We took a quick – and cheap! – 90-minute flight from Bilbao to London on Tuesday. We hopped on the Underground and headed into central London. We met up with Keith and Naomi at the Airbnb in Chinatown. We met a former colleague of Naomi’s for drinks at the pub, grabbed some dinner, and had a nightcap back at the flat while catching up on travels from the past week. While we went to Bordeaux, San Sebastián and Bilbao, Keith and Naomi headed to Normandy.
Chinatown:
We ventured out on Wednesday and walked to Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Leena and I hopped on a boat and road down the Thames to the Tower Bridge. The tour commentary was excellent. I’ve found city boat tours to be a very good way to see a city (architecture tour in Chicago; duck boat tour in Boston).
The Tower of London:
The Tower Bridge. To its left is the Shard, now the tallest building in Western Europe. To its right is a building nicknamed the Walkie Talkie.
On Thursday, we headed to the Chelsea neighborhood. After a stroll across the Thames and through Battersea park, we stopped for lunch at a pub founded in 1866. Traditional fish & chips hit the spot. We then headed to Stamford Bridge for a tour of Chelsea FC’s home pitch.
OK, we actually headed there since they signed me. A shot from my introductory presser:
And that’s pretty much a wrap for this trip. We head back tomorrow…