Catch up: London Day 2

OK, so here are some more pics from our super awesome Great Britain trip. Man, we had a great time. Once we had time to get a little settled on our first day, we spent the second day being complete and total tourists, soaking up all of London that we could. And of course, the best way to soak up London is from the roof of a Double-Decker bus. We were worried that it would be cheesy, but it was totally worth it.

This is Trafalgar Square, which has been home to more famous speeches, protests, activities, executions, etc. than could possibly be listed here. It is where the famous statue of Lord Admiral Nelson is. And when we were there, it was home to the count-down clock for the 2012 London Olympics. It was such a gorgeous day, it seemed like all of London was out enjoying the sun and awesome temperatures.

This is another angle from Trafalgar Square. The Square is surrounded by historic buildings and museums, but we didn't get off our bus to check them out. Dana isn't much interested in Empirical Britain, so maybe if Dan goes back someday by himself. . .

This is also Trafalgar Square - a giant model of Lord Nelson's ship, which he did awesome things with, but then that is more boring history stuff. The model itself is bigger than a canoe, and in a very large bottle. Our tour guide told a really funny story about it, but we can't remember it.

This is us sitting at a bus stop in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, right after crossing the London Bridge over the Thames. Wow, that is a lot of major historical things in one sentence. The whole tour was pretty much like that. Overwhelming; every corner coming up on some place that has major historical or cultural significance.

Such as this: Hyde Park. Again, the weather was FANTASTIC, perfectly warm and sunny, so the park was full of Londoners. Seeing Hyde park was cool because of all the stories of early church leaders and missionaries, including Gordon B. Hinckley, who stood at the Speaker's Corner and talked about the church. Oh, yeah. We saw that, too.

This is an arch commemorating Nelson's victories. They really love this guy, and for good reason. He is a pretty solid stud. There was a funny story about the sculpture on top originally being on an arch in France, but it was stolen by the British during a war. The Brits do a lot of stealing of other culture's pretty stuff and making it their own.

This is Westminster Abbey. We were there the week before the Royal Wedding, so the place was closed in preparation, but we were there when the bells went off, and it was awesome. All around the church they had media booths and bleachers set up for spectators. With the traffic already being crazy, we were glad to not be there for the actual wedding madness.

The bus tour was a "hop on, hop off" thing, so we hopped off at the Tower of London, which is more of a fortress complex than a single tower. Before we checked it out, we stopped for some authentic English Fish and Chips. Yeah, eating Fish and Chips at the Tower of London was pretty epic.

The Tower of London is ancient, and walking around there seriously feels like you have fallen back in time several hundred years. It is in great condition and beautifully preserved, especially for a place that was once one of the most feared prisons in the world.

This is in one of the many museums that now fill the various buildings in the Tower complex. They have really cool suits of armor in this one, like the golden armor from King Henry VIII, complete with ridiculous gilded codpiece. What a weirdo that guy must have been.

This guy was a real classic. He was our Tower of London tour guide, dressed up in the traditional uniform of the Tower Guard, otherwise known as the Beefeaters. He was hilarious, and set the perfect tone for the tour: equal parts funny, informative and spooky. We were impressed that all of the modern day Beefeater tour guides are retired British army Sergeants. Nice way to spend a retirement.

As we mentioned before, we were in full on, unapologetic tourist mode. So we took a lot of very touristy pictures. Like this one.

This is the actual Tower of London proper. This is where all sorts of luminaries were imprisoned over the last thousand years. Now it is a museum for the British Army. It is a really lovely looking place to have such a dark and terrible history. The Beefeater insisted that the Tower of London is the most haunted place in the world.

We could not pass up the opportunity to take a look at the crown jewels, which are housed in the Tower complex. And of course, take pictures of the actual guards. These guys are the real deal. That is a loaded assault rifle he is holding, and he kept a very good watch on all the tourists. His body was perfectly still, but his eyes didn't stop moving for a second. We would have taken pictures of the jewels, but that is illegal, and did we mention the assault rifle?

From atop another bridge, once we were back on our bus, we caught this awesome shot of Tower Bridge. This is NOT London Bridge, we were told. Over and over, we were told this, actually. Apparently, a lot of people make that mistake, and it bugs the Brits a lot.

This is the most modern of the city's attractions: the London Eye, which is right across the river from Big Ben and Parliament. We knew we were coming back, so we didn't ride it this day. Dana was fascinated by the way London has successfully blended old and new architectural styles into a truly unique and beautiful skyline.

We also took a river ferry up the Thames from the Tower of London to the Houses of Parliament. Along the way, we passed the reconstructed Globe Theater, original home of Shakespeare's plays.

Did we mention how beautiful the day was? Nothing at all like what we were afraid London might be like in the Springtime.

This pretty much sums up the day. A truly memorable, breathtaking jaunt through a wonderful and beautiful city. By the end of the day we were completely wiped out, and headed back to our hotel to gather our strength for the next day's adventures. But that story is for another post. Stay tuned!