We finally visited the UK. Well, a small fraction of it, but still!
After nearly a year of living abroad, in a place where English is not all too common, it was a lovely change of pace to be in a country where locals totally understand my language!
We spent three nights and two full days in London. I know that's definitely not enough time to get a real feel of the city, nor to visit every site, but our two fulls days of adventures in London were fun and refreshing. No real rush to be anywhere; just hopping on and off the tube, and seeing whatever jumps at us first. Like an actual vacation!
*I will be omitting detailed travel info for the sake of shortening this post. I will make a detailed transportation post about London (and getting there via Ryanair) soon. Trust me, you'll want to read the transportation post if you plan to visit with children! I will also make a post on the cellphone shiz soon, as well. I did not have to buy a throw-away SIM card, nor did I pay enormous amounts of money to use my phone/data. I simply just used my phone. Again, I'll explain soon enough!
We flew to London from Nuremberg, Germany, via Ryanair, which was actually pretty pleasant. I had been warned about how terrible Ryanair can be, read many horror stories and prepared myself for the worst. Easy breezy. No BS, no issues.
I'd fly with them again, no question.
We arrived in London around 8:30 pm from Stansted Airport (not exactly a tube ride away from the city center). The Stansted Express train dropped us off at London Liverpool Street station and from there we hit Baker Street Station via tube. Based on my prior research, I knew there was a Chipotle restaurant nearby the Baker Station! Turned on my phone GPS, and with our luggage in tow, we found our coveted burritos.
Ahhhh. I miss Chipotle. So. Much.
After we were done eating dinner, we went back to Baker Street Station, and headed to our hotel. Once checked in, our (unofficial) day in London ended.
Boring. I know!
Sorry, I didn't want to start my post with us at a palace and have anyone wondering what make & model my teleportation machine is.
OFFICIAL DAY ONE in LONDON
We woke up in the morning SUPER early because my phone is a bitch and decided that she didn't want to go back an hour after we arrived in England (Germany is one hour ahead). I guess I didn't really think about it because I wear a watch almost everywhere I go, and on the plane I set my watch back an hour to London time.
Because my phone didn't update, my 7am alarm really went off at 6am! Oops. After all of us got dressed, my husband noticed the real time and looked at me with his "Really?" face.
Another travel lesson learned: Refresh, restart, or re-whatever to your electronics so that they'll be on the same time as yourself!
After grabbing a quick breakfast, we hopped on a city bus and started our one hour/two bus change journey to Hampton Court Palace. If you wonder, the train didn't have a route from where we were in Hayes to HCP (Hampton Court Palace).
The bus ride was actually pleasant AND we had our first opportunity to ride a double decker city bus! Not one of those touristy kind, but an actually city bus. It was quiet, clean, and simple enough with our Oyster cards.
Lucky us that my alarm went off early because when I arrived to HCP the ticket queue was nonexistent. We showed up at opening time, on the dot.
I walked right through the door, up to a lady at the counter, purchased my tickets, and was on my way.
The front green of the palace is beautiful. You enter through the main gate on the street, and see a massive front lawn, interesting carriages, and the palace sitting there in all of her glory.
Definitely a one of a kind palace!
What was nice was that the main entrance was closed due to an event, so no human congestion in my pictures! We entered through a side entrance named Seymour Gate, and wandered through the palace kitchens first (which were huge), and semi-operational.
If you ever visit Hampton Court Palace, make sure you eat before going! They roast ham in the kitchen, and the smell of it made me hungry! The guy turning the meat mentioned that the fireplace is constantly lit, except for on holidays when the palace is closed. You won't be able to avoid the aroma during your tour!
We noticed a few historical actors walking around, shouting randoms. At one point, Anne Boleyn was in the wine cellar, talking about something that I didn't catch. She entered through a different way as we were leaving. My kids don't think to look twice at folks dressed in 1500's garb because their mother (me) actually designs, sews, and wears these things on Halloween.
Normal in our house is seeing mom in a French Hood, I suppose.
After the kitchens, wine cellar, and stopping at a gift shop, we found our way to the Chapel Court Garden snapped a few pictures, then headed to Fountain Courtyard, and stopped for a WC break.
