Day 14: London!

We decided to leave Ipswich early Sunday morning to give us two full days in London before heading back across the pond. Apparently, though, they close down the railways on most Sunday's for maintenance, so we had to take the bus.

The bus ride was about two hours, and took us right into the heart of London. We were able to see a few cool sights from the windows along the way - including the some of the building they are constructing for the next Olympics. From the bus station, we caught a cab to our hotel room.

We checked in, climbed about a million steep, narrow steps (elevators and escalators are something of a scarcity in England), and took our bags into our room. Upon first seeing our room, I almost wanted to laugh! It was so tiny! And the bathroom was even smaller. I really thought that I would never find a bathroom more tiny than the bathroom we had in our room on the cruise ship in Hawaii, but this one had it beat. I literally could have sat on the toilet, showered and brushed my teeth a the same time. But the room, was clean, bedbug free, and fairly cheap - so I wasn't complaining!

After dropping our bags off, we headed out to see the Tower of London. One, of the nicest things about London is that the public transportation system is awesome! It's impossible to walk to far without running into a underground station. We found it was easiest to buy an Oyster card - which is basically a prepaid subway ticket. For a flat rate, you can ride the subway as many times as you want using the Oyster card - we bought two days worth of Subway passes.

The Tower of London was amazing!!! Once again, we rented an audio tour - it was very much worth it! I think my favorite part was seeing the crown jewels. Especially the part where I almost got kicked out because I failed to notice the sign that said you couldn't take pictures. :)

Anyway... if anyone wants to know more about the Tower of London here is a awesome link: http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/

The Tower of London
The White Tower

Changing of the Guard in front of the building where the Crown Jewels are housed.


A memorial sculpture to all those who were executed (beheaded) on the tower green including Anne Boylen, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey.

Graffiti in the Beauchamp Tower (where prisoners were kept).

Me in the Beauchamp Tower window.

Me and some Beefeaters or officially known as Yeoman Warders (Tower of London guards).

The Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula - where many famous executed prisoners are buried.

The ravens of the White Tower. Legend is that if the ravens ever leave, the tower will crumble and fall.

Tools of Torture in the Bloody Tower.

After visiting the Tower of London, we decided to go on a open top boat ride down the River Thames to Big Ben and the house of Parliament. Here were some sights we saw along the way:

Tower Bridge, the Major of London's Residence, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Saint Paul's Cathedral Random Buildings, Cleopatra's Needle, The London Eye, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

After getting of the boat, we walked down to Buckingham Palace. The flag was raised, so it meant the Queen was in residence that night!

Buckingham Palace

After visiting Buckingham Palace, it was getting late, so we decided to start heading back. The subway station just happened to be right next to Trafalgar Square. So we decided to get a cup of tea and enjoy the view of Nelson's Column before getting on underground. This is when I got a phone call from Brian. He was in a panic - well more like freaking clear out - because the U.S. Government had issued a warning for all U.S. citizens in Germany, France, and the UK to use caution, and beware of possible terrorist attacks. I calmed him down, and promised him that we were in no danger. In fact, never did see anything about it on the news in England - I only found out all the details once we got home. It was however, a little unnerving.

We got off the subway, at the station closest to our hotel. However, we somehow got a little turned around. Yeah. We were lost. I never did tell Brian about this though, because he is STILL freaked out by the warning the government issued while I was there. The good part about being lost, is that we stumbled across little Italian restaurant, that had the best Italian food ever. After wandering around, we had worked up an appetite! And luckily, someone there knew where our hotel was able to give us directions. We were only about a block away!