Parliament, the National Gallery and that musical about Mormons

One of the things I wasn't sure I'd get a chance to see was the Palace of Westminster – what's also called the Houses of Parliament. At the moment it's only open on weekends, presumably because it's still in session; they can't really have people wandering around gawping at things while they're trying to debate the matters of the nation.

But I realised I could go if I changed my intended schedule around - I hadn't booked anything during the day, just penciled in things. So, I got online and booked myself a ticket for the tour. That also meant a bit of a dash to get there - made a bit more uncomfortable by the fact that we had to take a different route to get there than the standard one, for reasons I will explain later - but I arrived with enough time to line up and get inside (after going past a lot of security and the first armed policeman I'd seen - I was asked if I had a bomb; I sensibly answered "No.") to get my audio device and start wandering around.

Tate Britain, revisiting the British Museum and Martin Freeman

I'd been to the Tate Modern the other day; this time I'd be heading to its parent gallery - the Tate Britain. It's in a completely different direction (west of the city and north of the river), and I once again turned to the bus option to get me there because it involved less walking and meant I could look at things as we went along; this has been quite helpful in giving me a mental image of where things are here relative to each other.

Of course I'll probably forget before I'm back again to make use of it...

Lots more history, a dear Abbey and Matilda

So, having done my research, I calculated the best way to get to today's destination was to catch a bus. Staying at a hotel on the Strand is handy for that sort of thing; a lot of major transit routes go along here, in all directions. Yes, the tube is usually faster, but the bus stop is a lot closer, and I was quite happy to look at things as we went along.

Shakespeare's Globe, St Paul's Cathedral and Tate Modern

Today I headed south of the river to visit one of the destinations that I first added to the list when I was conceiving this trip: Shakespeare's Globe.

It's an amazing piece of theatre history and the testament to the dedication of Sam Wanamaker. It was truly magical to wander around a theatre that is almost exactly how Shakespeare himself would have seen it. I bought myself a guided tour and got a very informative talk as we walked around - and then we saw part of a rehearsal for the upcoming production of a new play, Holy Warriors. It might impress the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans to know that this included Alexander Siddig, who played Doctor Basheer.

Bus tours, rock'n'roll and the Apollo

There are a stack of bus tours that go around London; I chose the 'Original Tour' - and, from its menu, the 'original tour', which is all the major sites around the city: Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London etc - and went for a ride. The first part of it was great; we had an actual live person talking, and he was very entertaining as we went around.

You can check out the details of where this took me here - I've far too little time to describe them all!