London, Day 4

We had a great time today touring the Tower of London. I was surprised that it was as large as it is. I was expecting a small building, but it's actually a collection of buildings and a castle. It also holds the collection of the Crown Jewels.

View of the Tower from Tower Hill

The Bloody Tower

The old main entrance--what we know from movies. This is also known as Traitors' Gate.

Wakefield Tower

View of the street in between the towers and the wall

This was our Yeoman tour guide. The Yeomen and their families actually live at the Tower. Behind him you can see the Queen's House. This was originally built for Anne Boleyn but she was beheaded before they were finished.

A view of Tower Bridge from inside the Tower of London

The Tower Green with the cages that house the ravens. The traditional belief is that if all the ravens were to leave the Tower it would fall.

Suits of armor--the smaller one is believed to be a model for one that was made for a king.

View of the steps inside one of the towers--these were tiny!! Maybe 2 1/2 feet across and 8 inches wide at the largest width.

Chapel Royal of St Peter and Vincula

More armor

View from one of the towers

Fred and I made a new friend.

A replica of what Kind Edward's bed chamber is believed to have looked like.

After leaving the Tower of London, our plan was to walk across the Tower Bridge and catch the tube down to the London Eye.

When we got to the other side, they began raising the bridge for a tour boat to go through.

You know what happens to plans, they have ways of changing. Somehow we missed the tube station in our search for lunch. We ended up walking from the Tower of London down the bankside of the Thames River to the London Eye, we walked for about 2 or 3 hours (I have no idea how many miles it was). It wasn't bad though. We found an Italian place to eat at, did a little exploring in a building, passed the Globe theater, and then got to watch some street performers in front of the Shell building.

Inside a shopping area with cafes and stores

A London street on a Sunday afternoon

The Globe Theater

View of St. Paul's Cathedral

Street Performers--they moved when given money

Finally, we made it to the Eye. Below are some pictures of different views of the London cityscape.



After the London Eye, we walked to St James Park via the Horse Guards field. The pictures below are of the Horse Guards Building and St. James Park.

Walking through St James Park is like traveling into a Jane Austen novel set in the English countryside. Freddie and I were discussing the differences between Central Park in New York City and the parks in London. In New York, you can still hear the traffic while you're in the park. NY parks are also very well-manicured. The parks in London are very quiet even when they're full of people. The landscape is natural, almost wild in some places.

We stopped at Buckingham Palace for a few minutes. There aren't tours going on right now because the Queen is in residence there for the next couple of months.

The statue in front of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace from the front

After all that, we felt we were done for the day. We stopped by a pub, had some fish and chips, and came back to the hotel. Tomorrow we're planning a day trip to the town of Bath.

I've noticed some things since I've been in London. First, British men are shorter than the average American man. I would say the average height of the British men I've seen is around 5'8". Freddie's about 5'11", and he towers over most of them.

Second, European women really, really like gold shoes. I only notice this because I really don't like gold shoes. We've seen females--teenagers, moms, grandmas--in gold shoes every single day. And not just any type of gold shoes--these are shiny metallic shoes. Oh my.