Our azamazing baltic cruise 7/22/16

[graciekelli]

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[graciekelli]

Okay...again, we used the underground which is really great at moving people around. Today's schedule started at Westminister Abbey. It was really fascinating. My only gripe is that we could not take pictures inside. Now I agree that it is a church and you need to be respectful and maybe photos are not respectful. But then the church should not be charging people to get in. If you charge an admission fee in a church that should be free, then you should allow people to take pictures. That is my only complaint. So not pictures for you. I really liked all the tombs. I liked how they would have carved images of the dead noble people laying on top of the coffins. I know that this might be something that is normal in England, but I have never seen this before. Our day at Westminister Abby started with Breakfast at the Abbey. They have a restaurant called The Cellarium. It was okay. Not something I would do again.

[graciekelli]

 

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Here are the only 2 internal pictures I could sneak. Sorry, I was not brave enough to do more.

[graciekelli]

After visiting the Abbey we went over to the Churchill War Rooms, which was just around the corner from the abbey. Bobby loved this. He is very interested in WWII stuff. I not so much. But I liked it They had rooms all set up like they would have looked at the time. It was very interesting for me as well. If you have the London Pass I definitely would add this to your itinerary

 

 

 

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[graciekelli]

Us fooling around on our way to the River Thames Cruise

 

[graciekelli]

This is included in the London Pass. Very nice little break in a big site seeing day. (Remember, we are in London during a heat wave.) We are in the water - inside an air conditioned boat with a couple of very nice cold beers. All the while we are traveling down the river while hearing about London's most interesting sites. This was really enjoyable.

[graciekelli]

[graciekelli]

 

We found a cute little pub to enjoy some lunch. It was really good. So were the cold beers.

[graciekelli]

 

We saw this little guy at the train station. Then jumped on another tube to go visit the Beefeater Gin tour. Another reminder... it was super hot today. So we thought a nice little break in an air conditioned area with a nice cold drink sounded wonderful!! and it was!! We were the only ones there and so...we had a private tour. Very nice. It came with a lovely G&T.

 

 

 

We're from California:D

[graciekelli]

 

 

Going back to our hotel to get ready for our big day...Our day trip to Paris:D Waking up early tomorrow to head to the Eurostar!

[Grandma Cruising]

You are certainly packing a lot into your time here. Thanks for a very interesting review.

 

 

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[Ebeth63]

You are certainly packing a lot into your time here. Thanks for a very interesting review.

 

 

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Ditto!

It is very interesting to read 'a tourist's perspective' - and a day trip to Paris while visiting London - wow!

So glad to hear you are enjoying your trip, and looking forward to reading more.

[graciekelli]

Thanks for your comments. I was hoping that you all wouldn't find the details too boring. Mind you... We haven't even started the main event... Our cruise aboard the lively azamara quest. Well that's coming in a couple of days

 

 

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[graciekelli]

Day trip to Paris. So here's how I planned this day. I bought the tickets on line for round trip from St. Pancras train station I think I paid about 120.00 round trip per person. I booked an early train leaving London around 7:00 am with a return trip at 8:00 pm. We got to and from St. Pancras by way of the tubes. I can't say again how fun it was to navigate through London using the undergrounds.

 

 

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[graciekelli]

Here is Paris train station Gare du Nord

 

 

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[graciekelli]

Our agenda for the day was to go on the Hop-on hop- off bus. This would give us a nice tour of the city. The main objectives were to go to the Effiel tower eat in a Paris cafe. See notre dame and if we had time a cruise on the river seine.

 

 

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[graciekelli]

I bought tickets for the Effiel tower on line way in advance. I set an appt time and this ticket allowed us to skip the super duper long lines and go through the ropes straight to the elevator. VERY NICE. I strongly, and let me repeat that, strongly, recommend you do this. Who knows how long we might have had to wait. All I can say is maybe all day.

 

 

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[graciekelli]

After visiting the Eiffel Tower, we picked up our Hop On bus and off we went. We got off several blocks after passing the Moulin Rouge (away from the sexy places) and found a wonderful cafe. We spent some time here enjoying food, drink and talking to a few people.

 

 

 

[graciekelli]

7/21/16 will be our last full day in London. And "she" did not disappoint! We started our morning by taking the tube system to get to Abbey Road. Yes, Bobby did need to take the obligatory picture crossing this famous street. We also walked around a bit and stopped at the little Beatles memorabilia shop.

Edited September 12, 2016 by graciekelli

[graciekelli]

 

 

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[graciekelli]

We then made our way to The Imperial War Museum. This was a cool place and there was no charge to visit.

 

 

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[graciekelli]

After the museum we decided it was time for a bite to eat and we stopped at a nice little pub where we also shot some pool.

 

 

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