash and then exit, and the next load of people board.  It never stops....sort of like gondolas. One go-around takes half an hour with the wheel rotating at only twice the speed of a tortoise sprinting, so you can step on and off without the wheel needing to stop!

The London Eye is the fourth-tallest structure in London, so the far-reaching views over London are spectacular. On a clear day you can see as far as Windsor Castle. And the slow speed of the rotation means there's plenty of time to see everything and take lots of photos.  Not!  Only for the brave and not for the faint of heart...we only observed.  It is majestic though!

                                                                             

Here is poster pic. (not mine)  

Oh my, this is work and I am only on day 2 of 17 days.  Stay tuned "gentle reader", to coin a phrase from a good friend.     Hehe, I am taking a page out of Wally's handbook for this blog, thanks, Wally.   There is more to come but that is all I can do for now....so check back every couple days for a new segment of "Keeping up with Mike & Robert".