We visited the back facade of the palace, which is formally called The East Front, and headed to the Privy Garden. A pretty garden, but not much of the flowers there were in bloom. We posed for a few photos, walked all the way to the back of the garden to see the elaborate gilded gates, and from there went toward the palace to continue our tour.
The King's Staircase is pretty impressive. Reminds me of the staircase at the end of the Versailles Palace tour, except that HCP staircase has beautiful art incorporated into it.
On the top floor, one can visit state apartment rooms of William III, armor rooms, and random others. Even though I am not a gun enthusiast, the room with the weapons (King's Guard Chamber) was pretty spectacular. Rather than having them displayed within glass cases, they were placed on the walls in an artistic way that I had never seen before.
The Great Bedchamber of William III.
At the end of that piece of the palace tour, you are led to the King Henry VIII area. There is an interesting courtyard named Clock Court, with a fountain and the tall cathedral like building seen on the other side is actually the exterior of King Henry's Great Hall.
Sadly, the King Henry tour is pretty short and anti-climatic (this palace has been modified and passed through many hands over time. I expected as much). But because I have studied him for numerous years, I can say it was 110% worth the trip to HCP! To walk through halls of history is a rush for me. Very hard to explain (my fellow historians and history buffs understand).
The tour continues to The Georgian Story.
The Georgian's took royal power after the Stuart Family rule. The Georgian's didn't stay at HCP for long. When the King George II's wife (the German descent, Queen Caroline) passed in 1737, the king moved out, and no one has lived in HCP since.
*Side note: Caroline (of Ansbach) belonged to the House of Hohenzollern, in Germany. I will be making my Hohenzollern Castle post soon! Watch for it!
I have to admit, the Georgian section of the palace is beautifully decorated. There was an interesting map upon the entrance that I wish I had got a copy of. It's a scratch and sniff map of smells, yes, smells! One can sniff what Queen Caroline's herbal bath water smelled like, or even her toilet. Yeahhhh...Anyway, I missed that there were maps. It wasn't until our later train ride that I noticed my daughter had one in her hand, and I asked her where she got it! If you must know, the scratch and sniff toilet on the smelly map DID smell like a port-a-john.
After wandering through the Georgian Story tour, and having seen everything that was available to visit that day (unfortunately the palace chapels were closed for Sunday services and Base Court was preparing for a concert), we headed out. I knew there was another garden outside, opposite of Seymour Gate, so we went in that direction.
I was rewarded with not just a garden, but the biggest and most beautiful rose garden I have ever seen! I took a million selfies there, but I'll spare you all.
Parliament Square isn't all too interesting to the common tourist, but for me it was pretty exciting to be there. My kids are generally great travelers, but by this time in the day they needed a site-seeing break. Honestly, so did I.
We headed to Saint James's Park which was in the area. I wanted to visit this park anyway because I have seen some neat shots of Buckingham Palace from a bridge within the park. Saint James's Park kind of reminded me of a park in Tennessee, USA; with it's shallow river, water fowl, and willow trees. It's actually a beautiful little area.
Of course we set foot in the direction of Buckingham Palace, since we were close by enough.
Buckingham wasn't a huge must on my list, but it's definitely worth seeing once if out and about in London. I don't know many people who have been to London and never curiously cruised by this palace just to see a guard. Funny that many folks consider this a VERY touristy thing to do in the city, but most of the people we encountered in the area were locals or visitors from another part of the UK.
Being at the palace gates as opposed to seeing them in a movie is interesting. In many movies guards are situated on the outside of the gates, but on the day we visited, only four guards inside the gates were visible, and only two were marching back and forth.
Hmmm.
I know visitors can watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony daily (daily during the summer months) at 11:30am. On this day, Hampton Court Palace was worth hitting first thing, and the following day (which I will post about soon enough) I had other morning plans.
What's beautiful about the British Museum is that it's free! I knew this much was true beforehand, but it was nice to just walk on through the entrance without having to queue for a ticket. I immediately found the information counter so that we could obtain a map. The guy reminded me that we had just a bit over an hour to tour the museum, and that it wouldn't be possible to do it all. We assumed that, anyhow. But it isn't as if we can't return some other time. He helped me navigate through the map to find all of my 'must see' exhibits, and then we were on our way.
