Foggy London Town
Lindsey and I decided to take a long weekend in London during the winter. We got in late on Thursday night and started the tourism early on Friday morning. First stop was the Tower of London, which was introduced to us by an excellent Beefeater tour. The Beefeaters, also known as Yeomans, used to be the people looking after prisoners and watching the crown jewels, but nowadays mostly serve as tour guides.
Traitor's Gate in the London Tower
Beefeater giving a tour in the Tower of London
The Beefeater gave us a tour of the grounds, showed us the Inner Ward, the famous ravens, and an old church. After this, we went into see the crown jewels, which was impressive, especially with no other tourists around to share them with. We also viewed an exhibition, “Dressed to Kill”, on the history of armor which was very interesting.
Inner Ward of the Tower of London - Anne Boleyn stayed here
Tower Bridge - much more appealing than London Bridge!
After the Tower of London, we walked around the town to see some of the major sights. We walked on the London Bridge and checked out St Paul’s Cathedral.
London Bridge is falling down! (Lindsey made me take this picture)
St Paul's Cathedral - remind you of a building in the USA?
We ultimately made our way over to the Government section of town to see the PM’s house at 10 Downing Street (not too impressive, the Parliament building and Big Ben (very impressive), and Westminster Abbey (excellent).
Lindsey in the phone booth - mandatory tourist shot
Lindsey in front of Big Ben and the Parliament
Westminster Abbey - just getting out of the tube
We spent the better part of the afternoon in Westminster Abbey. We started off with getting a tour by one of the Abbey vergers. The Abbey has a number of vergers that are non-religious positions used to support the church and its operations. The verger took us around the entire church, showing all of the great people that are buried there, including Darwin, Dickens, and William & Mary. The verger recommended we stay for that night’s evensong and saved us a seat in the pews nearby the young boys who sing there - the service was exceptional. We topped off our night with a visit to a Cornish pub recommended by our friend Rob, which did not disappoint - offering a good selection of tasty cask ales.
The next day we started off with a walk through Hyde Park. This large park was quite nice and was just nextdoor to Harrod’s Department store, which we went to after the walk. The department store was amazing - unlike any other department store we’ve been to before. They had a huge Wizard of Oz display in the display windows and outside the store.
Birds in Hyde Park
Harrod's Christmas display of the Wizard of Oz
After Harrod’s we went over to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. The place was packed with tourists, but we stll managed to get a decent spot nearby a statue in front of the palace. The show itself was interesting, but probably something we don’t need to do again.
Statue in front of Buckingham Palace
Guards at Buckingham Palace
Next we went to check out some of the shopping areas in the middle of town, including Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus. There was a lot going on around these areas, as there was a shopping festival being held to get people out shopping for Christmas.
Green Man on Piccadilly Circus
Lindsey in front of the trademark sight in Piccadilly Circus
That night we went to dinner and a show at one of the theaters around Leicester Square. We saw 39 Steps - a comedy play adapted from the Hitchcock film. It was in a quaint, old theater, so we felt like we got a good experience.
Lindsey with our theater tickets - 39 Steps
On the last day we went to the British Museum before we left town. The highlights of this were the Assyrian, Eqyptian, and Greek exhibits. On really cool part was the special exhibit on the pieces from the Parthenon. In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin legally obtained the pieces from the Greek government, because they were unable to care for them. The whole exhibit is a controversy now, as Greece maintains it’s able to care for the marbles now, but the British do not want to give them back.
Cool atrium in the British Museum
A pretty important stone - the Rosetta Stone
No trip to London would be complete without seeing some Harry Potter fanfare. We saw the Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter novels, which is the start of the track for Hogwart’s Express.
The 9 3/4 track from Harry Potter
We ended our trip with a nice Sunday meal, taking advantage of the many Sunday roasts available. The food in this country was perfect for cold weather food that will warm you up!
Loved the food in London - finishing off the weekend with a Sunday Roast
Click here for a link to all of our pictures from London!