London: Honeymoon 2014

We spent 4 days in England (Sunday through Wednesday)

 

DAY 1

We left Edinburgh early Sunday morning. When we got to our hotel in London after a couple train transfers we dropped our bags. We decided the best way to see everything would be a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. The weather was cool but dry so we did a long winding loop around London & Westminster.

St. Paul's Cathedral - Re-built after the Great Fire. Inspired the US Capitol Building

The City of London borders are marked by Dragon statues

All the red flowers in the moat area surrounding the Tower of London are ceramic flowers. They represent soldiers that died during WWI.

We got off the bus at the Tower of London and took a river cruise up to Westminster and Big Ben. The tour guides gave some pretty cheeky commentary which made our ride even better.

"If the Lions are drinking, London is sinking.."

This London Bridge was built in the 1970s but a bridge has stood at this spot since the Roman occupation in AD 55

This is Cleopatra's Obelisk from Egypt. On the banks of the Thames. The Sphnx are facing the wrong way

Big Ben is just the name of the Bell inside the Elizabeth Tower

If you die inside Parliament you have to have a State Funeral (Rumor has it someone died inside and they smuggled him out to avoid giving him the huge funeral procession)

The London Eye, Aquarium and Hotels

 We had lunch near the London Eye (although we chose not to ride it). We grabbed the bus again and saw Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Mayfair area and Piccadilly Circus.

Westminster Abbey

London was excited for Football but there wasn't a game while we were there

We hopped off the bus at Trafalgar Square to officially check into our hotel. That night was the Patriots vs. Bills - very important game for me vs. James. We unfortunately could not find a pub in London that had it on TV so we relaxed at the hotel and watched through the computer. 

DAY 2

Monday in London was rainy. We still had our bus tickets though and after seeing the overview we knew where we needed to get out.  Our first stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral. (Said to have inspired the US Capitol building) It has a lot of history - rebuilt after the great fire it was the tallest building in London from the 1700s to 1962.  The Duke of Wellington - a huge military and political figure for England - is buried in the crypt beneath the Cathedral. As we wandered around we decided to climb up to the Whispering Gallery which circles beneath the dome. While we were there, we discovered there were stairs up to another level called the Stone Gallery. Several stories of spiral staircases popped us outside to a roof deck. After catching our breath, we decided we have to keep going as high as they’ll let us and ended up at the pretty much the tip top of the dome called the Golden Gallery. Thankfully we’re not afraid of heights. From here on a good day you could see all of London, however, it was foggy, rainy and we could only really see the Millennium Bridge just down the street from the Cathedral.

Looking down from the very top into the center of the floor of the Cathedral

Next stop was the Tower of London. We passed it the day before but we went inside this time. It’s been there since the middle of the 11th century. Part of it was a prison and part was a royal residence. It used to have a menagerie of animals like lions, elephants, a polar bear and monkeys. It houses the British Crown Jewels (So sparkly!), an Armory and the Royal Mint.

View of the Tower Bridge from the Inside Wall

the structure of St. Thomas' Tower, built in the 1200s

A Recreation of Edward I's bedchamber

The location that Henry VI died (maybe murdered) after being locked up in the Wakefield Tower

Inside the towers that held prisoners, very old carvings of people's names in the walls. Some of the famous prisoners there were Queen Elizabeth I before she became queen, Anne Boleyn (also executed there), Guy Fawkes. The most recent and last execution at the Tower was a German spy executed in 1941. The stories of torture were illustrated in a room with the infamous Rack, the Scavenger’s Daughter and Manacles. All looked horrible in their own ways.

Methods of torture used at the Tower

a person would kneel and be squeezed for hours

The famous Rack

The White Tower and part of the original wall protecting it.

Inside the White Tower are displays of armor and weapons

These were called the Giant and the Dwarf

The displays of weapons in castles are arranged to impress visitors.

On our way out we grabbed Fish & Chips for a late lunch before getting on the bus again. Tasted like a good Fish Filet from Friendly’s. We also realized that Orange Fanta was actually made partly of juice and tasted really good. We tried some when we got back to the US and there was a definite difference.

    Our last stop was a quick one. Buckingham Palace. We only hopped out to take a few pictures. We were planning to see Windsor Castle the next day and decided not to tour Buckingham since these tours were getting very expensive. We walked a mile down The Mall which brought us right back to Trafalgar Square and our hotel. 

The end of the Mall

DAY 3

The next day (Tuesday) we hopped a train out of London and went to Windsor Castle. Up on a hill, we wound our way up and into the walls. It was also built in the 11th century but it’s the longest occupied palace in Europe. Currently where the Queen lives and hosts State visits. It’s also home to St. George’s Chapel. We weren’t allowed to take photos in most of the insides but everything was gilded in gold with large tapestries and paintings of the kings and queens etc etc. All very fancy. Also a lot of it was reconstructed. There was a really bad fire in 1992 and many of the rooms we saw were re-built using old techniques to keep it as historically accurate as possible.

The walls have slits for Archers to shoot from

The Round Tower was closed but had beautiful gardens below

The Upper Ward of the Castle - Staterooms and Living area

The Lower Ward of the castle had St. George's Chapel where Henry VIII is buried

Soldiers marched throughout the grounds

I thought I was going to fall on him. We had to take two photos to make sure we got it.

We caught a train after a short time walking through the town of Windsor. That night back in London we walked down to the Thames and in the Charing Cross/Trafalgar Square area we discovered a Sherlock Holmes bar. We drank outside on the street because it’s legal and much classier than in Las Vegas. James had a Sherlock Holmes brew but unfortunately encountered his first non-chilled beer and didn’t like it.

 

Wednesday morning we checked out of our hotel and went to St. Pancras train station where we took an international train to Paris. London was a great stop. I was happy to have seen it but the city is very modern and felt like NYC. Unfortunately all the old interesting parts cost a pretty pound to go see. Next time we go to London, I would spend more time outside the city. Loved the accents though!