We visited the Ancient Egyptian gallery (top and bottom floors), part of the Roman and Grecian galleries, and wandered through parts of the Middle East and Europe as well. We are definitely planning to go back the next time we're in London! I wished we had more time, but closing hours came, and everyone was shuffled out. The above photo is what the main entrance looks like when people begin to pour out of the museum. Chaos.
It was only about 5:30pm, and we still wanted to kill time in the city, but being that it was Sunday, many tourist sites and restaurants were closing. We were all hungry, once again, and needed to find something quickly. We generally try to find a sit down, family friendly restaurant to eat at at least once while visiting a new city, but just about every restaurant I had read about was closed, or about to be. We really wanted to avoid fast food, and in searching near our location via google maps, we found a pizza joint (named Pizza Express) that was open.
I LOVE food, and although I usually don't write about restaurants in my blogs, I have to say something about Pizza Express: Don't waste your time. The service was great, but the pizza was not. We paid about 80 GBP to feed the family, and it wasn't worth it. I'm definitely not a picky eater, and don't mind splurging on a family dinner, but only if I can walk away and say "That was good food".
NOTE: The following night (day two in London) we ate take-out pizza from Papa John's in our hotel (there weren't many options near our hotel in Hayes, so pizza it was) and it was damn delicious. For 20 GBP, we got two XXL pizzas, which was more than enough for all of us. We love Papa John's in the states, so it was nice to enjoy it again for the first time in over a year. The problem was that it pissed me off because we paid so much for shitty pizza the night before. Oh well!
After eating at Pizza Express, I knew what I had to do. Every major city that we stay the night in, I like to wander the streets at night. Less people (unless you're in Las Vegas) and pretty lights. I was torn between going back to the London Eye area to get night shots at the river's edge, or heading towards Tower Bridge to do night shots there.
I let my GPS decide, and we were closer to Tower Bridge, so we went in that direction. Of course, I took randoms pictures along the way!
When we hit Thames, we walked along side of it, toward Tower Bridge. It was neat to see all of the landmark bridges in one walks time; Millennium Bridge, London Bridge, to name the most famous names that we passed. Knowing we still had some late daylight to kill, I decided to detour and head to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Fun fact: Many people get Tower Bridge and London Bridge confused, but since the tender age of seven, I have always known the difference.
Back in the 1960's, the London Bridge was sold to the founder of Lake Havasu, Arizona (my home state) in the United States. He acquired it to boost tourism to the city. The city of London was selling the bridge because it wasn't structurally sound enough to keep up with London's modern and heavy traffic, as it was built in the early 1800's. London planned to build a new bridge.
Each brick and piece of the old London Bridge was numbered and shipped to Arizona. Even the mayor of London at the time showed up to lay the foundation stone for the bridge in Lake Havasu. By the early 1970's, the bridge was pieced back together, number by number, with a new supportive structure, and was fully operational.
I remember being a kid and walking on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu when we went to visit my great-grandmother there. She's the person who initially told me a little about it's history. I thought it was so cool to be walking on a bridge from London. Even my seven year old mind knew I'd major in history back then!
By the way, the easiest way to remember which bridge in London is which:
Tower bridge has tall 'towers' on it. London Bridge looks just like a normal old bridge.
It wasn't quite dark, and I knew we were approaching an area in the city where a ruins of a small church are still standing: St. Dunstan in the East.
We came up to it, from our journey back towards Thames from St. Paul's, and to my dismay, it was locked up for the night. Seeing it in the dusk wasn't enough for me, so I knew I had to come back the following day. Even without much light, I thought this little church of ruins was beautiful.
We finally came up to the Tower of London (which is next to Tower Bridge). I snapped a few pictures of the bridge, but noticed that it wasn't glowing just yet. We stopped in Starbucks for some coffee and cocoa to kill about 30 minutes or so; allowing the sun to go down a bit further, plus I was waiting for Tower Bridge lights to come on. After resting our feet, we walked down to the Tower Pier, and from there I was able to snap my coveted shots of Tower Bridge by nightfall; all lit up against a dark cloudy sky. I also took a few of the Shard across the river and the exterior of Tower of London, too, although I planned to be visiting ToL the next morning.
