England - Day 5 - The Big City

Tower Bridge - the prettiest bridge in all of England as far as I'm concerned! 

Day 5 in London was one of my favorite days of the trip. The weather was GREAT, and we got to see some of the most iconic sights London had to offer. We started the morning off with the Tower of London, which is also where the crown jewels are. We got to the Tower of London just a little bit early, and so we had a few minutes to snap a few pictures of the Tower Bridge behind us. Tower Bridge is definitely my favorite bridge in London. You always hear about London Bridge, and some people even assume it IS the London Bridge, but London Bridge is actually the most boring, plain bridge ever. Tower Bridge is way cooler.

The Tower of London!

Tower Bridge

Rick Steves told us in his guidebook that we needed to make sure we went straight to the crown jewels first, since everybody else usually takes a Beefeater tour and then ends up at the crown jewels. He said it would be much less crowded if we went straight there. And he was right! There was hardly anybody there besides us, but by the time we were finishing up in there, it started to get really crowded. By the time we got back outside into the courtyard, it was FULL of people! The crown jewels were really, really cool! We got to see a 530 carat diamond – the largest cut diamond in the world! And a golden spoon from the 12^th century – 12^th!! That’s old! It was crazy to see all of these fancy jewels that have been part of English history for YEARS. 

We had to stop and get a picture with a Beefeater before running up to the crown jewels - how can you pass up that opportunity?? A Beefeater is a guard who guards the Tower of London. The name may have come from a perk of the job long ago - a large ration of the king's beef. More than ordinary folk got, anyway. The ER on their uniforms stand for the queen they serve, Elizabetha Regina (Latin for Queen Elizabeth).

As you can imagine, there was a strict no photography policy allowed at the Crown Jewels. So, this is the best we got!

After seeing the crown jewels, we toured the rest of the Tower of London. Like Windsor, it is much more than simply a tower. It’s another little mini-city, full of different buildings, towers, turrets, and a chapel, all surrounded by a huge medieval wall. It covers 18 acres! It was built by William the Conqueror in 1066 as a giant fortress intended to frighten all of the Londoners into obedience. It has worn many hats throughout its existence – it was once the home for the royal family, it was once the royal mint, the royal jewel house, and also the prison and execution site for those who dared to oppose the crown. We got to see a little bit of each of its purposes on our tour. There were so many layers of history, all jam-packed in one place!

Inside the stairs of one of the big turrets

This building is called White Tower, which gave the Tower of London its name. It is the oldest of the tower's towers, and the huge, daunting symbol of the monarch's absolute power. The walls at the base are 15 feet thick, and could muffle the sound all of the torture being inflicted inside.

Beauchamp Tower is full of prison cells, and each is littered with prisoner's scribbled notes carved into the stone walls. This one in particular is from the Earl of Arundel - he wrote "The more we suffer for Christ in this world, the more glory with Christ in the next." Looking at all of their notes was hauntingly fascinating.

This fountain marks the site where Henry VIII infamously had his wife, Anne Boleyn, beheaded. Dave is showing a tear in his eye as a memento to Anne.

One more view of Tower Bridge from the ramparts of the Tower of London. Does it get more London-ey than this!?

We left the Tower of London, and headed down to the River Thames to catch a riverboat cruise heading up the river. We ate our little lunch of protein bars, goldfish, and trail mix while we relaxed, took in the sights of London, and listened to our guide tell us a little more about its history. It was so fun to ride in the boats - not to feel rushed and hurried, but to slowly, casually soak in some more London culture.

Sorry - I know there are so many pictures of this, but it's just so...LONDON! I love it!! The view of Tower Bridge from our boat.

The London Eye

BIG BEN!!! HELLO LONDON!!!

Our boat dropped us off right at Big Ben, and we took our "Westminster Walk" according to Rick Steves. It's about an hour long walk that takes you past different sights in Westminster - Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, Downing Street, and ends in Trafalgar Square - the center of London! It was the same route that our double decker bus took us on the night before, only this time it was light outside and we could stroll and take all the time we wanted to. We stopped along the way to take pictures, and really let London sink in. I couldn't believe I was really there, seeing all of these things! It was so surreal!

