First of all, this trip was amazing. I am so glad I went. I would recommend this sort of thing to anyone.
Our first stop on the trip was London. But of course we first have to get there. Tyler and I left from Salt Lake and we flew to Denver where we met up with Steve. From there we flew to Philadelphia (where they had a cool lego model of the Liberty Bell. . . I love legos) and then we flew to London.
Plus, being the paranoid people that we are, we all had some sort of money belt. But then we also realized how weird it looks when you have to reach for some money or your passport. Tyler gives us the best example.
The best part of the last leg of the flight was the kid with the ear piercing scream. Somehow this kid was able to cry for like 3 hours straight.
It was the worst day of my life! Just kidding. We left at 7:30 am (June 3) from Salt Lake and arrived in London around 9 am (June 4). We lost a day heading over there and we had barely slept. Bring on the fun!
Day 1-London:- Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard
- Westminster Abbey
- Big Ben and Parliament
When we first arrived, we carried our packs all through the city. Good thing Tyler, Steve, and I decided to take hiking backpacks. My back would have killed. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace. We got there around 10 am and saw that in an hour and a half there would be a changing of the guard. So we wandered through the surrounding gardens and parks. You know, America needs to figure out that huge cool parks in the middle of a city are awesome. . .
For the changing of the guard three different groups march through the gates. Some Scottish bag pipe players and such, the red coat and fuzzy hat guards, and then the cavalry. It was funny to watch the tourists run to the street and then to the fence to see what was happening with the changing of the guard. It was fun to see it all happen.
All that pomp and circumstance to change ONE guard. There he is with his escort (he is the one with the red coat and the fuzzy hat).
We also saw Westminster Abbey. We couldn't take pictures inside. . . lame, but whatever. The church is piled with memorials and memorial floor tiles, tombs, and even the chair that kings and queens are crowned on are in Westminster. People like Sir Isaac Newton, Darwin, Charles Dickens, and Queen Elizabeth have been buried there, plus hundreds of others. Kings and queens have been crowned in the church. That was fun to see. The only vestiges of Christ in the entire building were 2 wall murals from the 15th century they uncovered only recently. Those are it for Christ. . . interesting.
Close by is the Parliament building and Big Ben. I have to be honest, seeing Big Ben was a big let down. While so cool to see the famous landmark, once you saw it, that was it. No more. You can't go up. You just get to look and then you are done. At least it was cheap. We did go in and see the House of Commons in action. There were about 20-25 visitors watching about 7 members of Parliament debate something about Afghanistan. Most of the 7 seemed disinterested, even the woman speaking.
Day 2 - London:
- The Tower of London
- Tower Bridge
- The Winston Churchill British at War Experience
- Wicked
The best attraction in all of London was the Tower of London. The Tower was built around 1000 AD and London was ruled from it until about 1800 AD! I wish America had that type of history; the building is five times older than our nation. Anyways, there is so much history in the entire complex.
We took a guided tour by a Yeoman. These men have to serve in the military and achieve certain rewards to be considered to be a guard at the Tower of London. Our Yeoman had a great British humor and had us laughing a lot. The E II R stands for the current queen, Elizabeth the II. The "R" stands for something meaning queen, or something like that. I am sure someone who will read this post could correct me.
Another cool thing about going to the Tower of London is seeing the Crown Jewels. Those were some of the most impressive things I have ever seen. They have 3 of the largest diamonds in the world. Of course we were not allowed to take pictures, so here is the building where they are kept.
Just by the Tower was Tower Bridge, duh! The icon of London. It was cool to climb to the top and go into the engine room. But really, there wasn't much to do there. Just look and learn a little history, but still worth seeing the most famous landmark in London.
Being the nerds we are, Tyler and I took this picture in the engine room to raise the Tower Bridge. We figure all girls would follow these type of signs if they were put up on BYU campus to lead them to the Clyde. Look at my guns!
After that we went to the coolest *cough* museum; actually Tyler had a better name for it, a personal museum where people charge you to see their collection of stuff. The overall experience was funny in the British at War Experience. Luckily it was part of the London Pass, which we had bought, so I didn't feel like we had lost money, Especially after finding this poster.
The day started well with the Tower and ended well with Wicked. That play was great and I thought the actors and actresses did a superb job. The experience was not something I had expected, however. Overall, the atmosphere (at least concerning concessions) felt like a baseball game. People brought in candy, other goodies, and my favorite-big red plastic cups of beer. The guy right next to me bought one at intermission. Every time he breathed I remembered that I hate the smell of alcohol. Despite that distraction, the play was amazing. I am happy we saw it.
Day 3- London (Last Day)
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- The Globe Theater
- Wandering around the city
St. Paul's Cathedral was very impressive. After going through so many while in Europe, this is still one of my favorites. I just loved the classical architecture (notice the dome) and just how it didn't feel as dark as the gothic cathedrals. Sadly, due to the weather, we were not able to get to the very top of the dome, but we got to the base of the dome. Nonetheless, I would recommend the cathedral to anyone.
After that we walked across the river and made our was to the Globe theater. They built this thing just like they would have in Shakespeare's day (with a few modern-day code exceptions). It is actually collapsible; they didn't use a single structural nail in the entire place. Sadly, it is not build in the original location because a bridge now occupies that area. But it is nearby.
After that we met up with Dan Kim for some dinner, went to the Imperial War Museum, and wandered around for the rest of the evening. The war museum was pretty good. They had a really good Holocaust exhibit, though the one in D.C. still dwarfs the London one. Once done at the museum we walked all over the city and waited for the sun to finally go down to get some night shots.
I loved London. While we had exhausted what we could do in the city, the rest of England would be interesting to see.
P.S. Let me know if this is too long of a post or boring. I have a few more coming up, so let me know.
Day 5--Paris (June 8th, Monday)
From there we walked to the Arc de Triomph, but as you can see with the crowds of people, there was something going on at the base of the Arc. The day was some memorial for a war. Somewhere back there is the president of France. So we decided to walk the Champ Elysses and find a place to eat. The funniest event there was Steve ordering a tartar steak. He wanted to try something new and he got it. Imagine a pile of hamburger slightly cooked on the outside drenched in tartar sauce, and that was his meal. Just nasty!
These are some views from the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was cool just to be that high. We probably spent almost an hour just looking out at Paris. It was a great way to end our stay in that beautiful city.
