Taking London by Storm

London. That was the goal for the day and Paul and Gemma were going to help me do it! We had the hour long train ride from Birmingham to plan out our day and it was an amazing day! We decided that the best thing to do was to see as much as we could see and if we didn’t get to all of it, then we’ll have to hope I come back in the future!

We got into London, immediately got some maps, and headed to the London Museum. We decided to hit the exhibits that we were the most interested in which was the ancient Greeks and Romans along with British history (of course).

Next we decided to catch the tube and go Buckingham palace then walk up to the houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We went to the Palace and took the traditional cheesy pictures in front, and then we were walking towards the houses of Parliament when an older gentleman started talking to us. After a few moments, Paul asked if he was a royalist and he vehemently replied, “yes.” I didn’t know what a royalist was but as the man continued talking it was clear what being a royalist means. For those of you that were like me, a royalist is someone who supports the monarchy, in particular constitutional monarchy, of a particular country as the best type of government. (On a side note there is a actually a royalist party of America that seeks to institute a constitutional monarchy here in the states…Google it). This royalist told us how great the queen was and how the recent marriage wasn’t proper but that it was a good family and everything would work out. It was just interesting because the man definitely had a different idea of what is good for the government than Americans. It seemed to me that we are trained from birth that Kings and Queens are something that we don’t have and don’t want to have (and yet who hasn’t dreamed of being a price or princess when they are little).

We also learned from the gentleman that the big ben was actually the name of the bell NOT the tower! As we drew closer to big ben’s tower we saw the queen’s soldiers and their unflappable nature. Of course I took the stereotypical photo!

Cheesy Picture with Queen's soldier

We went and took pictures of Westminster Abbey and listened to their fantastic bells. Here is a clip of the bells ringing

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After we listened to Westminster’s bells, we then crossed the Thames towards the eye of London. The eye of London was huge and it was amazing how slowly it went and how big the carriages are of that massive Ferris wheel. Hopefully, this picture will give a clear idea.
We got tired of walking really fast and caught the nearest tube to St. Paul’s cathedral . This cathedral was beautiful and I wish I could have taken pictures of the inside. It was really special and kind of made me wish I would have gone inside Westminster Abbey. Outside St. Paul’s was the “Occupy London” movement and while I sympathize with their ideals at times, I would never be able to do what they do. Quite frankly, their whole camped smelled…bad.

We then took the tube to the Tower of London. This was one of my favorite places in London. I won’t give all the details but I could have spent hours looking around and reading about the history. There was one moment when we were standing at the land where many of Henry VIII’s wives had been executed and that era of English history fascinates me! It was really fascinating to see some the rituals. They have soldiers still living there and they still perform the same duties in the same manner that they did many years ago. They also had the crown jewels there and that was really neat to see. I wanted to take pictures but I wasn’t allowed to of the crown jewels. Gemma and Paul were a little disgusted by the crown jewels and the amount of wealth they represented; discontent among the British!

After taking some wonderful pictures of the tower bridge at sunset, we went to convent garden. This garden was a place for performers to hone their skills on the streets. We watched shows and singers entertain. We caught a drink at a pub and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Finally we went and got some food…delicious pub food as always! We were exhausted and went to Leicester square (Kind of like our Times Square except for more theatres) and then caught the train home to Birmingham.

Tower Bridge at Sunset

I will never forget that day. Rarely do you get the opportunity to see so much in so little time, it was truly a memorable day of my life and has given me the bug to see and do more. I am beginning to crave those experiences for the richness that they are. Ever since I came to college, I had a clear purpose for my life, but it was a day like this and a trip like this to make me realize that there was potential in my purpose for travel and experience. More on that later!

I do want to say how thankful I am for Gemma and Paul showing me such a wonderful day. I do not think I could have had a better experience with anyone else!