Next Post: London, Day Two
After nearly a year of living abroad, in a place where English is not all too common, it was a lovely change of pace to be in a country where locals totally understand my language!
We spent three nights and two full days in London. I know that's definitely not enough time to get a real feel of the city, nor to visit every site, but our two fulls days of adventures in London were fun and refreshing. No real rush to be anywhere; just hopping on and off the tube, and seeing whatever jumps at us first. Like an actual vacation!
*I will be omitting detailed travel info for the sake of shortening this post. I will make a detailed transportation post about London (and getting there via Ryanair) soon. Trust me, you'll want to read the transportation post if you plan to visit with children! I will also make a post on the cellphone shiz soon, as well. I did not have to buy a throw-away SIM card, nor did I pay enormous amounts of money to use my phone/data. I simply just used my phone. Again, I'll explain soon enough!
We flew to London from Nuremberg, Germany, via Ryanair, which was actually pretty pleasant. I had been warned about how terrible Ryanair can be, read many horror stories and prepared myself for the worst. Easy breezy. No BS, no issues.
I'd fly with them again, no question.
We arrived in London around 8:30 pm from Stansted Airport (not exactly a tube ride away from the city center). The Stansted Express train dropped us off at London Liverpool Street station and from there we hit Baker Street Station via tube. Based on my prior research, I knew there was a Chipotle restaurant nearby the Baker Station! Turned on my phone GPS, and with our luggage in tow, we found our coveted burritos.
Ahhhh. I miss Chipotle. So. Much.
After we were done eating dinner, we went back to Baker Street Station, and headed to our hotel. Once checked in, our (unofficial) day in London ended.
Boring. I know!
Sorry, I didn't want to start my post with us at a palace and have anyone wondering what make & model my teleportation machine is.
OFFICIAL DAY ONE in LONDON
We woke up in the morning SUPER early because my phone is a bitch and decided that she didn't want to go back an hour after we arrived in England (Germany is one hour ahead). I guess I didn't really think about it because I wear a watch almost everywhere I go, and on the plane I set my watch back an hour to London time.
Because my phone didn't update, my 7am alarm really went off at 6am! Oops. After all of us got dressed, my husband noticed the real time and looked at me with his "Really?" face.
Another travel lesson learned: Refresh, restart, or re-whatever to your electronics so that they'll be on the same time as yourself!
After grabbing a quick breakfast, we hopped on a city bus and started our one hour/two bus change journey to Hampton Court Palace. If you wonder, the train didn't have a route from where we were in Hayes to HCP (Hampton Court Palace).
The bus ride was actually pleasant AND we had our first opportunity to ride a double decker city bus! Not one of those touristy kind, but an actually city bus. It was quiet, clean, and simple enough with our Oyster cards.
Lucky us that my alarm went off early because when I arrived to HCP the ticket queue was nonexistent. We showed up at opening time, on the dot.
I walked right through the door, up to a lady at the counter, purchased my tickets, and was on my way.
The front green of the palace is beautiful. You enter through the main gate on the street, and see a massive front lawn, interesting carriages, and the palace sitting there in all of her glory.
Definitely a one of a kind palace!
What was nice was that the main entrance was closed due to an event, so no human congestion in my pictures! We entered through a side entrance named Seymour Gate, and wandered through the palace kitchens first (which were huge), and semi-operational.
If you ever visit Hampton Court Palace, make sure you eat before going! They roast ham in the kitchen, and the smell of it made me hungry! The guy turning the meat mentioned that the fireplace is constantly lit, except for on holidays when the palace is closed. You won't be able to avoid the aroma during your tour!
We noticed a few historical actors walking around, shouting randoms. At one point, Anne Boleyn was in the wine cellar, talking about something that I didn't catch. She entered through a different way as we were leaving. My kids don't think to look twice at folks dressed in 1500's garb because their mother (me) actually designs, sews, and wears these things on Halloween.
