British Isles Explorer Ocean Cruise

Day 4: Friday, April 10, 2026 - London, England

The day's statistics:
⛅ Weather: low 60s
👟 Steps: Linda 28,323; Steve 27,913

We did the breakfast thing, then returned to the room to brush and grab our jackets and such before heading out.

This began our third and final full day of our touring London (yes, I am counting our arrival day since we were here so early in the morning).
Today we were going to be in the Royal District, putting the Go City Pass to use two more times.
We got our last underground card at the Tower Hill station, and made our way to the Westminster station 7 stops away.
We left the underground station and, behold! Big Ben!

Westminster Abbey didn't open until 9:30 so we put the half hour to use - as planned.
We began by heading to the Cenotaph Memorial which was supposed to be less than two blocks away in the other direction.
There was another one of those red boxes nearby...

There were a couple memorials up the middle of the road - three more that we could see.



Across the street, in front of the MoD building were three memorials to three different Field Marshals.


We saw some interesting architecture on the way back toward Big Ben.


We - obviously - took a selfie here too.

Big Ben is part of the Parliament building - which we walked along to make our way toward the Abbey.


We walked along Parliament, then crossed the street, walked all the way along the side of the abbey, passed through the gate, and got on the end of the line. It really didn't seem like it was that long as it was pretty early.
Adjacent to the Abbey is St. Margaret's Church (we didn't go inside - I don't even know if we could get inside).

Across the way was Central Hall Westminster.

The entrance was adorned with numerous carvings.


We finally made our way inside - it was only about a fifteen minute wait.
We showed our Go City Pass and received our tickets. There was some reconstruction going on and we generally followed the path to the right along the wall with a number of sculptures.










At the end of this hallway-like area, we were at the far-end of the church.
We essentially turned 180° and headed toward the nave.
This end of the church had a lot of stained glass windows.




We started toward the nave.




Before entering the nave, there were some tombs in the floor. While we didn't recognize most of the names we saw, there were a few we certainly did - especially in the Scientists' Corner - of Darwin, Newton, and Hawking. (The names are pulled out to show them.)



Our route simulated - though with MANY more people - the path that Princess Diana and Prince Charles took during their wedding ceremony.







Even as early as it was - with controlled entry to try to help keep crowds down - it was still crowded.
After viewing the main altar, we turned right and headed down the hallway-like area on the opposite side of the nave from where we entered. There wasn't too much to see on this side as compared to the other with so many sculptures.


At the end we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that we missed when we passed by before entering the nave.
(This is flipped and adjusted for readability.)

Near the exit there were a couple more monuments and statues, including the Coronation Throne and a plaque with a dedication to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.







There was also some more stained glass windows.





After exiting out the back of the church.


We, of course, visited the gift shop.

The next thing we were doing was at 11:00, and we had about a fifteen minute walk to get there. And a half hour to do it in. I mapped where we were going as we set out, enjoying some sites along the way.






Our destination was Buckingham Palace.
We wanted to see a performance of the changing of the guard. It is a regular occurrence, and this was the last day we had the chance to witness it. As well, as it seems, for the throngs of others in attendance. (We later learned that it was probably because it was the last day of "spring break".) There were about six to eight rows of people in front of us.





I was able to get some acceptable shots to get an idea what was going on. At six feet tall, I was able to see some of the guards too, right over the heads of others. I also raised up the camera over my head...
We accepted the fact that it wasn't working out for us, so we decided to try to make our way out of crowd and toward the next location, and slowly - we didn't have a choice - made our way to the other side of the courtyard.




While there was a little bit of a walkway, a bobby stopped progress at one spot because the guards (unbeknownst at the time) were going to be leaving through the gate. And we were almost in front here. Yay!




I was able to get a couple short videos of different portions of the ceremony.

As the crowd started dispersing, we had already made our way to the edge of The Green Park.
While sitting and relaxing a little, we considered the afternoon's schedule as we had a reservation for 2:00 for our next Go City Pass attraction.
We continued to walk through the park toward the Hyde Park Corner underground station. Along the was we saw some fashion, and war memorials.

It was still early - not much after 11:30 - and we still had two and a half hours before we had to be at our next stop.
The Picadily Line (blue) ran from the Hyde Park Corner station. What better place to waste a few minutes than to go to Picadily Circus. I had been there myself forty years ago, but don't really have any recollection of it. I may have a picture of it. Somewhere. But I highly doubt it.
Anyway, two stops away and we were at the Circus. I told Linda "Don't set your expectations too high, but you can think of it as a small Times Square."



Rather than take a bunch of pictures, I just did a 360° video pan.

We next mapped a nearby Starbucks® that happened to be a long block and a half away. We headed onward.

There was a table downstairs that was open that we sat at. Linda sat first, and I went and got the coffee. I also decided to get a slice of cake to share too.

Only so much time can be killed...
After coffee, we returned to the Picadily Station, and then took the Bakerloo Line (brown) one stop to the Oxford Circus station, and transferred to the Central Line (red) for five stops to the Notting Hill Gate station.

Our eighth and final Go City Pass attraction was Notting Hill and Kensington Garden Walk with Royal Cream Tea.
We were still early, so we bided some time hanging out near Calder Pharmacy where we were supposed to meet our guide.
The pharmacy was in a strip mall, adjacent to a couple eateries.

And while we waited, a couple exotics drove - such as a Rolls-Royce and an Audi RS8, and a couple unpictured Porsches.

We took a selfie too.

Our tour guide, Cornelius, appeared too. As the time approached 2:00, we approached Cornelius. After brief introductions, we were told that there was supposed to be a third participant - that pre-paid. We waited until 2:15 without her showing up, so we were then permitted to depart.
We began our walk heading west.
These colorful buildings are above business and typically house the business owner.

