Hey! Who's that other dude and what's he doing trying to steal my blog?!

So today we woke late but breakfast was great. After much indecision about our plans we finally purchased a bus pass (valid for 24 hrs after first ride) and started our day around 10:30.

We first went to Buckingham Palace and were lucky enough to catch the changing of the guards. Totally unplanned, but convenient. We couldn't get the best spot for the first set of guards but the second time we saw/heard enough to get the experience in (however abbreviated).

Afterwards we decided to get lost (we seem to enjoy doing that) and finally caught a second bus up to the London Eye. We chose the Fast Track option with discounted Madame Tussaud's tickets included (tell you about that tomorrow) and only had to wait around 5 minutes (as opposed to the 30+ minutes for the regular line).

The wheel is almost continuous movement and only slows down a little for "our elderly and disabled passengers" (quote from an announcement). The Eye rotates at around 1/30 rpm, meaning that it took approx. 1/2 hour to go around. During this time, the Eye made me rather snap-happy. The majority of my pics are either from our giant bubble or the back of a bus (more on that later). Upon the completion of our "flight" we took a ferry to the Tower Bridge area (the ferry was included with the bus package).

So here we took a peek in the Tower of London gift shop where I bought the awesomest item for mom, then got some exterior shots of the Tower. We then came upon the second highlight of our trip: the Tower Bridge. It was as this point that Grandpa gave up on us and went to get a beer at a local cafe.Grandma went into the Tower Bridge (yes, I said into [as in the visitor's center that many do not know even exists]) to see the exhibition. As time was limited, we took the shortened version of the self-guided tour by simply rushing across the walkway over the bridge, purchasing the souvenir photos and magnets and etc. and then hurrying into the engine room (fascination. They actually had one of the old engines moving to show the principles but it was not connected to the bridge anymore).

After this I convinced Grandma to go with me to the London Dungeons in search of souvinir British "Darby" Handcuffs. No such luck, even though we toughed our way through a 1/4 mile to get there. Anyways, on the way back we saw the neatest sign for an air raid shelter. Sweet.

Anyways, we caught up with Grandpa and spent the latter part of the day taking advantage of our bus passes. We sat at the top of a double decker bus and listened to the tour guide while taking lightning-fast photos as we rushed by monuments and cool architecture. My trigger finger got itchy and so many of the pics are neat but make no sense at all.

Clocks seem to be a common theme.

Then we had a nice dinner and made a bet that I couldn't/could solve a new puzzle with first-class tickets on the line