Normal in our house is seeing mom in a French Hood, I suppose.
After the kitchens, wine cellar, and stopping at a gift shop, we found our way to the Chapel Court Garden snapped a few pictures, then headed to Fountain Courtyard, and stopped for a WC break.
We visited the back facade of the palace, which is formally called The East Front, and headed to the Privy Garden. A pretty garden, but not much of the flowers there were in bloom. We posed for a few photos, walked all the way to the back of the garden to see the elaborate gilded gates, and from there went toward the palace to continue our tour.
The King's Staircase is pretty impressive. Reminds me of the staircase at the end of the Versailles Palace tour, except that HCP staircase has beautiful art incorporated into it.
On the top floor, one can visit state apartment rooms of William III, armor rooms, and random others. Even though I am not a gun enthusiast, the room with the weapons (King's Guard Chamber) was pretty spectacular. Rather than having them displayed within glass cases, they were placed on the walls in an artistic way that I had never seen before.
The Great Bedchamber of William III.
At the end of that piece of the palace tour, you are led to the King Henry VIII area. There is an interesting courtyard named Clock Court, with a fountain and the tall cathedral like building seen on the other side is actually the exterior of King Henry's Great Hall.
Inside of King Henry's Great Hall.
Great Watching Chamber
Sadly, the King Henry tour is pretty short and anti-climatic (this palace has been modified and passed through many hands over time. I expected as much). But because I have studied him for numerous years, I can say it was 110% worth the trip to HCP! To walk through halls of history is a rush for me. Very hard to explain (my fellow historians and history buffs understand).
The tour continues to The Georgian Story.
The Georgian's took royal power after the Stuart Family rule. The Georgian's didn't stay at HCP for long. When the King George II's wife (the German descent, Queen Caroline) passed in 1737, the king moved out, and no one has lived in HCP since.
*Side note: Caroline (of Ansbach) belonged to the House of Hohenzollern, in Germany. I will be making my Hohenzollern Castle post soon! Watch for it!
I have to admit, the Georgian section of the palace is beautifully decorated. There was an interesting map upon the entrance that I wish I had got a copy of. It's a scratch and sniff map of smells, yes, smells! One can sniff what Queen Caroline's herbal bath water smelled like, or even her toilet. Yeahhhh...Anyway, I missed that there were maps. It wasn't until our later train ride that I noticed my daughter had one in her hand, and I asked her where she got it! If you must know, the scratch and sniff toilet on the smelly map DID smell like a port-a-john.
After wandering through the Georgian Story tour, and having seen everything that was available to visit that day (unfortunately the palace chapels were closed for Sunday services and Base Court was preparing for a concert), we headed out. I knew there was another garden outside, opposite of Seymour Gate, so we went in that direction.
I was rewarded with not just a garden, but the biggest and most beautiful rose garden I have ever seen! I took a million selfies there, but I'll spare you all.
We really wanted to go through the court maze, and even though it was included on our ticket, we skipped it. I have read about that maze, and I hear that you can actually get lost in it for quite sometime! I didn't want to spend the better part of our day lost in shrubbery, so we jumped on the train at a nearby station across the river (in Surrey, Harry Potter's hometown) and headed to the city center of London. The maze ticket can be purchased separately, so maybe another time.
The train ride to London from HCP is about an hour long. The time passes pretty fast, though. It was about 1pm when we arrived at the Waterloo station, on Thames' south bank.
Our first order of business was to hit up the Odeon Imax theater and purchase tickets for Jurassic World for later that evening.Well, we quickly found the theater near the Waterloo station, but finding how to get into it was interesting. The theater sits in the center of a large, busy round-about. We realized that just like in Paris with the Arc de Triomphe, there had to be underground access. We finally found a way to get underground, and saw the doors to the theater. I walked up to the counter to purchase tickets, and much to our dismay, the movie was sold out through the weekend. Granted it was opening weekend, I should have expected as much, but I was a bit bummed. Our kids have never been to an Imax and I figured it would be a great opportunity to take them to the biggest Imax screen in Europe, and to see a movie at a cinema in English.
No such luck.
Oh well.
