London, Day 3 – November 2, 2012

London, Day 3 – November 2, 2012

This last day in London, I decided to take the Hop-on/Hop-off bus all around its route; I wanted to see as much as possible, but I was not in a mood to walk.  I decided to relax, ride the bus and enjoy seeing London.  I found a Ho/Ho bus that had a covered “hood” at the front of the top deck, and I wanted to be protected from the cold wind, so I hopped on.  I simply rode the bus and looked at the scenery; I was not able to take photos from the bus because of the glare in the windows.  I decided not to worry about photos, but just to enjoy being in London.  The entire route of the tourist bus was about three hours, and I rode the entire route without stopping or getting off the bus.  After the route was finished, at Victoria Station, I decided to continue to stay on the bus until it returned to Piccadilly Street, and then get off and walk for a while.  At that point, it was 3:00 p.m. and I decided to eat a bite.  I first tried Fortnam and Mason, but they said they were full until after 6:00 p.m.  I then went to an elegant restaurant across the street; however, the experience was not good.  The service was terrible and the food was not good either.  Just eating a salad took more than an hour.  Eventually, I walked back toward the hotel through Green Park. 

The group who would be taking the cruise had planned to meet at the nearby pub, the Albert of the Taylor-Walker chain, at 6:00 p.m., and I decided to join them.  That was not a good decision.  I had noticed the previous evening that the pub was very noisy, and I don’t usually enjoy being in noisy places.  When I got to the pub, it was packed on a Friday night, and the noise was much louder than I had remembered from the previous evening.  The people in the group ordered drinks and dinner, and I decided to stay and have a slice of apple pie with a glass of water; after I finished, I took off and returned to my room at the hotel. 

Tomorrow, I will go to the ship.