Finally after a year of living in the UAE with my friends (Sassafrass and The Man with Thick, Black Glasses) I have been able to stow away with them as they wander the globe to the fantastic city of London.
Our first glimpses of the United Kingdom go whizzing by as we ride the train from Gatwick Airport.
I take a nap on Sassafrass to recover from the red-eye flight we took to get here.
We spent a lot of time riding the tube to get around. I'm glad I had help to "mind the gap" because it was quite a big one for a little monkey.
First things first: Go to a pub, drink a pint, eat some fish & chips.
Welcome to London!
"Allo, can I speak to Dr. Who?....Oh, he's not in. Well, can I get a ride to the Ministry of Magic then?"
One of the best things about travelling is meeting new people and making new friends. I met this charming bloke on the tour through Madame Tussaud's.
This was a dream come true for me. I can't believe I got to meet the star of my favorite movie.
Protecting the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London is serious business.
All I wanted to do was feel his fuzzy hat, but his machine gun made me think that was a bad idea.
We took a double-decker open-top bus tour around the city, saw a lot of interesting buildings and enjoyed the commentary of the guide. But most of it just went in one ear and out the other!
Here was an interesting find along the bus tour. What do you suppose they serve in a place like this? I would stay away from the chocolate desserts if I were you.
We decided to go to the original Hard Rock Cafe for lunch instead.
They had plenty of awesome rock memorabilia, but nothing from The Monkees. Can you believe that?
I still love the Hard Rock! Long live rock 'n roll!
We got to Buckingham Palace too late to take the tour, so we had to settle for peering through the front gates. More of the guards with the fuzzy hats were taunting me from the other side. We didn't let this setback slow us down though and continued our sightseeing with...
The Queen Victoria Memorial
Westminster Abbey
The Saint George and the dragon column and the Westminster School (to the left)
I needed a rest after all that sightseeing. Big Ben ain't all that big!
We continued on to a river cruise of the Thames.
Okay, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (which is actually the name of the bell inside) are pretty impressive and should be seen in person to truly capture their magnificence.
Other sights along the river included the HMS Belfast, Cleopatra's needle (an ancient obelisk imported from Egypt), Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and Tate Modern.
The perfect way to end a long day of sightseeing: a pint of Guinness and a traditional English steak pie in a pub topped off with a ride on the London Eye.
So, this is what it would be like if monkeys could fly?
The next day, we took a tour out to visit Stonehenge. A visit to England would not be complete without seeing this amazing site.
Can you imagine what the monkeys who built this were like? What ancient monkey purpose did it serve?
