Wednesday, November 20, 2013

A Tour of London

So London! Just a recap that whilst in London a group of us had no clue what we were even going to do so we randomly joined up with a free tour of London group. It was honestly one of the best decisions we had made thus far on our trip. The guy had begun the tour with a talk about Guy Fawkes day (or bonfire night) and the reason that they had celebrated it yearly on the Saturday closest to November 5. It's pretty interesting stuff and I would highly recommend a read through of it online at some point.




Anyways, we then we down the road a bit and turned up at Westminster Abby. The church where royals are married, baptized, etc. etc. What a building, it was absolutely beautiful and the history of it is amazing. Apparently it costs money to actually tour inside the building, but at 5:00 PM everyday they suspend all collection and hold a church service that anyone is welcome to attend. So if your looking to actually see inside the building for free, this is the time to go.






Following this we walked towards the place where Winston Churchill bunkered down during the war with his Officers. Apparently it really wasn't that safe and if they were to have actually hit the area in which he was hiding, he most likely would have died. How it would've changed everything.


We then shuffled our way along and got to see the last glimpse of the old London skyline in the distance as most of it was burned down or destroyed in the war. In the process of rebuilding they went with a red brick, so many of the white buildings don't exist anymore in London.






We got to walk through a park in which the Royals would place all of the animals given to them by foreign dignitaries and the such. It's now home to many different small species, but the elephants and extravagant animals have long since gone from the area. I guess there's on record somewhere that they would buy a barrel of wine each day to give to one of the old elephants in order to keep it calm and satisfied with living in the English weather. Almost sad if you think about it really.




This here is Prince Charles' home. He wasn't in at the time because a different flag would be flown if he was.











This is one of the guards outside of his home. Caution: they anger very easily and will shout at you in a heartbeat. Someone down the line leaned over the chain fence and I almost messed myself as he hollered at them. At least they take their job seriously.






 And finally... Buckingham Palace!!!!


We didn't go right up to it, but apparently the guards carry serious weapons nearby so I was alright with that. Interestingly enough the front part that everyone sees is actually home to the servants that work within the Palace walls. The Queen's quarters line the entire right side of the building. Additionally, the Palace wasn't even initially made for the Royal family. They had an entirely different place of residence and someone else built this as their home. When the King went through it he demanded ownership and bought it from the man. Before they moved in though they let the original owner live there until his death. I botch the story a bit so again, look it up. So many interesting things to learn about over here! Here are some pictures of the original home to the Royals:


It's only a few minute walk away from Buckingham Palace, yet it sits off the road a bit away from everything else. I honestly don't know what they do with the building nowadays but I know it's still owned by the Royal Family.

Our guide ended our tour at the true heart of London which is marked with the large tower at the right of the photo. The blue rooster is an art piece that gets rotated out every couple of months. The meaning of it I don't know really (nor did our guide). But it was interesting to see it nonetheless. Oddly enough they were having a NFL rally of some sort on the day we were here so everyone was celebrating American football at the time.




As in life, nothing truly comes free, so after we tipped our tour guide  he led us to a pub where we only paid 6 to get a burger, chips, and a drink. By far the cheapest food you'll find in Central London. So, in the matter of a few hours we were able to successfully hit every tourist spot that we had intended to see while we where there without any planning shockingly. So, like I said previously, if you ever see a guide with a bright orange umbrella in London that says 'free tours' follow him. It'll be the best decision you could make.

We were pretty tired after the tour so we found our ways through the Underground once again towards South London and our second hotel for the night. We found some great Thai food to eat and tucked in for the night.



The last day we were there we had decided to travel back into Central London to see Madame Tussand's Wax Museum and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, but by the time we got there we realized the line to get into the wax museum was two hours long and we were ready to get going. I did get to see 221B Baker Street though, so I can die a bit happier.





The weekend trip was exhausting, but it was worth it 100%. I got to see so many new sights and it was amazing to be in a city with so much history! I'd love to travel back to see some of the stuff off the beaten track, but for now I have enjoyed much of what London has to offer! Until next time London!









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