March 1: After another long night, we didn't manage to ge
t up and going as early this morning. However, we did go to see quite a few things. We hauled ourselves out onto the bus bright and early to go see the marble arch. It was originally built at the entrance to Buckingham Palace and only the royal family and the royal military were allowed to pass through it. It's now been moved to a new location near the edge of Hyde Park. (near where we were staying) We checked it out, but there wasn't much to see, so we hopped back on the bus and went to Trafalgar Square, which is in the picture on the right. It's a monument to remember the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 when the 
British were victorious in the Napoleonic Wars. It was so nice outside so we just hung around the square climbing on the statues and whatnot. We took a photo with some of the goofy looking policemen who are all over the city, and then took a quick look inside the National Gallery. The Gallery's stairs lead up to it from the square, so it was pretty convenient, and also free! :) We checked out a few of the famous paintings, but then decided not to waste the rest of our nice day inside so we kept on walking to see some more things. As we were 
walking, we came across the Tower of London, which was really strange to s
ee. We're in the middle of London, with cars buzzing by and all of the sudden, there's the huge old castle along the river. The original building in the middle was built in 1078, but has added more buildings, two protective walls, and a moat since then. It was used as a prison, court, execution location, as well as now housing the royal jewels of England. Just a few hundred meters further is the tower bridge, which is what most people think of when they think of the London Bridge. The London Bridge itself is just an ugly concrete thing a little further up the river.
walking, we came across the Tower of London, which was really strange to s
ee. We're in the middle of London, with cars buzzing by and all of the sudden, there's the huge old castle along the river. The original building in the middle was built in 1078, but has added more buildings, two protective walls, and a moat since then. It was used as a prison, court, execution location, as well as now housing the royal jewels of England. Just a few hundred meters further is the tower bridge, which is what most people think of when they think of the London Bridge. The London Bridge itself is just an ugly concrete thing a little further up the river. 
We decided to walk along the river for a while, and after passin
g the large national maritime museum, came across this little thing. It's called the Golden Hinde and it's the world's first maritime museum. It's pretty small, but I thought it was pretty cute, so you know.. you get a picture. We kept walking, past the millenium bridge, and came across Shakespeare's Globe Theater. This is where many Shakespearean plays were performed in the round, which is a totally different experience than watching something on a basic stage.
Finally, as we were making it back to our hotel for the evening, we checked out St. Paul's Cathedral. We took a little rest at the hotel, and then met up with some friends on the other side of London to do to the O2-which is like a giant metrodome turned into a mall. We had dinner there, and then - despite the ridiculously high cover charges in London, went to a club. We made it back to the hotel around 4 or 4:30 with NO intentions of getting up early in the morning! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment