7/8 - 7/9 London

When Randy came to Spain to spend a couple of months, he wanted a car with air conditioning. The guy who leased cars to our company didn't have one, so he went out and bought a brand new car for us. I felt bad about that, thinking that when we left he would be stuck paying off this car that nobody wanted to rent. I didn't need to worry. When we dropped the car off at the airport, it never even got back to the lot; one of the managers at Continental immediately leased it back out. I guess they were just waiting for me to turn it in.

As part of our trip back to the US, we planned a long weekend in London. We flew from Spain to London on the same plane as Mario, who wanted to rent a car for us. We told him we didn't want one but he insisted. We got a Cosworth, dark maroon, very fast, and of course the steering wheel was on the right side. Randy drove it from the airport to our hotel, parked it in the parking lot, and from there on we used the tube system. The subway is a very good system, and cheap with an all-day pass. 

We toured the Tower of London. The big "White Tower" is the most recognizable part; this section is visible from the River Thames.

Inside are the Crown Jewels, displayed safely behind glass. Since no photos are allowed, I had to make do with a postcard. Funny, the jewels don't seem to shine as much in reality as they do in the postcards. 

Later we walked over London Bridge again. Before this year I didn't know that it has such pretty blue cables. 

Then we walked through London, by Westminster and Parliament.

And we walked the length of Fleet Street, which eventually leads to beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral.

Piccadilly Square is always full of people; of course, a lot of them are tourists.

We saw some charming London Pubs, invitingly picturesque.

London's iconic black Fairway cabs were everywhere.

We visited the London Dungeon. This is not old, it's a new exhibition aimed squarely at tourists, but I loved it.

We also took the “Jack the Ripper” walking tour in Whitechapel, to the sites of horrific murders and a summation of "who done it". The answer? Nobody knows.