Friday, April 17, 2009

Day One/Two... London is A Merry Old Town

Hey all,

*Edited to Add*

Sorry all that I wasn't able to get this up on Tuesday. Stupid blog froze again. I've just about decided to shut down this one and make another one. One more time it does this and I am so out of here!!!! Anyway, here is the travel log. Two days for the price of one. Enjoy...

After we got our room all situated, we headed out to our first tourist destination. The Tower of London. When I'd been to London before, we hadn't been able to visit the Tower, so I wanted to make sure I saw it this time and I'm so glad I did.

After a quick lunch of fish and chips, (no one makes them like the Brits) we headed into the Tower Gates. It is an awesome place, filled with history, tragedy and beauty. We had the neatest guide, a guy who made the history come alive, yet was humorous in his story telling so it wasn't like a lecture.
He told us tales of murder and intrigue, some that would curl your hair. We walked the same steps that kings and queens walked, and stood in the place where the block rested and so many lost their lives. We visited the torture chambers and shivered over the rack and the other devices used to force confessions out of the guilty and not so guilty. We visited the armory, the soldiers museum and walked the entire palace grounds.

Then we went and saw the crown jewels. Wow! Are they cool! And since we went in the off season, there weren't many people so I could drool over them as long as I wanted to. LOL I spoke to a Beefeater Guard who told me the jewel security system has never been compromised, although once back in 1671, an attempt was made. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but here are a few pics I found on the web for you to take a gander at.
Pretty impressive, huh? The whole collection is well worth taking a look at, but make sure you go during an off time. I was also told during tourist season, they shuffle you through so quickly, you can barely see anything.
After the Tower, we walked down the street and over the famous Tower Bridge. It was huge and I have to say, the architecture was magnificent. We didn't take the tour, for us it was enough to just walk over it. But here are a couple of pics we took of us and the bridge.


After we walked along the Thames, enjoying the view of the city, London Bridge, and the Parliament Building, we decided to walk up to St. Paul's Cathedral and we lit a candle for our loved ones.

Saint Paul's is beautiful and we were lucky to have the chance to tour it. We went to Evening Song there and were able to hear the choir sing. The architecture and the tombs as well as the carvings and other religious artifacts were beyond belief.

http://www.catholic-church.org/st.paulcathedralpgh/current/images/saint-paul-interior.jpg

Afterwards we were pretty tired since we'd been up for the last 30 hours. We went to a pub right next to our hotel and had dinner. It was a neat place and quite busy. We sat at the table for a while before we realized that in England you have to go to the bar and place your order / giving them your table number. We were so tired we didn't notice how to do things for a long time. LOL But finally we did. Had a great dinner and then we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Next stop... Buckingham Palace...


Thanks for reading. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!!!

Hugs,

3 comments:

Phylis said...

I love reading about your trip and seeing the pics. So cool. (there still is a little green in me, lol) Phylis

molli said...

wow CJ, you went to all the same places we did a couple years ago! Lol. I would love to go back to London again. Glad you had a lovely time.
hugs
molli

CJ England said...

*grin* It's cool to be green. I'm told Kermit loves it! LOL

And I hope everyone has a chance to visit London. It's so full of history and interesting things I could go back again and again.