Combining this with our quickly reducing time in London and an eagerness to see more, we had a family discussion to see what people wanted next. Universally, we all wanted to spend some extended time above ground.
Today dawned with clear, sunny blue skies making it perfect for exploration so we decided to catch a hop-on/hop-off bus with no real intent to get on and off, but rather to cruise the streets and see the sights.
A quick tube trip (yes, I know this part was underground) to Hyde Park Corner. Blinking into the bright sunshine as if seeing light for the first time, we set about working out where to buy tickets for the bus. We needn’t have worried though as the ticket tout managed to run across 4 lanes of traffic in his eagerness to make a sale. I’m guessing these poor guys work purely on commission.
We didn’t need to wait for long, but in the short wait we did see a funny sight. Walking past us were a grandmother and granddaughter with perfectly matching outfits, right down to their brilliant white furs. Nothing like a quarto of sniggering Ingrams on the corner.
To Hamish and Amelia’s displeasure the front seats on top of the double decker were taken, so we rode the back row instead. Dare I say that the views were probably better from back as there was no roof and no dirty glass to obstruct our view but it did have us zipping up our coats and tightening our scarfs.
The sun made the views spectacular as we cruised around the golden circle of London’s must see attractions. We reminisced about the sights we visited last time and commented on the different views the bus gave us this time.
We jumped off the loop one stop early at Piccadilly Circus and made our way to the Leicester Square area to grab some lunch. Our usual haunts were busy so we ended up at a Pizza Express. No Prince Andrew in there today!
Then it was a quick whip around the Christmas Market in Leicester Square before Hamish’s main event. We saw Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker with 600 of our closest friends in Leicester Square Odeon Luxe Cinema. There were mixed reviews from the Ingram critics. Megan and Anthony think that it is amazing that films which started in our childhood will finish in our children’s childhood.
We finished our day back on the tube to Earls Court.
