London Day 3

Monday, Oct. 17

This was our last day in London so I was going to make the most of it...well, after sleeping in a bit (...if you think 7:30 a.m. is sleeping in).

The first stop was beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral. (I went in briefly, but wasn't interested in paying the admission charge to walk around a church. For an hour. I waited for Sarah and Adam outside, giving me my only chance to soak up London life).

Then the three of us went to the Tower of London for a look at The Crown Jewels (they looked fake to me, but maybe that's just because I've never seen a real jewel the size of a GOLF BALL). Famous Tower prisoners included Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More and Lady Jane Grey.

The Tower is also famous for its ravens. When the ravens leave the Tower of London, so the saying goes, the Tower will fall down. (I don't think there is any worry of this because I believe I heard the seven ravens in residence can't fly).

Next I was on my own for a visit of Tower Bridge, which many people (including myself) mistakenly think is London Bridge.

I enjoyed it, despite the foggy London views. (That's an aerial view of the Tower of London).
I'd been told a place not to miss when in London is the Tate Modern gallery so before meeting back up with Sarah and Adam I went in for a quick peak (seriously I had about 20 minutes for it and it really deserved more). I do remember seeing a Pollock, Picasso and Warhol, as well as this temporary installation (it was the only thing we were allowed to photograph. It looks like a bunch of big sugar cubes to me...except they're plastic (I touched some of 'em).

I forgot to mention as I walked briskly to the gallery, I was able to grab a look at (and a few photos of) the Globe Theatre.
Leaving the Tate Modern, I ran across the Millenium Bridge to get to the tube station to meet S&A at Westminster Abbey (I was already late as I was running across the Thames).

I was able to grab photos of most of the tourist must haves in Parliament Square, but time was limited so I wasn't able to take everything in (my own fault for having such a long list of places to visit/see with only eight hours to do it). Here is part of the Houses of Parliament. (Yeah, now it's nice outside. Where was that sky when I was at Tower Bridge...?) .

If you look closely at Big Ben it is already 3:11 p.m. and I still had Harrods, Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus to see before being back at the hotel by 6 p.m. to get ready to go to the theatre.

I caught a glimpse of the London Eye.

And took a walk by the Prime Minister's house gate.

After Harrods (where Christmas had already exploded on the fifth(?) floor), I went to visit the Queen. She was home too (the flag was up). There were some guys with machine guys though and I was running late so I decided I'd try her next time I was in town...

On the way back to the hotel, I had to stop at Piccadilly Circus. So we did.

We got back to the hotel, grabbed some souvenirs since we were leaving in 13 hours, ate a quick meal and got ready to go to the West End. We saw Blood Brothers, which I'd never heard of. We had great seats and it was excellent.


Can you believe I did all that in 13 hours? It's good I have the pictures...I don't remember a lot of it. Two days in London (three in England) is not nearly enough (I wish I'd gone a day before the tour started...). I guess I'll have to go back one day.