I have officially become a full-fledged tourist.
I traveled around London on one of those double-decker open-top buses, leaning off the sides to snap pictures at buildings and landmarks, without actually getting off the bus to get better acquainted, while ticking sites off my list of things to see. Yep, I was that tourist.
on the bus riding through Regent Street, adjacent to Picadilly Circus (the entertainment center of London)
Ok, so I wasn’t actually that bad. I actually did walk plenty of London’s streets and sites on my own two feet. But this is my first time to London, and I only had 2 full days to spend there. And London is HUGE. There was no way I could see everything I wanted to just relying on the subway and my feet.
So when we started seeing those open-top tour buses everywhere, we hopped onto one.
And guess what? It was seriously fun! I’ve never done one of these city bus tours before, and it actually turned out to be a pretty perfect way to see London. There’s nothing quite like seeing a city from the upper level of a bus. You get the best views and I also really enjoyed the commentary provided. It allowed me to learn some fun facts about each site/neighborhood that I otherwise would never know.
Since the world does not need yet another “things to see in London” article, I thought I’d take you along with me on a visual tour of London from an open-top bus, while sharing some of the more interesting London legends and bits of trivia that I picked up from this tour!
Picture quality and composition only as good as it can be when taken from a fast moving bus.
St. Paul’s Cathedral stands 365 feet high, 1 foot for each day of the year. Queen Anne’s statue stands in front of the church. She had a tough life with 11 of her 17 children dying in young age. And rather than being remembered for her political reforms, she was more remembered for her fondness of alcohol. And so, her statue was built with her back to the church and facing a brandy shop that used to be at the corner.
Trafalgar Square commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar and today houses the National Gallery. In its 4 corners are 4 statues: 3 of notable generals, and 1 of…. a huge blue chicken? It was supposed to hold a statue of William IV, however, he didn’t have enough money for the statue to be built. Instead, since the late 1900’s, in its place has been a series of commissioned sculptures (changing every 18 months or so). Currently, it’s a giant chicken painted French blue. Some say it’s to symbolize England’s victory over France in the Battle of Trafalgar.
Also in Trafalgar Square is Nelson’s column, guarded by 4 lions. The artist that was commissioned to sculpt the lions had no idea what lions looked like. He used the hind legs of his Labrador and the front paws of his cat as inspiration. But he was completely stuck when it came to the head. It was just his luck that a lion at the London zoo died, so it was taxidermied and given to him as his model.
The Savoy Hotel is one of London’s most luxury hotels. It is thought to be extremely unlucky if 13 guests sit down at a table. At Hotel Savoy, if 13 people happen to sit down to dine, the waiter will place a cat sculpture at the table to bring the total count to 14.
The Marble Arch was designed in 1827 to be the state entrance to Buckingham Palace. The design was based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. However, the story goes that the Queen hated the design so much that she purposely designed the state coaches to be too large to fit through. And so it was moved to Hyde Park instead. Today, it is located on a large traffic island.
Not pictured: London has the most green spaces out of all large cities in the world. All parks and gardens are perfectly manicured and filled with flowers. However Green Park is the only park without a flower bed. Legend goes that King Charles II’s wife once handed him a flower and asked him to give it to the most beautiful girl in the park. She closed her eyes and waited. And when she opened them, she found that he had given it to a random girl passing by. She was so mad that she ripped out all the flowers in the park, never to be replaced.
And lastly, enjoy some other pictures from the streets of London without my commentary!
The Original Tour – a quick review
We chose to spend our day with the Original Tour. I thought the bus tour actually offered a pretty good deal. A ticket is valid for 24 hours, and includes a Thames River cruise and some walking tours (none of which we did… honestly, who has time for that?!). The tour offers 3 routes to choose from. While the routes have some overlapping of sites, they go to different places and all three together provide a comprehensive tour of London.
But did I mention that London is HUGE? There was no way that we could cover everything in just one day on the bus, much less get off to walk around at each site. I’d recommend having an idea beforehand of which areas you want to explore more in depth, and use the bus as your transportation there. Realistically, you probably only have time to hop-off at 3-4 places, so plan wisely.
One thing that annoyed me about this particular company is that it seemed to take FOREVER in between buses. When we were ready to hop-on again, it seemed like that we waited ages for the next bus to come along (wasting precious time). And during our waiting period, probably 5 or 6 Big Bus London buses would come by and leave. Why so slow, Original Tour??
Also keep in mind that traveling on a tour bus means battling the surface street traffic. Our entire 2nd day on the bus was spent getting from Victoria to the Tower Bridge, which took a miserable 3 hours due to the horrific London traffic. It was a good thing that our ticket had expired by then, because we were so over it.
Overall, despite some drawbacks, I think this was a good introduction to London on a limited schedule. I really enjoyed not having to plan anything and letting someone else be the driver (literally!).
In case you ever want to join this kinda-awesome-but-slow tour, here are the practical information:
- Price: £29 for 24 hours. Includes a Thames River Cruise and walking tours.
- Hours: (in summer) Starts around 8:30 am and the last tour leaves from Leicester Square at 8 pm.
- 3 routes to choose from, all with commentary. The Yellow Route is the only one that contains live commentary.
