In Foggy London Town

A Year Ago Today...

March 13, 2009

Itinerary:

Friday, 3/13: London

-8:00am Gatwick Airport - arrive in London; easyBus (£6.50) to the Fulham Broadway Tube Stop (District, green line)

-Buy 1-day Tube Pass: £6.30

-Store bags at Victoria Station "Left Luggage" up to 24 hrs. = £8.00

-Tower of London: Charissa and Harmony (student price = £14.50)

-Imperial War Museum: Ali and Autumn

-Westminster Abbey

-Check into Hotel

-Buy Groceries for weekend: £7.00 each

-Lodging: Holiday Inn, London-Camden Lock (Priceline: $160.70/4 people/2 nights =$40.175 per person - $20.08 a night;)

One of the first rules of traveling is that you must experience as much as you can in the time you have. Therefore, from the moment we stepped foot in London we were on the go (despite the overnight flight with little sleep--or the fact that our bodies were still on PST where it was the middle of the night still). From the airport we caught a bus to the nearest Underground station where we found the place to store our bags for the day and then headed out to be tourists. Autumn, Ali, and I had all been to London before (in fact Autumn had studied abroad here for a semester) so we decided to split ways for the afternoon. I took Harmony to see the Tower of London, and Autumn and Ali went to explore the Imperial War Museum.

Oh there are so many things to see in the Tower! And to think of all the famous people who have been there. Here's Harm in front of some of the King's armor.

As a west coast girl, it always amazes me how old the buildings in Europe are! It is so fun to explore them--like stepping into history.

Can you believe I couldn't get him to smile? He is guarding the crown jewels. What a job!

The Norman Chapel is stunning. The royals used to worship here. There is so much history connected with the Tower and so many people lived and died here. Both times I have visited I have been impressed by the fact that I am standing where such brave martyrs spent their last moments on this earth: Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Anne Askew, and John Frith, to name a few.

Meanwhile, in another part of London, Ali and Autumn went to explore the Imperial War Museum. I have never been there but it is on my list of things to see next time I'm in London. Perhaps Ali or Autumn will have to blog about it though, since I wasn't there to experience it.

I can tell you though, that they got to see a part of the Berlin Wall!

Later in the afternoon. The four of us met up again near the British Parliament. Here is a familiar London sight:

We took a little tour of Westminster Abbey where we saw lots of dead people--or at least their graves. We made our traditional pilgrimage to stomp on Darwin's grave and were fascinated by the vaults of various monarchs who are buried here. We couldn't take photos inside, so I guess you'll just have to make your way over to London and see it all for yourself! The important thing at Westminster Abbey to our Protestant heritage is that the Westminster Confession was penned here in the Jerusalem Chamber. You need special permission to go in there today, and we were lucky enough to have that when we went with our school, but not on this trip.

Enjoying the lush green courtyard.

By the time we were done seeing the Abbey, we were beat! We were pretty much dead on our feet so we made our way to the underground and found our way to the nice hotel we found on priceline. It was wonderful--with 2 double beds even! We lazed around for a little bit but were trying not to go to bed too early so we mustered up the last bit of our energy and found a grocery store nearby where we stocked up on food for the weekend. This was our common way of getting food on the trip and definitely helped our budget!

Finally we all crashed into bed to prepare for another day of roaming around London. Stay tuned for the next installment!