Day 2 - Out on the Town

This was perhaps our busiest day, so I have a lot to tell about. We decided to start our day off by visiting Big Ben, the Parliament Building and Westminster Abbey. After going the wrong way on the Tube only once, we made it to our stop. And we were all amazed at the sites we beheld as we exited the Underground. Pictures don't do this building justice. The Palace of Westminster, or more commonly known as the Parliament building, which you see in these pictures was built in the mid 1800's in the Gothic style. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria after previous buildings suffered from several fires over many hundreds of years. (Major fires seem to have been very abundant in London over the centuries. I think with everything so close together, without modern-day equipment, a fire would have been very hard to stop.) However, the first official parliament of England began meeting there in 1295 and have continued to do so until today. The current palace contains around 1,100 rooms and over 100 staircases. For more information, click here. Big Ben is the name of the Bell inside of the Clock Tower, the world's largest four-faced clock tower.

We then crossed the road to the magnificent Westminster Abbey. It is said that a shrine was first placed in this spot in 616. However, some of the present building was built until around 1045-1050 by Edward the Confessor and was used a coronation site for Norman Kings. Then in 1245, Henry III rebuilt the building in the present Gothic style as a burial site for himself and a shrine to Edward the Confessor. For more detailed information, click here. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building and I wish so much I could share with everyone what I saw. The floors and walls are filled with shrines, memorials and inscriptions to the deceased spanning several hundred years. It is the final resting place for Kings, Queens, Scientiests, Authors and so many hundreds more. Many recognizable names such as Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Henry V, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Rudyard Kipling are buried here and many more such as Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Robert Baden-Powell, the Bronte sister and Winston Churchill are commemorated here. Since 1066, all English and British monarches have had their coronations in this building, except Edward V and Edward VIII, who did not have coronations. And the most amazing thing is they have all used the same coronation chair. We were able to see it and it looked a little old and unsturdy, I'm not sure I would want to sit in it. I'm sorry I'm going on about this place for so long, but it was truly amazing. The building itself was spectacular with huge vaulted ceilings and beautiful marbled floors, but the shrines and memorials were also something to behold. Many tombs had life-size sculptures of those who lay beneath them. This was perhaps my most favorite place we were able to visit on our trip.

We then ventured across the Thames to the more modern side of the river, much different than what we first visited. This is where the famed London Eye stands with it's carnival-like atmosphere. We really enjoyed the street performers.
This one was my favorite, with his live pigeons. He was so still, it was difficult to tell that he was real.

We then passed back over the Thames and headed up to Trafalgar Square. I've never been to a place with so many people, but London was so crowded, wherever we went and the Square was no exception. We got a good view of Nelson's Column and the 1000's of pigeons that call the area home. We also toured a small section of the National Portrait Museum (the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856) and saw paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer.

At this point, we were all pretty exhausted, but we pushed on, towards Englands most well known address, Buckingham Palace, the current home of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch. Built in 1705 and expanded during the next 75 years, the Palace was very impressive. However, we weren't able to tour any part of the building or the grounds. We didn't even get to see any of the guards with the funny hats, although we did see a little confrontation with one of the guards and a drunk guy. Then another guard with a machine gun walked over to intervene. Kind of crazy... I guess the Queen was on Holiday, so security was a little more relaxed.

We then hopped aboard the tube and headed to Piccadilly Circus. No, there were no clowns, but it was definitely a circus! So many people! They say it's comparable to New York's Time Square. We were so exhausted that we only stuck around long enough to try some of Britain's famouse, Fish and Chips! Yum! This is also the main area of town for Theaters. We would have liked to go to one, but weren't able to. Oh well, next time...

This was a very long day of walking and standing and not much sitting. My poor ankle. I don't know how it lasted throughout the whole trip. Anyway, that's the only complaining I'll do from now on. Needless to say, it was nice to get back to the hotel and sleep. (In separate beds, I might add. I guess it's still common for the Britians to sleep separately.)