London day 2

First let me say that I'm not a fanatic of the organized tours: normally before leaving for a trip, I inquire, I look at sites and books and with a little imagination and the help of Google map, I can manage on my own. On this occasion, with so few days left and so many attractions to visit, we were persuaded by the first guy on the street corner to get the 48-hours tickets for a hop-on/hop-off sightseeing tour.  

I must admit that it allowed us to avoid the stink of the subway (comparable to those of Paris ..) and to relax between visits to the other, while listening to the commentaries from the tour-operators.  It would have been much better if the weather was not inclement (it was freezing cold) but we could not ask for too much.
The first stop was Hyde Park. 

Giuseppe vainly sought the "Speaker Corner" to perform in one of his proverbial sermons.  Too bad, the British have lost a unique opportunity. In return we discovered that Londoners not only love horse back riding, but they have a passion for cross country and not lose the opportunity to practice! We met dozens and dozens of "skiers" ... Isn't it easier to just get a bike?

  

Again we hopped on the bus, direction Trafalgar Square and the City center.

 

How not to indulge in a tour boat on the Thames? As soon as we were on board began to rain. The few months spent in Paris taught me to always have with me, in the bag, at least one portable umbrella: the weather changes at an incredible speed. In London it's even worse: I believe that here the weather forecasts are probably calculated to predict the weather for the next two hours or less! Nevertheless, these two drops failed to discourage us in our tour.

So we arrived to the Tower of London: surprising and spectacular at the same time. Unfortunately the guide who was supposed to take us around the fortress gave forfeit citing as an excuse that "he could not do the tour with umbrellas". What a joke! Britain is probably are one of most showery countries on Earth and you guys fail to organize when it rains? Boh ...

 
Josh was obviously fascinated by the models and the armors, shiny and of inestimable value (some were made out of gold!). I have found that the explanatory videos were very well done.  

Obviously the part of the tour that has struck me more was the Crown Jewels collection: it took 45 minutes waiting to enter the hall but it was worth it: we admired in the same room, within walking distance of each other, the 2nd largest cut diamond in the world (the Cullinan I a.k.a. the Star of Africa)  

 

and the more purest diamond in the world, the Koh-i Noor.

Obviously the pictures were banned (and the doors of the room were slabs of steel to 1000 kg each!) Therefore I added from the Internet the pictures  that I could not take personally. Not bad ... then don't tell me that the English Royal Family is suffering the economic consequences and should cut spending. Ma va la' !

On the way back we walked through the London Bridge, which was not falling down

and we headed towards the London Eye, just in time to admire the sunset over this beautiful city.

 
Small note: if you suffer from vertigo, do not climb on the Wheel. The cabins are fully transparent and seems to float on air. With just a breath of wind , they begin to sway alarmingly on the river. We found that one of the cabins is missing (the number 13 ... superstition?) and another one is painted red (the sponsor). For the rest, the experience was great but, for me, not to be repeated. I don't want to end as as Homer Simpson in The Regina Monologues! 

By the time we had our feet safely on the ground, it was already evening and the pubs do not allow entrance to minors, so no fish & chips and not even the famous steak & kidney pudding ! We'll have to find another way to sample this specialties.