Today was a bit different than prior days.  First, not only did I sleep like a rock, but I didn't wake up until 12:30.  I was refreshed, and happy 'cause I needed it, and I was gonna need it. Since I didn't want to miss an entire day, I quickly got ready and headed for the tube, jumped on the Bakerloo line and changed to Jubilee line at Baker street.  Intrigued by the names, I asked a couple of locals how the different routes how the trains are named, and they had absolutely no idea.  After looking at the map for a while I decided that they just try to pick a name that is somewhat relevant to the area in which the train travels.  Thanks, Cliff, move on.

Before I move on, thanks a LOT for the great camera everyone.  These pictures would have literally been impossible with a point and shoot.  I took many pictures for other people today and none of them had the ability to handle the constantly changing (and sometimes dismal) light.  I was changing settings by the second to adjust, so anyway... thank you!

I exited the train at Green Park, which is the closest stop to Buckingham Palace.  There I met a pediatrician from Brazil who was very chatty.  He showed me their currency, and how it had a picture of the September 11 memorial on it, due to the fact that over 200 Brazilians died in the attacks.  I have tried to find the fact on the web to confirm, but have had no such luck.  Either way, it caught me off guard.  Here's a picture of the palace and the statue out front.  By the way, you can click on pictures for a larger view.

Buckingham Palace

While there, I found that the next changing of the guard wouldn't be for two days, so I guess I'll have to come back to see.  From there I headed down street to the place where the bus tours started.  I bought ad hot dog while I waited, which should be renamed as it's not what we would consider a hot dog.  I should have suspected something when I saw the jug of Tomato Sauce (yes, that's what the label said) on the counter.  It was more like a giant sausage.  Regardless, it was very good and came loaded with fried onions.  Yum.

Unlike previous days, it was fairly temperate in the early afternoon, making it reasonable for me to sit on top of the open air bus during the tour.  That gave me TONS of photo ops, which you will see below.  It's incredible how much history (recent and distant) that this city has.  I absolutely love how they have statues everywhere as a constant reminder of their roots and contributors to their society.  They even have a memorial called "Animals in war" to commemorate all of the animals that lost their lives for the sake of the country.  I think that's pretty cool.

At any rate, here is a statue of a horse drinking water.  I don't know anything to particularly interesting about this horse other than it is unlike any other horse statue I've seen, so I thought it was neat.  Additionally, the location of this statue is where they used to have a large set of gallows, and with it the road that prisoners used to travel from the prison on their way to said gallows.  So, what would happen is a wagon would pick the prisoners up and travel down the road, and then stop just shy of the gallows where the prisoners could get off and go to a little stand that served alcohol before completing their trip.  This is where the phrase "one for the road" comes from.  Additionally, only the prisoners were allowed to go to this stand.  Hence, the driver would not get off, and therefore he "stayed on the wagon."  Pretty fun little tidbit.

There are so many things to show, so here goes:

Apple store like we have at home.  Except the ridiculously old building.  And gold leafing.

Regent street and Oxford Street are absolutely Mahem.  It's a shopper's paradise.

This is the inside of Hamley's, basically FAO Schwarz for England.  It is so crazy that they have to close the bus lane in front and extent the sidewalk into the street because the already wide sidewalk can't handle all the people.

Here, Jessie points out a local eating establishment.  It sounded incredible so we went there for dinner.

This is a two ton bronze statue of a rocking horse.  As you can see, there is a pigeon on top.  Though I didn't get a good picture of it, the Winston Churchill statue in town is electrified to keep pigeons off.

Beth, since you'd been talking recently about the book on British women in World War II, I thought you might like this memorial to them.

Flip, they have these cool buses that are two stories tall!!

The Tower of London, built in 1078 by William the Conqueror

Jessie, can you tell me help me find the tele?

Really large clock.

Oxford Street and Regent Street were both decorated with lights like this the whole way.

And now, one of the weirdest things today.  Along the bus tour we kept seeing groups of Santa Claus's walking around, having a good time.  We weren't sure where they were going, but they were always going the same direction.  This evening as I was walking around, I found out.  They were all gathering in a place called Trafalgar Square, and here's how it ended up.  Literally, thousands of Santas gathered together.  No one was really certain why they were there or what they were up to, but they were all very very "Jolly," and enjoying themselves quite a bit.  It was crazy!  Where's Waldo?

By the way, the Christmas Tree on the right is a gift from Norway that is given each year to thank England for its help in World War II.

Jessie riding with me on the tube

That about sums up my day.  What fun!  I'm ready for some more sleep.  But, first, to the pub!