From the Odeon theater, we started walking in the direction of the river Thames. I got a few shots of the London Eye, with Big Ben in the background, which was an angle that I otherwise wouldn't have found if we never went to the theater at all. See, everything happens for a reason!
We were famished, and trying to get six people to agree on what to eat typically sucks. Walking along Thames, we knew we would eventually find something to stuff our faces with. I must have not been as hungry as I had thought, because I stopped a lot to get random photos of random things before we settled for lunch.
After eating, the sun decided to say hello! I was super excited because I know London has a reputation for clouds. I took advantage of it while it lasted; snapping shots of Big Ben and Parliament. My family disappeared on me, and as I made my way to the other side of Thames across a bridge, I had found them again. I'm notorious for wandering off with my camera. My husband only worries if it's been over 15 minutes since he's last seen me.
After crossing the bridge and finding my family, we headed to the other side of Big Ben and then to Westminster Abbey. Again, being Sunday, public tours of the Abbey weren't possible, but getting exterior shots of it was fine enough for me!
Parliament Square isn't all too interesting to the common tourist, but for me it was pretty exciting to be there. My kids are generally great travelers, but by this time in the day they needed a site-seeing break. Honestly, so did I.
We headed to Saint James's Park which was in the area. I wanted to visit this park anyway because I have seen some neat shots of Buckingham Palace from a bridge within the park. Saint James's Park kind of reminded me of a park in Tennessee, USA; with it's shallow river, water fowl, and willow trees. It's actually a beautiful little area.
Of course we set foot in the direction of Buckingham Palace, since we were close by enough.
Buckingham wasn't a huge must on my list, but it's definitely worth seeing once if out and about in London. I don't know many people who have been to London and never curiously cruised by this palace just to see a guard. Funny that many folks consider this a VERY touristy thing to do in the city, but most of the people we encountered in the area were locals or visitors from another part of the UK.
Being at the palace gates as opposed to seeing them in a movie is interesting. In many movies guards are situated on the outside of the gates, but on the day we visited, only four guards inside the gates were visible, and only two were marching back and forth.
Hmmm.
I know visitors can watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony daily (daily during the summer months) at 11:30am. On this day, Hampton Court Palace was worth hitting first thing, and the following day (which I will post about soon enough) I had other morning plans.
After leaving Buckingham Palace, I hopped on google maps via my phone and searched for Saint James's Palace. I knew based on my research that it was close by.
Saint James's Palace was yet another stop on my Tudor Trail through London, and you won't find a single tourist there.
One can not tour this palace because it is currently an official residence for members of the royal family and is used for official government activities. In other words, it is closed to the public. This palace is not on any of the tourist maps, and because of that, I don't think many visitors know that it even exists. Well, unless you're me, and obsessed with Tudor history!
Other than this palace being built by King Henry VIII, and the fact that it was the official residence for the Sovereign until Queen Victoria came around, it holds a ton of history that is sadly overlooked. I wish it was open to the public. I'd definitely pay to go inside!
By this time, the afternoon hours were fading, and we were running out of options. With no real plans, I looked up The British Museum from my phone and found that it was open until 5:30pm. With about a 15-ish minute walk, we wandered through the streets of London to find it (with a bit of help from my phone GPS). We could have rode the tube, but according to my transportation app, it would have taken twice the time. I love walking through cities I've never visited, though. It's a neat way to see everything that you've never heard about. We also stumbled upon Piccadilly Circus on our way to the museum; something I didn't intend to visit. I can say, it was a circus, in the sense of how congested and busy it was. We darted out of that area as quickly as our feet could carry us.
What's beautiful about the British Museum is that it's free! I knew this much was true beforehand, but it was nice to just walk on through the entrance without having to queue for a ticket. I immediately found the information counter so that we could obtain a map. The guy reminded me that we had just a bit over an hour to tour the museum, and that it wouldn't be possible to do it all. We assumed that, anyhow. But it isn't as if we can't return some other time. He helped me navigate through the map to find all of my 'must see' exhibits, and then we were on our way.