I don't think I could ever take enough pictures of Big Ben.

I loved this one with the Union Jack flying in the foreground.

Dave's main man - ole Winston himself, standing proudly in Parliament Square. Dave told me a fun fact about this monument, and I was dying of laughter. He told me that Churchill had requested that if a monument ever be made in his honor, that it would please have electrical current underneath his bald head, because he didn't want pigeons pooping on his head. So, this statue has just that! And look! No poop!

We could not figure out why this statue of Abraham Lincoln was right in the middle of Parliament Square in London, England. What did Lincoln ever do for England?? We still have no idea what it is doing here, but I sure love Abraham Lincoln, so we had to get a picture!

This monument is called the Cenotaph. It was built in honor of those who died in the service during World War I and World War II. Remember how I mentioned that there is a war memorial in every single little town in England? Well, World War I had a HUGE impact on England. They lost as many as 20,000 boys in a single DAY during the war. Historians have said that if the roughly 1 million British casualties from WWI were to march in four person rows past the cenotaph, the sad procession would last for 7 days. Can you even imagine!!?? 24-7 for 7 days watching lines of men walk by?? It was really sobering to be standing there at the memorial.

This is probably the 2nd most famous house in London. I'd say the first is probably Buckingham Palace. But that black building to the front right of that orange one in the background is #10 Downing Street - the house of the Prime Minister. It is like America's White House.

Another memorial, just a little further down from the Cenotaph, in honor of the women who served and sacrificed for the cause during World War II. I'm giving the Rosie The Riveter "We Can Do It" muscle. I think Dave might have swooned. :)

The Horse Guards. These guys guard this entryway to the road that leads to Buckingham Palace. 

Trafalgar Square!! I loved this view standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square, looking down the street at Big Ben and the British flag flying high. 

In Trafalgar Square, the world's biggest Corinthian column holds a statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson. He was a great British naval hero, who saved England in the Battle of Waterloo, a time that was as dark was WWII for England. Napoleon was threatening to invade Britain, but Nelson wasn't about to let that happen. He attacked the French fleet that was camped out on the coast of Spain at Trafalgar. He led his troops bravely into battle, even though he himself only had one arm and one eye. The French were defeated, and Britain ruled the seas again. Nelson was shot by a sniper during the battle, and died while gasping, "Thank God, I have done my duty!" He is as much a British patriot as George Washington is to Americans. At the base of the statue in Trafalgar Square is a stone relief of the Battle of Waterloo that says, "England Expects Every Man Will Do His Duty."

These lions were made from melted down enemy cannon. Take that Napoleon!

Trafalgar Square is the literal center of London. It connects Westminster, The City of London, and the West End. Here, in Trafalgar Square, we stopped to have a snack and soak in London - a HUGE city that has been around for YEARS with SOO much history. 2 millennia of history, to be precise. It was pretty dang awesome.

We got to be in London on the 70th anniversary of VE Day in Europe, which was a HUGE deal for Dave. He's kind of obsessed with WWII, if you didn't already know, and so being IN LONDON on the 70th anniversary of VE Day was monumental for him. In Trafalgar square, they had these little picture displays of people actually IN Trafalgar Square, 70 years ago, celebrating the end of WWII. While we were looking at a few of the pictures, this cute little English man came up to us and said, "I was there, you know." We couldn't believe it! We got talking to him, and found out that he was living in London at the time of the actual VE Day announcement. He was a little boy, and he said he remembers jumping on his bike and riding down to the square to join in the celebrations. He said that there were people littering every inch of street, people in the fountains, people on every perch - all celebrating together the end of a horrific war. We couldn't believe we were actually talking to somebody who was THERE that day!! He was so cute and sweet, and said that although he couldn't remember everything nowadays, that that was one day that would be etched in his mind forever. He said the feeling of joy and relief was beyond anything he's ever felt since then, celebrating with all of those people. For me - that is what travel is all about. Going to different places and meeting PEOPLE. Talking with them about their life experiences. Talking with that cute little man is something that I will never forget. 

