I am typically not a cheesy tourist activity kind of girl, but I wanted to see London - all of London, in one day. And Winston Churchill himself said "the best way to see London is from the top deck of a double decker bus."
And who I am to argue with Winston Churchill?
It was a gorgeous day here! So I started out walking towards the Duke of York Square, where I grabbed a quick bite before heading to Victoria Station to pick up the bus tour.
My first "jam roly poly," to which I bit in and said "holy shit," and then felt bad for saying shit since I hate cursing - so I've coined the new expression, "holy jam roly poly."
What is a roly poly, you may ask? I couldn't bother to take a photo before I bite into it, and then promptly forgot all about the photo as I was in strawberry-jam land until the last crumb was consumed. So I can't show you, but imagine something that tastes like pie, but resembles an enormous ho-ho. This is a jam roly poly. Which, I initially thought was a ridiculous name for a food item - but I suppose ho-ho isn't much better now is it?
My bus ride was glorious. I really want to learn my way around this enormous city so I can start biking around like I did in Paris. What was "velibs" in Paris is "cycle hire" here in London. I've very anxious to go all Bill Cunningham on this city.
I popped off at a few stops, one being Borough Street Market, which I have been dreaming of since my first visit to London 2 years ago. It is a foodie's version of winning the lottery.
Incredible, fresh, gourmet food stalls packed like sardines into a gallery underneath London Bridge . All delicious, all with samples.
I wandered in and out of stalls snacking on everything from chevre to olives, to turkish delight and lavender shortbread cookies before I finally settled on two items.
1 - Flower Pot Bread
Ingredients: Wholemeal wheat flour, thyme, sundried tom-ah-tos, cheddar cheese.
2 - Raclette
Ingredients: crack.
I'll let the pictures do the talking....
Holy jam roly poly - right?After stuffing myself like a Thanksgiving turkey, I popped back on the bus, and took it to the Thames where, just in time for the sun to set and the lights of London to come on, I boarded a river cruise.
The Thames River Cruise was my favorite part of the day wholly because of the live "comment-ry."
Many english words are pronounced minus some syllables missing over here, like "comment-ry" instead of commentary.
And "in-tresting" instead of interesting.
What happened to the "ta" and "ter?" Are they off on holiday? Or perhaps they stepped out to have a fag.
Our guide provided a lot of in-tresting insight into the of the landmarks lining the Thames, such as there have been over 1000 weddings that have taken place on the London Eye.
To put it in his words exactly,
"You all load in there at the bottom, and then you say the vows as you climb up. When you reach the top of the Eye, you snog the bride - and then it's all downhill from there."
The combination of the brilliant pun, English accent, and silly words sent me into hysterics.
Other highlights included,
An attempt of crowd control as everyone starts to get of their seats:
"Please stay in your seats now while we approach the unloading dock."
"If you can understand me, please do stay in your seats. If you can't understand me - well then just carry on with what you're doing."
A plea for tips:
"We don't charge for the comment-ry as its only offered in English, and likely most of ye haven't understood a bloody word since I started."
In addition to the stand-up comedy show, the gorgeous views of Tower Bridge, the London Eye, and Big Ben and the Parliament Buildings were truly breath-taking.
It was brilliant, really. A wonderful first full day of fun and exploration in London! I am looking forward to many more days just like this one.
I won't go into detail about what I did after the boat cruise because I am slightly ashamed, but it may or may not involve vampires.
Dracula was from the U.K., afterall.
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