Have you taken a city bus tour? What’s your favorite way to see a new city?
This post is linked up at Budget Travelers Sandbox with Nancie.
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Anna, I am slowly catching up on your European adventures ;-) So glad you are enjoying yourselves. We were in London last summer but didn’t get to go on the open top bus. I kinda wish we did after seeing your beautiful photos and you clearly learned a whole lot more than our DIY tour. How did we miss the blue chicken?! Safe travels!
I think it’d be a really fun thing to do with kids! Especially so the kids won’t be dragged around town on feet, hehe. Maybe when you were there, the 4th statue was of something else (since it does change every so often), because otherwise, there’s NO WAY you could have missed it!
That is a great way of exploring London in a different way. Although I used to walk across this city, I always wanted to traveled around London on one of those double-decker open-top buses. Lovely view and amazing pictures!
Thanks Agness! At first, I thought I could just walk across the city too, and then laughed when I saw the map, haha. This was a cool way to see a lot of the city at once!
Sounds awesome! Haven’t toured London in a bus but did in Barcelona…loved it. Totally agree — when it’s a big city you can get a great overview of it all in the tour bus and when it’s open air, even better!!
Yes! I’m totally on-board now with the whole super touristy tour bus thing :D. It was such a fun way to see a lot of the city at once, and plus actually learn about it too.
Yah, the traffic in London is awful! I usually only use the subways or walk. I only take the bus going shorter distances or outside the greater city area. I think the good thing about those tour buses is that you get the history and fun facts about places.
BTW, the Palace Theatre that you have a pic of is where the Les Misérables used to play.
Yep! Because otherwise, I never would know those fun facts (since I most likely won’t spend hours researching online either). I hope I get to return someday so I can see some of the places in more detail :D
Nothing to be ashamed off. With limited time, these hop-on hop-off bus are the best option to maximize your sightseeing. But if you are into the real history of the places, don’t trust the commentary without cross checking on Google when you get the chance later. Not all the bus guides know what they are saying, sometimes they say things that are utter bollocks! Not sure about London, but I’ve tasted that with the buses in San Francisco.
Haha! I actually did cross-check the trivia when writing this post, mainly because I had forgotten about details like the names. I think they all seem to be true, but some are just legends and stories :). I hope to return someday to learn more about the history of each place in more detail!
Wow, love your sharing on interesting historical facts and pictures. London is one of the cities I want to visit.
Thanks Jacky :). I hope you get to London someday! I really loved it and wished I was there for more days.
I’ve never done one of those open-air buses, but I wish I did when in London. So much easier than walking everywhere!
So true! when I saw the map, I knew there was no way I could walk everywhere. And London was our 1st stop of a Europe tour, so we had to save our feet too, hehe. The bus was a great idea!
The only time I was in London, we also started with a bus tour. I was so exhausted that I think I napped through most of it. I vaguely remember waking up, seeing Big Ben, and totally not caring at all before dozing off. I certainly need to return when I am better rested. I like the little bits of trivia you included in this post — the chicken, the lions, poor Queen Anne and the lack of flowerbeds. Open top bus seems like a great way to get a quick (well, not including the long wait for the next bus) overview of London.
HAHA! That’s awesome that you just slept the whole time… though one ticket is so expensive that I would feel bad about that. Otherwise, I agree that open-top is a great way to see a city. I’m a fan now!
I did the same thing the last time I was in London. It was my first time on a bus, I was there for 2 weeks and I was on my 3rd visit. You’re right: London is HUGE! At first, I did much of the city on my two feet — I’m that kind of tourist — but one day, I decided to try the bus. Until then, I didn’t think I was that kind of tourist. It was fun seeing the city from that vantage point. The only problem was trying to take photos without including people’s heads and other body parts. I see you took many of the same shots I have.
BTW, I was so thrilled with my London bus tour, I did the same in Paris.
Thanks for sharing your tour of London with us.
I always sat at the back of the bus, so I could stand to take shots without annoying people… and I could also turn around to take pics as the bus is driving away. I usually hate touristy things like this too, but I was surprised by how much fun I had! I’d do it in another city too.
It looks like you got some great shots from the top of the bus. I sort of wish I had done a tour at the beginning of my London experience to help me get acquainted with the city and know where everything is. I was there for about 10 days and I still feel like I missed so much stuff.
Oh wow!! I would to spend 10 days in London! Except all my money will be gone lol. London is so big and has soooo many things to see that I bet you can go there a dozen times and not see everything still!
Europe is a different world altogether. You have captured it so well. London looks lovely :) Cheers! I blog on Italy at http://www.ishitasood.blogspot.in
Few people really likes to travel in open top tour buses, which gives more excitement in that journey. Some people will likes to travel in a private car which gives comfort and hassle free journey too. If you are looking private journey? Hire a private car to reach your above destination places i.e.. Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square,etc.. http://londonairportransfers.com is the best airport transfer services from any of the London airports to reach your destination place.
We’ve just been talking about going on one of these this morning! Although we’ve moved to London we still haven’t seen enough of these places. For some reason we keep jetting off instead of checking out our own back yard!
Hahaha it always seems to be that way, doesn’t it. The bus ride is really fun if you decide to do it! It’s a good way to see most of London in a day and to learn some fun facts!