After our week in Scotland we journeyed on to London, England for another week of travel and exploration. London is such a huge city and we saw new sites and different boroughs every day. We mapped the attractions we saw each day by location, seeing the sites and neighborhoods that were in close proximity to each other so we didn’t have to traverse the massive city all day. And it wouldn’t be London without some grey days! As per typical London weather, we had grey skies most days, including in all of these pictures.
When we arrived, we set out across Westminster Bridge and stopped at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. The architecture of these beautiful buildings is so intricate and detailed. I visited Big Ben when I studied abroad, but I noticed different elements this second time. While we were on Westminster Bridge, looking at Big Ben, we were asked to take a picture for a couple getting married and a picture for a couple announcing their first baby. For regular ol’ tourists, it was definitely an exciting place to be :)
We walked past 10 Downing Street and back across the Thames on the Golden Jubilee Bridge to see the views from the opposite side and to check out the London Eye. I snapped a shot of my lovely siblings with Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, the Church of St. Margaret (a canon of Westminster Abbey) and the Thames River in the background. One of the best parts of the trip was being able to spend two whole weeks with my family and our friends. Now that we are home I’m itching to spend more time with everyone, but it seems so much harder once everyone gets settled into their busy schedules. I’m so glad we could capture some quality time over the summer to explore the UK together though! :)
The London Eye is an interesting structure. It is ridiculously expensive (£23.00, or about $36 per person for one ride) but apparently the views are great. To me, the giant ferris wheel looks out of place against the gothic architecture across the river, but I do think it is a cool concept. Maybe next time we will try it out.
Oh hey there, Hails :)
One morning we made it out to Trafalgar Square to see the famous lion statues and visit the Crypt of St. Martin in the Field. Climbing atop the statues was more difficult than we expected but we were determined to make it up there! We tried to squish all of the “kids” onto one of the lions, but didn’t quite have enough room, hence my solo action down there ;)
On Tuesday afternoon we took a walking tour of East London. Our guide took us to places we probably would have missed otherwise and pointed out all of the street art as we passed. He said there was no theme to the tour, but we are convinced it was a street art tour. I have some cool pictures of some of the vibrant paintings on walls and buildings in East London for later. When we finished our 3-4 hour tour, we decided to test our feet a bit more and walk across Tower Bridge to get to a tube stop further along. We definitely got our daily steps in while we were in London – our daily average was about 9-10 miles of walking!
I wasn’t expecting the bridge to be so vibrantly colored. I had seen pictures of the bridge from a distance but nothing showing the painted suspensions up close. Apparently the red and white portions were painted for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee and the whole bridge was repainted with blue and white in 2008 (thanks Wikipedia). London is interesting with it’s combination of old and new buildings and structures, resulting from the rebuilding after bombings during World War II. While the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London are very old sites, the buildings that surround them are much more modern, with glass sides rising to the sky. It is such a juxtaposition of old and new and a great reminder of the history of the city.
We had no idea that Tower Bridge was a draw bridge until alarms started sounding and lights flashed as we got toward the opposite end. It was pretty amazing how such a huge, old bridge could raise that high. Besides the views of the rising bridge, the best part was when the bridge lowered and all of the bicyclists sped across before the gates lifted for the cars to go.
Below is the Tower of London, the historic castle that now houses the Crown Jewels of England. Within its history it has been used as a historic residence, an armoury, a treasury and as a prison, among other things. I imagined the Tower of London to be a single tower, Rapunzel style, so I was amazed when we approached a huge fortress covering acres and acres of land, with walls, turrets and multiple towers. If you look toward the left side of the photo, you can see the famous Shard building peeking over the top of the Tower walls. A great example of that juxtaposition again :)
London has so many amazing attractions and interesting history. This is a small peek into a few of the sites we saw. Keep checking back for more of London and our day trip to charming Cambridge!
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