London

 We only had 2 1/2 days to pack all our sight seeing of London into.  Lucas’ Dad Jeff is very knowledgeable on the history of London. Therefore he sent us an informative email about all the major sites and gave us a brief background on them along with where they were located and how to get there. Thanks to him I had a very thought out plan on what we were to see each day. J Although I planned for us to be a little more ambitious than we were and we just didn’t get to see everything we wanted.  We rented a “cheap” room in an apartment right by Victoria Station which is a huge tube and bus station centrally located. It was about 4:00p.m. Tuesday by the time we got all settled and hit the streets. We first had dinner at a restaurant boasting Great Britain Food!! The food was good enough but not spectacular. We later learned all the restaurants that say Great Britain Food on the front are part of a large chain with the same menu. After fueling ourselves we headed straight to see Buckingham Palace. It was closed by the time we arrived so we didn’t have the option to go inside. We took some excellent pictures and moved on. A few blocks away we located Westminster Abbey and the famous clock Big Ben. Again, both closed so we took pictures and continued on our way. Next we saw The London Eye which is a giant Ferris wheel, maybe the biggest? I can’t remember. We looked from across the river and agreed we would come back another day to ride it. We then walked a few more blocks to Trafalgar Square where there was a huge monument called Nelson's Column. Also in the square is the National Gallery, of course closed as it was now getting pretty late. Our feet were starting to get sore so we started back in the direction of our room. We hit the sheets early with our next jam packed day ahead of us.

We set out early and took the tube to The Tower of London, which isn’t a tower at all. It’s an old castle that they called The Tower because at that time it was the tallest and largest building in London. You have to pay to get in, but then you have the option to take a free guided tour. Our tour guide was awesome! I over heard someone say that they’ve been on many tours there and this guy in particular was obsessed with all the gory things that have happened in the castle. We enjoyed all the stories very much. We got to see right where many famous people were beheaded then buried. He also told us in great detail why they were beheaded. We got to hear about a beheading that went badly because the axmen was a drunk. He kept missing the guy’s neck so it took him 8 blows to finally sever his head. They then do something to the head to preserve it and so the crows won’t eat it and put it on a spike on top of the London Bridge for all who enter London to see what happens to traitors. Isn’t that fantastic!? Just think what society would be like today if we just chopped everyone’s heads off. I bet we wouldn’t have so much debt. We ended up spending a lot more time there than planned. We saw the Queens Jewels which were inside, along with old armor and swords and things. We got to walk the castle walls where the guards used to keep watch for anyone attacking the castle. Both Lucas and I agreed The Tower of London is one of our favorite places we visited in London. After leaving there we walked in the direction of the Great Fire Monument where they mark where the fire started in 1666 that burned the whole city down. That was basically just a large tower that you could walk up to the top. We weren’t feeling that enthusiastic at the time so we moved on down to road a few blocks to St. Peters Cathedral. I guess it’s one of the largest cathedrals in the world. It was quite huge. They charged a pretty penny to get in so we didn’t go inside. If we went inside everything we wanted we would be out of money and flying home tomorrow! I can’t believe what they can get away with charging for these things! After the Cathedral we took the tube back to our room to take a quick nap and get cleaned up to have a nice dinner out.



The clock Big Ben on the right. I forgot the name of the bridge

Our last day to tour we got up early to figure out our train situation for getting to our farm the following day. Then set off back to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the Guards. We weren’t aware that the Queen was going to be there so it was a mad house! We couldn’t see any of the guard changing ceremony although we did get to see the Queen! The masses of people were a big bummer so we hopped on the tube to head out to the Camden markets. This was something I read about and really wanted to do. We parked Lucas at a Local Pub so I could go out and shop the markets on my own. That took us right up to dinner time where we just grabbed something cheap in the market and headed back to our room to rest our feet a minute. Lastly we decided to squeeze in a ride on the Eye of London. It was a perfect blue sky day and we were on it for the sunset. We couldn’t have planned it better!

Our three days in London were exhausting, but we loved every minute of it! We didn’t get to see nearly everything we wanted but both agreed we would like to go back again sometime in our lives. It’s a great city with much to see and full of friendly people.



Me & Lucas in front of Westminster Abbey