We went over to the hotel where we were supposed to get picked up for the all day tour. The bus to pick us up wasn’t showing up at the appointed time. This worried me a bit, especially since some reviews on tripadvisor mentioned that they had the tour company flake out on them. I asked the staff behind the desk at the hotel if they knew anything about it. They didn’t offer much assistance. I tried to use a payphone, couldn’t figure it out and lost twenty pence while the staff still wouldn’t explain to me how to use the phone. The bus did come, but it was a half hour late.
We were taken to this bus station with several terminals, and I’m impressed by this because it seems to be only used by the touring company. I could easily be wrong but it was a whole bus station for one touring company. Lots of people were there, many of them confused and scrambling around to make sure they were in the right spot. We WERE in the right spot, because we rock… and we had asked for assistance. The tour guide was great. A very historically educated guy, and equipped with some good solid jokes.
Our first stop was Tower of London.
I liked the Tower of London. We got to listen to one of the red uniformed Yeoman Warders, he was fairly good, he was interesting and made us laugh. Talked about the Tower’s history of course. It went through many different uses throughout its history, and it currently houses and feeds several ravens. The saying goes that whenever The Tower no longer has at least 5 ravens, then the monarchy will fall. The Yeoman said that historically, there actually wasn’t that much torture at The Tower, as only important people were imprisoned there, but Guy Fawkes was indeed tortured there.
Video – Yeoman Warder Tour Guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIzdZr0nt1o
I took a video of a spot that use to be used for gallows, and I tried imagining shifting back in time and seeing something like a hanging or beheading going on in that space. It’s wild when history can almost feel tangible.
Video – Tower of London Gallows Area & Raven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxxBHNM1yFc
I also took a short video of one of the Royal Guards guarding(?) a door.
Video – Tower of London Guard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYNC-H6j63Q
We saw the crown jewels and other high valued treasures from royals long past. They were of course extravagant and fantastic, but I couldn’t escape the thought of how terrible it was that the royalty was so very full of themselves. Their greed was gluttonous. And their obsession with appearance was about as absurd as any could manage in that era.
We also saw lots of arms and armory, always neat to see.
Cool dragon, eh?
We finished up and went on a boat ride up the Thames river at low tide. I got a chance to see the river again later in the day and it is really amazing how much of a difference there is from low to high tide. The top of the green algae in the pictures and video shows how high the water rises during high tide.
We drove under London Bridge but not Tower Bridge. Johnathon said he liked his first ever boat ride. I was glad for that. The thing had a lot of kick, and it sped up quickly when leaving the ports it stopped at.
Video – Boat Ride on the Thames: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4J7S-iD8hU
We got onto a bus and went to go watch the Changing of the Guard.
Meh.
It was a great area, being in front of Buckingham Palace and all. There was a ton of people, but I’m not really sure why there were so many people there for the changing of the guard. It’s a tall fuzzy hat marching band, lead by a guy on a horse, and a small group of stomping fuzzy hats to replace them. Maybe there were that many people there for the same reason I was there, because it is a thing that people do in London. The main reason why anyone does it is because there have been a lot other people that did it. That sort of circular logic is great for the economics of the city, but I guess it takes a while to fabricate that sort of thing. Then again, it could just be that I have a cold, callused heart when it comes to a handful of stomping fuzzy hatted people playing music.
Video – Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olZGM6sg_Ak
Then we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. St Paul’s is magnificent. It is not like Westminster Abbey. Westminster is like an ornament that hasn’t been left alone, as more and more lavishness gets added that eventually the whole interior of the Abbey became saturated to the point that it is almost gaudy. But not St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s has a more clear design, a grand experience that it is trying to convey. It does it very well. It is huge, the ceiling is both distant and gorgeous. And boy is it a tall building. Johnathon and I not only went up to the whispering deck, where the curved dome acts as an acoustic device, but also up to the highest point the public can go. A narrow, one person walkway just under its highest spire. And we only used stairs… Let’s just say I didn’t know what I was getting into. I can say I did it though, and we were hurried so we did it quickly, but it was rough.
While up there we had a superb view of the city. I didn’t have my camera anymore though. Well, I had it but the battery went out and my spare was a dude. (I later was back in the hostel and tried charging it again. It showed it was fully charged in only 30 seconds, which it obviously wasn’t when I tried it again so that one went in the trash. At least I have 4 more.) So I took a few pictures with my phone, which will have to suffice. Plus we didn’t have much time. So we ran back down, looked for 60 seconds at the crypt, then went outside to meet back up with our guide.
After St. Paul’s we went to the London Eye. The big Ferris Wheel didn’t turn out to scare me, which I am very happy about. It is about a 35 minute ride. Everyone just kind of wanders around the pod that they are in. There were about 10 to 12 people in our pod.
The Eye is close to The Houses of Parliament so you get a great view of that. Alas, I was only able to take pictures with my phone. The Eye was overall alright, I probably won’t do it again, but I’d recommend it to most people if you can get a deal on it.
We also went and watched a 4 minute 3d movie that shows off the Eye in as many fancy ways as it could. I enjoyed the video because they also released white fluffy pieces into the air along with the 3d snow you watch while showing the Eye during Christmas time. It was a neat effect.
We wanted to head back to the hostel and rest a bit, also we wanted to go to the Café Rogue that we had planned on going to but skipped on the first day. So off to the Cafe we went.
Dinner was great. It seemed very French. The waitress and host didn’t smile and were not friendly. The food I got was excellent. So yeah, it seemed to live up the the French stereotype. Haha.
(Just kidding, I kind of hate accepting stereotypes. I’ve had non-french waiters and waitresses who were not friendly, and perhaps this one lady was having an off day. She did however give a short but genuine smile to me when I gave her a tip.)
I got a small plate of mushrooms in cream sauce covering two small croissants. Then I got a Crème Brulee. I had never had one before. It was just wonderful. I loved it. So delightful with the caramelized top and subtly sweet vanilla pudding underneath (I’m guessing that’s what it was). Johnathon got a steak that came with a small salad. The meat was kind of plain, but there was a dipping sauce that seemed really nice. Overall though Johnathon said he liked it but not a ton. That he’d be happier with sandwiches instead. (He really likes the sandwiches we can get from the market here.)
After that we went back to the Hostel for awhile, then we went out again to see Hyde Park.
It was already night though and it turned out that the park was closed. Instead we took a couple funny pictures of us posing in those famous red phone booths, and we bought four candy bars that we had never heard of before.
We went back to the Hostel, jumped up onto the top bunk, and filmed ourselves eating the foreign candy bars.
Video – Chocolate Bar Ramblings 1 of 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caYbbbLatY8
Video – Chocolate Bar Ramblings 2of 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi7KwJQU9Yk
Looking forward to Windsor and the Lion King tomorrow.
The Wayward Way 