Another sunny spring day for the last day of our Europe holiday, as we begin a 24 hour long haul journey home to Christchurch New Zealand tonight. We cleaned ourselves up, went down for our last cooked breakfast, finished packing and checked out of the Premier Inn, Kings Cross; leaving our luggage in the secure lock-up for the day.

Our priority was to get a family picture in front of Buckingham Palace gates, to continue a family trend started by my parents in 1966, at the investiture of my father's Military Cross award, presented by Queen Elizabeth. They updated their original photo 40 years later, returning to UK on holiday in 2006.

The family event of choice was the London Eye followed by a City Cruise River Tour of the Thames, included with our 48 Hour Original Tour bus tickets; otherwise taking the day quietly ahead of night flight departure.

We took the Underground from Kings Cross St Pancras to Green Park and walked across Green Park to The Mall, arriving around 11am. The Changing of the Guard ceremony had finished and crowds dispersing. There was a great shot of the Queens Life Guards on horse back entering The Mall, on their way to Horse Guards parade to change their Guard. I posed to take the photo and got a "No SD storage" message on the camera screen. I had left the SD card in the PC, when backing up photos the night before! Don't know why I didn't think to buy another SD card - perhaps that would require finding a camera shop. While the others waited in Green Park by The Mall, I walked/jogged and retraced the Underground trip back to the hotel and was back within an hour - just - with the SD card. The photos were taken for posterity, with the help of a Spanish tourist and we hopped on our The Original Tour, yellow rout from Buckingham Palace; destination London Eye.

We arrived at the London Eye around 1.40pm. Although we had not pre-booked our ride and there was already a lengthy queue, the standard queue appeared to be moving steadily, so we bought our tickets, which included entry to the indoor '4D' interactive presentation on the making of the Eye, and joined the queue. We were treated to a perfect view on our ride, which took 30 minutes, and our capsule was not crowded. We could see nearly all the features that we had passed on our The Original Tour bus.

An unexpected standout was sighting Horse Guards parade from the air. Although I recall the bus tour commentary saying we were passing Horse Guards parade ground. Horse Guards is where the monarch reviews the Trooping of the Colour on their birthday. My father, as a young 'Kiwi' Captain, on exchange to the British Army, was privileged to be selected to lead his troop, representing the Royal Artillery on its 100th anniversary, on Horse Guards at the Trooping of the Colour on Queen Elizabeth II birthday in 1996. It was special to see the parade ground and get a photo from the Eye, rather than a gate at street level.  

Back on the ground, we watched the London Eye 4D cinema show. Once again the wait was not long (10-15 min), but it was longer than the show (4min). '4D' stood for the interactive element, where parts of the audience were sprayed with water and bubbles. We had time for an ice cream before hopping on the City Cruise ferry at London Eye pier. We only had time to head up the Thames and hopped off at the Tower Pier, but being slower than a bus, it gave another perspective on the same sites and better photo opportunities - worth the experience.

Back at The Tower of London, around 4pm, it wasn't long before our yellow tour bus arrived and we hopped on for our last leg, al beit the same as we had done yesterday, back to Piccadilly Circus; providing a second opportunity to improve on previous photos. From Piccadilly Circus, took the Underground back to Kings Cross and our baggage at The Premier Inn around 5pm.  

Although we were had plenty of time before starting for Heathrow, we had decided earlier not venture far for a meal; so had a drink and decent meal in the hotel restaurant - once again only our second since breakfast.
 
After waiting as long as we dared for the worst of the peak underground traffic to disperse, we started our journey home. Around 6pm we wheeled our baggage a few 100m walk to Kings Cross St Pancras and caught the Piccadilli Underground line all the way to Heathrow Number 3 Terminal. This was six zone trip and took about 60min, arriving soon after 7pm. The tube was full at first, but the girls got seats; then Susan as we headed out of the CBD. I eventually was able to sit when the Piccadilli line ran on the surface out in the suburbs.

Continues next day...