Spent the afternoon driving around London to see the sights with Mary and Brian. These guys come from Miami and Nashville but they have a a cabin somewhere in West Virginia by a river that sounds idyllic.
They started the afternoon with a trip around Westminster Abbey and then at my suggestion, we drove past some of our major tourist attractions, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the Tower of London where they got out for a good look at the ancient fortress. We then crossed the river via the iconic Tower Bridge and and headed East along the south side of the Thames to a little visited but very important place for American visitors. The Mayflower is the tavern from which that little ship sailed to the new world in 1620, only pausing in Plymouth to pick up it’s remaining complement of pilgrims. This is a new and and very interesting addition to my London panoramic tour and gives visitors a chance to see another side of the capital.
Both my guests enjoyed a glass of english beer on the deck overlooking the patch of the Thames from which the Mayflower first sailed just over 400 years ago, before heading back towards town. We managed to park the car in Borough Market and walked along the River, past another ancient ship, Francis Drake’s Golden Hind and then Shakespeare's globe (both reconstructions) before my guests crossed back across the river on foot using the millennium bridge. I picked them up at St. Paul’s Cathedral and took them back through town, past the darkened Buckingham Palace, to their hotel in Kensington.
We shared a good few laughs and Mary, in particular, showed a pretty good knowledge of English history, while I learnt that the cute fluffy dog is not always the good dog!
It’s always nice to share personal stories with my guests and to get a sense of out each other’s country is viewed from the other side of the ocean.
I hope you come back and visit us here again soon and I promise Brian that we will go see a band and have a few more English beers!
Comments