Europe 2016 Day 2

This morning Lori and I slept in and took it easy - trying to recover from the flight over. We went downstairs for breakfast about 9:30. It was a buffet which was actually pretty good although the bacon was unusual - more like Canadian bacon. After breakfast we headed back out to explore. We took a cab out to Soho Square to a pharmacy there and then headed back toward the hotel on foot. One of the first things we saw was a McDonalds. We went in to get a coke and this is what we saw.

Get ready to be replaced you minimum wage earners who want $15 an hour!

We kept walking and came across this pedestrian only area with lots of shopping and restaurants and casinos - nope we didn't stop in to donate. There was a neat little park that was dedicated to Shakespeare that also had a splash park feature around Shakespeare's statue.

Then we happened upon Piccadilly Circus which is really just a traffic circle. There was a Yoda mime and a guy making a sand sculpture of a dog.

 

Next we came upon St. James's Park and Parliament Square. The Park was really pretty. Lots of pretty flowers and big trees. There is a pond in it that was dug out for King Charles II in about 1660. It has a lot of ducks and other birds. Later an island, called Duck Island was built in the lake. The island has a small cottage on it used by the caretaker.

 

When we were in Parliament Square we realized we were back where we had been yesterday with Westminster Abbey and Big Ben and Parliament right in front of us! We thought we were going to be right at Buckingham Palace but we weren't! We'll see that tomorrow. So we decided to do the tour of Westminster Abbey. It is an amazing place. No pictures were allowed of the inside. All the people buried there - it is like a history lesson! A couple more pictures - one of the cloister part of the Abbey and one of Big Ben.

 

And here is Lori in one of the iconic red phone booths that are all over.

 

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