Our hotel offered the standard English breakfast, buffet style, with pots of tea or coffee at your table at your request from the staff. And the coffee was definitely what most Americans would be used to for coffee, not some foamy blend of Nescafe.
Since our first full day in London happened to be a Saturday, that meant we had to go see the market at Portobello Road. The BIG day for visiting the Portobello Road Market is Saturday. And apparently a LOT of people feel the same way!
We got our first taste of using “The Tube“ (London Underground – the subway system) getting to Notting Hill Gate station, which is near the southern end of Portobello Road. But walking would certainly be the order of the day. There were two Underground stations close to our hotel, but each was about 1/3 of a mile away on foot, so we are also getting a taste of much more walking from place to place.
We made it to Portobello Road just fine – us and about 5000 or so of our closest friends. The south end of Portobello Road is primarily antique dealers, but stalls on the side of the road offered all manner of things you didn’t know you needed. We went through a few stores before stopping for some lunch in a small, upstairs cafe (without a toilet, mind you!)
Looking north on Portobello Road, London. Saturday is the big day, and is advertised as "The World's Largest Antiques Market".
We taxied back to our hotel to freshen up a bit, then took the Tube down to the Westminster station, which led us right outside of:
We were told numerous times during our visit to London that the clock tower you see in the picture is NOT Big Ben - the bell that chimes is Big Ben, and you aren't able to see it. The Westminster Clock Tower is the largest 4-faced chiming clock in the world.
After a few pictures of the Palace of Westminster, we embarked on a sightseeing cruise down the Thames to Greenwich. It turned out to be another brisk day, especially once we got down by the pier. We were glad to stay inside the boat for the trip down to Greenwich. The trip took us past many landmarks along the way, such as the London Eye, Cleopatra’s Needle, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, and HMS Belfast (another Imperial War Museum site). We had some delightful and interesting commentary from the pilot about the landmarks.  Once we got to Greenwich, we decided to just take the same boat back up to Westminster, since it was late in the day and there was only one more boat after the one we were on. It was starting to get dark as we left Greenwich, and as we got to the Tower Bridge, I was able to get one halfway decent shot:
The Tower Bridge at night from the City Cruises sightseeing boat.
The views were certainly more enlightening now that the sun had set, and everything was lit. The London Eye was especially pretty:
After dusk, the London Eye is lit in a gorgeous shade of blue.
We took the boat back to the Westminster dock, then got a better look at the Palace of Westminster, and especially the clock tower:
The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster after dark.
Headed back to the hotel, found some dinner along the way, then started weighing the news about Egypt with our plans. This was Saturday, and we needed to make a decision certainly before we were scheduled to fly to Cairo on Tuesday, but the signs are becoming ominous – between the US State Department, the United Kingdom equivalent, and now the airlines advising that you can make changes to your itinerary without paying extra fees, we may end up having to cancel or reschedule that portion of the trip.
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