I believe that's a Lamborghini. What was Cornelius talking about?!!?

Continuing on, we passed interesting architecture and sights, and learned of the community.



One building had a Banksy art piece on it.

We continued on to a section that had a large number of colorful houses. This was the architectures' row.




More artwork.

On one side of the street, a block of housing starts at £2 M, next to a block at £1 M, across the street from social housing.

This got more washed out than it looked when it was taken. Regardless, in the middle of the wall in the sun, there is a clearly visible outline that is a door in the brick wall (it isn't as noticeable in person). This door backs to a common area of some high profile residents to use as an escape route - such as from paparazzi - if needed.

The large white marble homes are mostly no longer single family, but rather have been subdivided into individual units.











Not the only point of this tour, but relevant: the Notting Hill bookstore from the movie Notting Hill, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.
It is really small, but apparently NOT the interior that was used for filming - only the exterior of this site was used in the film.


Nearly across the street from the bookstore was the nearly as famous "blue door". We were told that Hugh wound up purchasing the apartment behind the blue door. No, we didn't see him.

The pictures are usually presented in order. I split these up a little for commentary and presentation purposes.
Our route took us through a large - HUGE - open air market, the largest in the UK. We were there off-season and it gets very busy on peak, with more vendors and even more shoppers.
Mixed in with the vendors were some other highlights: a one-hundred-plus year old Salvation Army post, one of the original sites; a facial recognition van in operation that if you got close enough to read the label, you've already been scanned; and a couple interesting looking restaurants including one that sort of breaks the aesthetics of the region.






Some of the market that spanned blocks.



We breezed through the market as we weren't interested in doing any shopping.
At the far end of the market, we transitioned to a residential area.


There was a lot of wealth in this area further exemplified by the autos parked outside (I can imagine what may have been parked inside) - a Bentley, and a couple Porsches.



While putting these together, the last car I saw was this white Audi RS8. But what is peculiar about this particular car (not the model, but the car itself) was that this was the same Audi RS8 in the image a little above following the Rolls-Royce.

A bit further on, we entered the wealthy residential area. Some homes are or were owned by stars such as Robert Plant, Stella McCartney, Jimmy Page, Claudia Shiffer, and more.
Cornelius told us that the space behind these homes leads to the door in the brick wall in the image above.


This is an English mailbox. It is a little different looking than that which we have in the US.
When mailboxes are installed, they are stamped with a marker based on who the monarchy is. In this case, it is GR VI, standing for "George Rex (Latin for "King") VI", or "King George VI".
This mailbox may need a little attention. But then again, it IS more than 70 years old...

A couple of the rowhomes were converted, one into the Wetherby School, and another into Pembridge Hall School.







This is a much newer mailbox than the one above, this one marked with "Elizabeth Regina II", or "Queen Elizabeth II".

One section was called the Russian Quarter where a large number of Russian immigrants had taken up residency many years ago.








While we weren't that far from our starting point, we had walked quite a distance, and were now going into Hyde Park.
Cornelius mentioned that there was an Italian Garden to the left, and further down, a Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.


We headed to Kensington Palace.

Our Go City Pass, in addition to the guided tour, included tea and scones. In a Royal British Palace!

The tour time was just under two hours. Cornelius departed after delivering our tea and scones to us. We sat and enjoyed the snack before we heading out. On the way out, we passed across the patio, and back down the palace driveway.



Next to the driveway is Kensington Gardens. It was too early in the season for much to be in bloom.

The next stop on our list of events was to visit the British Public Library.
Getting to the library necessitated returning to the underground - the Queensway Station was merely a block away.

We took the Central Line (red) five stops to the Tottenham Court station.
Bond, James Bond. Street. Station...

The next stop was Tottenham Court. We then took the Northern Line (black) three stops to the Euston station. Euston was a major station that had underground, national train, and buses.
After departing the station, we came across a mother and daughter - Brits, and their first visit to London - that had shopped at Selfridges, a store featured on a TV show of the same name. Our travels didn't take us past one, but the daughter reminded her mom they actually had an empty extra bag and were willing to give it to Linda.

I mapped the library on the Google device, and we started our walk. I had a decent idea where we were going, but kept a close eye on the mapping to be sure. And halfway down the block after crossing the street, the mapping showed we were actually heading in the wrong direction: we should have turned left at the intersection, not gone straight. At least we knew this without going too far out of the way. But we did see another Rolls, a church, and this blue booth that was... wi-fi enabled?!!? That was different...




It was just two long blocks away, and we were there.
We passed across the plaza, and entered the building - noticing that we only had about a half hour.







The main section of the library had four visible floors.

We took the escalator to the first floor, and began our brief tour.
In the middle of this section of the library was an enormous "cube" that seemed to house rare and or old books, some with dates on the spines of 1652 and some in the 1700s.





The floors had various wings off of it, but they closed at 5:00.

From a high floor, the height of the cube was more readily visible.



I guess these workspaces are for those that aren't sure if they want to stand, or recline a little.

Rather than have to deal with everyone leaving at 6:00, we decided to head out at five before.

The Euston station was just a couple blocks back.
On the way, we passed this purple Bentley, with Bee Gees' music - How Deep Is Your Love, specifically.

And another Porsche drove by.

To minimize transfers, we took the Northern Line (black) six stops all the way to Embankment, and transferred to the Circle Line (green) six stops to Tower Hill.
We had our usual (however "usual" could be over three days) four block walk to get to the hotel.

By 7:00 we were in the room, eating our second pasta salad from two nights prior, as well as the remaining cheese and the third sausage from Borough Market, along with the second bottle of wine from last night.
After dinner, we finalized the luggage and, after relaxing a little, prepped for bed.

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