We left Trafalgar Square and headed over to Westminster Abbey. We toured the inside, which was absolutely incredible. It was one of the neatest churches I've ever been in, for sure. We couldn't take any pictures (darn it!), but we were able to see tons of really cool things. The first thing we saw was the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior (similar to our Tomb of the Unknown Soldier), to remember the fallen men of WWI. The spot is so revered that when Kate Middleton walked down the aisle on her wedding day, she had to step around the tomb. It was really reverent and special there. There were tons of little chapels and memorials to different British monarchs, as well as graves and memorials to many of Britain's famous poets and authors, like Geoffrey Chaucer, Lord Byron, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Shakespeare, Handel, Charles Dickens, and....my favorite...JANE AUSTEN! WOO HOO!! Some of the authors are actually buried there, others just have memorial plaques placed there. We also saw the coronation chair that all British monarchs since 1308 have sat in to be crowned. It definitely looks like as old as its 700 years!

After our tour, we got to attend Evensong - a service held daily, at the end of the day. We got to sit in the choir seats, and be a part of the service. Most of the evensong was sung by the choir boys and men, and it was incredibly beautiful. The sound would reverberate off of the majestic, beautiful walls, and I was in awe the entire time, thinking, "Am I really here? Is this real?? Am I really listening to an evensong in the official church of the royal family!? Where Kate Middleton was married!? She walked down the aisle right in front of me with about a billion people looking on in person and on TV!! This is AWESOME!!!" We would get down on our knees and recite the different prayers and scriptural messages with the rest of the congregation. Again, I felt like I was a real Londoner instead of a tacky tourist taking pictures of Big Ben and Tower Bridge, It was truly amazing.

For dinner that night, we headed over to Covent Garden. Covent Garden is a cute little area full of shops, cafes, and street performers. Dave had researched ahead of time and found out that there was a Shake Shack there! We ate at the Shake Shack when we went to DC with my brother Jeff, and fell in love with it. We were so excited to be able to eat there again. I have never been more grateful for an American burger in my whole life. English food is EXTREMELY lackluster and boring. I got a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. I can't remember the last time I had a fast food burger at home, but I could have eaten three of them from the Shake Shack. It was SOOO good. I wish I would have taken a picture, but I guess we were so focused on the food that we forgot to snap a quick picture. 

We people watched for awhile, tried (in vain) to find a geocache, and then realized it was almost time for our show to start! We had bought tickets to go and see War Horse. We really like the movie War Horse, and so were interested to see how it would be adapted in a stage version. The horse was sort of like something you'd see in The Lion King Broadway version - it had two people walking inside of it for the front and back legs, and someone else controlling the head the whole time. It took a minute or two to get used to, but once you were accustomed to it, I hardly even noticed the people controlling it. The show was really good - but it wasn't really a musical. There was a guy that would come on stage and sing some Irish folk songs every once in awhile, but that was it. Dave was a little disappointed that there wasn't more music, because he had the idea that it was going to be a musical. I thought it was great though, and was really glad we saw it, especially because of all the WWI history behind it. I thought it was super appropriate to see something about WWI since it was such a big deal to the British people.  

During intermission, we started talking with the couple that was sitting next to us. They were from Manchester and were in town for the weekend because the husband had to get his passport renewed at the Belgian embassy. They were the cutest little couple, and we loved hearing about their life stories. We talked to them a little bit about the church too! We told them that we were from Salt Lake City, Utah and they said they had heard of it, but that they couldn't remember if it was the Mormons that lived there or the Quakers. Ha! It turns out they were staying just around the corner from our hotel, so we rode the tube back with them and chatted the whole way. It was so fun talking to some real Brits, and feeling like we were really immersing ourselves in the culture. We also loved being able to see a show in the evening, since in the countryside everything closed down around 5, and there was nothing to do in the evenings except walk around and see outside things. In London, we could experience a bit of the night life, which was super fun.  

We collapsed into bed that night. Our poor little feet walked about 12-14 miles each day during our stay in London. My feet were pulsing every night when I could finally elevate them in bed. But - tired feet meant that we got a lot of sightseeing in, which I couldn't have been more grateful for. That's why we came, after all! With a full day of London under my belt, I felt completely satisfied and content as I drifted off to sleep in the comfort of my EasyHotel bed.