Interlaken Part 2

NOTE:  Pictures are not up yet.  Check back in a few days.  That’s also why the entry is short, because I use the pictures to remember what I’ve done.

My dad and I started our adventure right after work on Friday and borded the Eurostar, which provides a 3 hour train to London using the famous “Chunnel” which connects England to France by a tunnel underneath the English Channel.  We got into Waterloo station (where Napolean suffered his defeat from the English.) and got a taxi to a nearby hotel.

We started off our next morning by getting on a “Hop on and hop off” bus tour (which I am convinced is the best way to explore a city) which took us around all of the major tourist areas of London for a reasonable price.  We hurried up to see the “Changing of the Guards” at Buckingham Palace and was able to get right up to the gate and prepped ourselves for some really good pictures.  By the time 11:40 rolled around we got curious why with their “Military precision” they hadn’t started.  We then saw the sign which said, “The changing of the Guards will be Tomorrow at 11:30.”  Frustrated, we walked back to the bus station and started back on our tour.  The rest of the day was without much adventure, mostly due to the rain and the cold which bothered us.  We did, however, take a rivership cruise on the Thames river and under London and the Tower Bridge.  We finished it off by seeing Tower Bridge (which is not London Bridge.  London Bridge is actually much smaller.) at night, a beautiful sight to behold and going to eat at a Greek restaurant where they didn’t serve wine, so we went to a store and got ourselves a bottle to bring in.  Soon…sleep.

Note:  One of the Beetles, George Harrison died the day before.  This is important later.

For the next day, we made it back to Buck Palace because I wanted to see the guards.  The streets were then packed like Mardi Gras and finally the guards and the band came out to begin the cerimony.  The changing took quite a long time and then the band organized themselves in a semi-circle and started to play a Beetles melody as a tribute to the late Beetle.  I didn’t know most of the song, but was able to recognize “Yellow Submarine” and “Hey Jude”.  At the end, the band got a loud applause and dad said that he was glad that we came.  Afterwards, we jumped back on the bus and saw the rest of the city.  We then also saw Shakespear’s globe and the Tate Modern museum.

All in all, a good time was had by all.  Next weekend, Interlaken Switzerland again!