It was only about 5:30pm, and we still wanted to kill time in the city, but being that it was Sunday, many tourist sites and restaurants were closing. We were all hungry, once again, and needed to find something quickly. We generally try to find a sit down, family friendly restaurant to eat at at least once while visiting a new city, but just about every restaurant I had read about was closed, or about to be. We really wanted to avoid fast food, and in searching near our location via google maps, we found a pizza joint (named Pizza Express) that was open.
I LOVE food, and although I usually don't write about restaurants in my blogs, I have to say something about Pizza Express: Don't waste your time. The service was great, but the pizza was not. We paid about 80 GBP to feed the family, and it wasn't worth it. I'm definitely not a picky eater, and don't mind splurging on a family dinner, but only if I can walk away and say "That was good food".
NOTE: The following night (day two in London) we ate take-out pizza from Papa John's in our hotel (there weren't many options near our hotel in Hayes, so pizza it was) and it was damn delicious. For 20 GBP, we got two XXL pizzas, which was more than enough for all of us. We love Papa John's in the states, so it was nice to enjoy it again for the first time in over a year. The problem was that it pissed me off because we paid so much for shitty pizza the night before. Oh well!
After eating at Pizza Express, I knew what I had to do. Every major city that we stay the night in, I like to wander the streets at night. Less people (unless you're in Las Vegas) and pretty lights. I was torn between going back to the London Eye area to get night shots at the river's edge, or heading towards Tower Bridge to do night shots there.
I let my GPS decide, and we were closer to Tower Bridge, so we went in that direction. Of course, I took randoms pictures along the way!
When we hit Thames, we walked along side of it, toward Tower Bridge. It was neat to see all of the landmark bridges in one walks time; Millennium Bridge, London Bridge, to name the most famous names that we passed. Knowing we still had some late daylight to kill, I decided to detour and head to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Fun fact: Many people get Tower Bridge and London Bridge confused, but since the tender age of seven, I have always known the difference.
Back in the 1960's, the London Bridge was sold to the founder of Lake Havasu, Arizona (my home state) in the United States. He acquired it to boost tourism to the city. The city of London was selling the bridge because it wasn't structurally sound enough to keep up with London's modern and heavy traffic, as it was built in the early 1800's. London planned to build a new bridge.
Each brick and piece of the old London Bridge was numbered and shipped to Arizona. Even the mayor of London at the time showed up to lay the foundation stone for the bridge in Lake Havasu. By the early 1970's, the bridge was pieced back together, number by number, with a new supportive structure, and was fully operational.
I remember being a kid and walking on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu when we went to visit my great-grandmother there. She's the person who initially told me a little about it's history. I thought it was so cool to be walking on a bridge from London. Even my seven year old mind knew I'd major in history back then!
By the way, the easiest way to remember which bridge in London is which:
Tower bridge has tall 'towers' on it. London Bridge looks just like a normal old bridge.
It wasn't quite dark, and I knew we were approaching an area in the city where a ruins of a small church are still standing: St. Dunstan in the East.
We came up to it, from our journey back towards Thames from St. Paul's, and to my dismay, it was locked up for the night. Seeing it in the dusk wasn't enough for me, so I knew I had to come back the following day. Even without much light, I thought this little church of ruins was beautiful.
We finally came up to the Tower of London (which is next to Tower Bridge). I snapped a few pictures of the bridge, but noticed that it wasn't glowing just yet. We stopped in Starbucks for some coffee and cocoa to kill about 30 minutes or so; allowing the sun to go down a bit further, plus I was waiting for Tower Bridge lights to come on. After resting our feet, we walked down to the Tower Pier, and from there I was able to snap my coveted shots of Tower Bridge by nightfall; all lit up against a dark cloudy sky. I also took a few of the Shard across the river and the exterior of Tower of London, too, although I planned to be visiting ToL the next morning.
By the time the sun had gone down, it was just about 9:45pm. The longer daylight hours of June are nice and all, but boy, waiting for a sunset during this month feels like an eternity.
It was time to call it a day, and instead of catching the tube near ToL, we walked to London Liverpool Street Station, and went to our hotel from there.
It was a really long day, but it sure went by fast! Although we didn't see and do everything, we did a whole lot!
Next Post: London, Day Two
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