[Aug. 2024] During our stay in London, we felt we should do some sightseeing so went to a pier on the River Thames.
We remembered that we once enjoyed the boat trip to Hampton Court, which took about three hours, and we wanted to do that again.
However, when we went to the pier in Westminster, there was no service for that.
I wondered why, because it was the height of summer.
So we quickly had to change our plans and decided to take a sightseeing boat to Greenwich.
It was another sunny day.
Even though the buildings are familiar to us who have lived in London for a long time, when you change the angle, they are a little interesting, and I was able to take a lot of photos.
And the best part was the guide’s story.
He explained the surrounding buildings while making people laugh.
There were quite a few things I didn’t know.
For example, Big Ben is the clock itself, and the name of the tower is Elizabeth Tower.
Big Ben was repaired at a cost of 80 million pounds, so it is said to be the most expensive clock in the world.
He gave us useful information such as that the London Eye and the Shard cost about 40 pounds to visit now, while you can go up to the high-rise building called the Walkie-Talkie for free to see the view.
I also learned that you can still find coins from the 17th century in the docks where people took refuge during the Great Fire of London.
But what the guide really wanted to say was that “everything has now been turned into luxury apartments,” including the docks that were also used as prisons in the past.
“Each unit costs at least 2 million pounds” he said.
And because most of them were purchased for investment purposes, many are uninhabited, and he lamented the lack of vitality in the town.
Also, near Canary Wharf, he said, “Look at the tops of the skyscrapers. The names of the world’s greatest thieves are lined up.”
It turned out to be the names of major banks in the world.
The guide was full of typical British sarcasm, making the hour-long boat trip very interesting.
By the way, the name of the tour boat company was Thames River Sightseeing, and the round trip fare was about 15 pounds per person.
