This morning we woke at 645 am. I am fine with the early wake-up, but I may soon be facing a revolt from my travel buddy if she doesn't get a bit more sleep. Maybe we'll sleep in a bit in York, as there won't be quite so much to do there (compared to London).
Each morning I have been racing to the shared shower out of fear there will be a line. That being said, it has been really easy to use, and it has been available when I need it. It is a bit small by American standards (the shower stall is barely 2' by 2', and the only way to get out of the way of the water stream is to turn it off) but it gets the dirt off just fine.
The breakfast at the hotel has been a bit repetitive. This morning they threw in a sausage, which was pretty good.
After breakfast we headed off to central London. We changed up our made of travel and took a double-decker bus instead of the underground. The bus ride took us through Leicester and Trafalgar Squares en route. We rode up top in the front of the bus like total tourists.
Our first stop was Westminster. Upon exiting the bus, we were greeted by Big Ben.
We headed over to Westminster Abbey (next door) to take the tour. I had a few feelings of déjà vu because this part of the itenerary was similar to one I did in the year 2000 with some high school buddies. That trip involved a lot more beer than this one.
We got into the abbey just after opening time. We took the audio tour, learning of all the royalty and famous Brits buried or memorialized there. I thought the highlight was the poets corner, which contains the A list of British authors, from Wordsworth to Dickens. No photography was allowed inside, so here are a few token pictures of the outside.
After finishing our tour, we exited the Abbey and began walking to the south bank of the Thames. On the way, we asked another tourist to get a shot of us in front of Big Ben and Parlaiment.
We walked the south bank from Westminster to the Milleneum Bridge. On the way, we passed the London Eye and quite a few museums. Melissa reminded me a few times that this was a long walk, and I admit that I underestimated the distance. We walked into the Tate Modern Art Museum for a few minutes, but neither of us were in the right mindset to appreciate art and soak in the museum, so we left after a few minutes. We still managed to see a few Picassos before leaving. The museum appeared to be in a transition period, as the large room was bare concrete with nothing in it. The last time I was here this room had some large art installations in it.
Upon leaving the Tate we headed across the Millennium Bridge to the north bank and headed up to St. Paul's Cathedral. The view of the cathedral crossing the bridge was spectacular.
We walked in the door of St Paul's, but were a bit hungry and worn our from the walk and decided to not take the full tour. Also, two major churches in a day is a bit much. I have a 1 church a day quota. The interior had a much different look than the abbey. It had similar (even taller) vaulted ceilings, but was all white instead of the old stone look of the abbey. And as you can tell from the picture, this structure would fit in nicely in DC.
We had lunch at a pub called The Centre Page right next to St. Paul's. We split an order of fish and chips and an order of sticky toffee pudding. I had another cask ale. The fish was delicious, though I was put off by the fish still having its skin on one side. The same thing happened back in 2000 when the fish was so bad that I nearly caused an international incident over it. This time it tasted much better though, so apparently leaving the skin on is a thing and it doesn't have to result in bad flavor.
Before leaving for this trip I had been instructed to try the range of English desserts. English Toffee pudding tasted to me like a browny with less cocoa and more molasses and butter. It was good, but I wouldn't go out of my way for this.
After lunch, we continued along the north side of the Thames to the Tower of London, which I was excited to see because I have never gone inside before.
It did not disappoint. After paying our entry fees we went straight to the white tower for a guided tour. This is the oldest part of the tower, and it housed early kings back in the days right after the Norman (French) conquest. Apparently the English did not take too kindly to being ruled by the French, so the early rulers ruled with an iron fist behind the fortified walls of the tower. The tower had living quarters and a private chapel for the king.
The white tower over the years has held numerous political prisoners, at times housing captured royalty from countries England was at war with. It is also where Guy Fawkes was drawn and quartered, with his body taken to the four corners of England as an example to the masses.
We also saw the Crown Jewels, which were quite lavish. No pictures allowed in there. Crowns, jewels, scepters, etc... And then Melissa was attacked by an evil robo dragon!
We walked the walls of the tower. Which had good views of the Tower Bridge and London's rising skyline, including the Shard, which is the tallest building in Western Europe.
Tower Bridge is what I always think of when people talk about London Bridge, but the original london bridge is in... Lake Havasu, AZ! For all intents and purposes, this is the bridge that Fergie sang her famous children's song about, since the replacement London Bridge is nothing special.
After finishing the tower we took the underground to Kings Cross Sr Pancras to pick up our rail tickets to York and Edinburgh. I ordered these from the states and needed to print them at the self serve ticket kiosk. I wanted to print these ahead of time to ensure our race to the train in a few days will be uneventful. We had a bit of an adventure because we went to St Pancras station instead of Kings Cross station. London has two huge train stations next to each other, and Euston station is less than a mile away. Mind blown... Fortunately, the kiosk at St. Pancras worked just fine, saving us a little walking.
We took the underground back to the hotel. The ride seemed very short and we likely could have walked. We were tired and wanted a simple dinner, so we did dinner a few blocks from the hotel at a pizza place called Icco. It seemed to be popular with the local university students, and the pizzas were decent.
Upon returning to the hotel, we Skyped with the kids and went to bed. Colton has been very conversational with us, which is nice because he usually makes faces at his grandparents when we Skype with them.
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