I thought I should post some pictures of our latest travels to London. I LOVE London....it was such an exciting and historical city. We were so excited to be in a place where food and shopping weren't so expensive. I must say I was so thrilled to find good ole American-style sandwiches (you know, like a ham sandwich....doesn't really exist in Denmark). We stayed a week in London. My husband had to attend meetings for 3 days of the week but we were able to do some great sightseeing the other days. We stayed downtown near Trefalger Square which is a pretty central location in the city. I will say that the "Tube" or subway system in London is far from stroller friendly. We had to walk up and down huge flights of stairs carrying 2 suitcases and the stroller....and then decided to just take a taxi the next time. In Denmark I have yet to find a train station without an elevator. I found myself very thankful for the transportation system here :)
The first day we walked around and saw what everyone calls Big Ben and the Parliament building. They told us Big Ben is the name of the clock face and the tower is called the Elizabeth Tower. We went past Westminster Abbey as well. We walked for nearly 2.5 hours (the baby slept, so we just kept walking) and walked past the London Eye (a HUGE ferris wheel), London Bridge (actually sort of boring looking), Shakespeare's Globe Theater (not the original one....that one burned down long ago), Tower Bridge, London Tower, etc. Most things cost almost $30 per person to do, so we had to pick and choose what we really wanted to do the most. We did buy tickets on a sightseeing tour bus and ended up taking that tour several times. On one of the days where my husband was gone to work, the baby and I went and saw Buckingham Palace and had a picnic lunch on the park next to it. We didn't go in, but some day I'd love to see the museum that's attached to it. Apparently Queen Elizabeth has a huge art collection that she likes to show off :)
We did tour the London Tower/Crown Jewels and it was pretty neat. I thought it'd be more castle-like (sort of like the Danish castle....fancier maybe?), but it didn't have a lot to see unless you're into guns and armor. The Crown Jewels are just amazing. Makes you wonder what they had to do to get all of those jewels, though...pillaging comes to mind, not sure why :). On all of the tours they were not shy about telling about the beheadings and executions that used to happen in London. Rather morbid, I thought. Unlike you see on TV, though, most of the executions were not held inside the castle walls, but out on tower hill instead.
Next time I hope to get to go on the London Eye and maybe see a few more things. There's just so much to do and we didn't have tons of time. Until next time, London....
Big Ben/Elizabeth Tower and the Parliament Building
(See next 2 pictures for the Cathedral)
Shakespeare's Globe Theater (Reproduction)
Thames River (London Eye to the right)
Tower Bridge
Battleship Museum
Tower of London (also where the Crown Jewels are....oh so pretty!!)
Oh the tulips were in bloom....lovely!
Trefalger Square (Next 2 photos)
Impromptu parade??
Buckingham Palace (Next 2 too)
Tower Bridge on the river ferry we took
London Eye at night
