3.29.08 (Saturday) _ London

Saturday, March 29^th

After a great nights sleep we were up and eating breakfast (dried fruit cereal with a side of raisins) by 7:45am. Traveling from Sweden to London we gained an hour due to the time difference.

Our first order of business was to take the tube to Trafalger’s Square to catch a bus tour of London. Unfortunately, when we got to the station we heard an announcement saying that the tube’s Piccadilly Line (which we needed to take) would not be running from Earl’s Court to Victoria (right in the middle of where we needed to go). So, we decided to walk. On the map it didn’t look like we had too far to go – but when we started realizing that not all streets were indicated on the map … we had a LONG walk ahead of us. About 45 min. of walking east later, we decided to try another tube to see if it would get us to central London. Instead of buying tickets that wouldn’t work, we went to the ticketing counter. Here we met a very nice, comical teller. He told us that what we hear and what they say are two different things (apparently, the message was saying the Piccadilly Line – which we wanted to travel on – was closed in other areas but would be open the route we wanted to take). We purchased a one day travel card and took the tube to Piccadilly Circus thinking the whole way … “Man, we could’ve saved 45 min. of walking after all!”

Piccadilly Circus is a busy five-point intersection in London with a statue of Eros in the center. Just down the street we found the Original Double-Decker Bus Tour service. It was suggested to us by several people that when we have the chance we should take a hop-on, hop-off bus service with commentary. This was a great suggestion – after the tour of most of London we knew which things we wanted to go back and spend more time visiting and which things seeing from the bus was enough. By purchasing the bus service for 24 hours, we were also entitled to a free boat cruise on the Thames River.

The bus started out in Trafalgar’s Square. Trafalgar Square is the symbolic center of London with a towering pillar of Lord Nelson’s column rising 172 feet into the sky. At the base of the column are fountains and monumental guardian lions. To the north of the square lies the National Gallery, the southwest corner of the square has Admiralty Arch. The next areas we saw were St. James’s Palace, Green Park (the tour guide said it’s called green park because originally the park was full of flower beds – but when she told the king (or maybe it was the prince) that he should give a flower to the most beautiful woman in town. When she did not receive the flower, but rather someone else, in anger she had all the flowerbeds removed from the park). We drove past Hyde Park which included a fountain statue that is called ‘Enjoy Life’ as well as Speaker’s Corner where the public is allowed to gather on Sunday’s and say anything they want as long as it does not pertain to the royal family. Just north of Hyde Park we saw the Marble Arch. Heading back south we drove past the Queen’s mews and Buckingham palace. Surrounding the perimeter is a barbwire fence as well as steel spikes. These were implemented because someone made it over the old fence and got into the Queen’s room and had tea with her! After Buckingham palace, we looped around through the neighborhood where Sean Connery, Elton John and other famous celebrities have flats or homes. We then drove past Westminster Abbey and then crossed the Thames River via the Lambeth Bridge. Once on the other side of the river, we saw the Lambeth Palace and the London Eye (British Airway’s recent addition to the London skyline. The structure is similar to a huge Ferris wheel, rotating slowly (once every 30 minutes) giving visitors a view from 443 feet high. We then went back to the west across Westminster Bridge to see the river front view of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Big Ben did not seem as tall as we assumed it would be; however, later when we were standing on the ground next to it looking up it seemed much larger. The bus tour route took us north on Whitehall Street just west of Trafalgar Square where we passed Prince Henry’s Room (closed to the public for renovation – the history of this site can be traced back to the 12^th century when it formed part of the property granted to the Knights Templar, which in 1312 passed to the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. A persistent story states that the house was built for the Council of the Duchy of Cornwall and that the room on the first floor was set apart for its use after Prince Henry became Prince of Wales in 1610, explaining the three feather motif on the façade and why the inn was called The Prince’s Arms. We also passed the Royal Opera House, Temple Bar, Royal Courts of Justice, Mansion House and St. Paul’s Cathedral when the bus broke down, so we had to switch to another bus.

Since it was just passed noon, we decided to try to find some place to eat lunch. We stopped at a family owned restaurant off of Ludgate Hill Road where we had delicious sandwiches! I ordered a roast beef with onion, pickles, and English mustard served with a salad and crisps (French fries). Jon ordered a chicken sandwich with bacon, cheese, and onion served with a salad and crisps.

Extremely full, we drug ourselves back down the street to look at St. Paul’s Cathedral. This church is considered the People’s church as it is not used in coronations like Westminster Abbey is. We glanced inside and decided to catch another bus to finish the commentary guided tour before it started to rain. After waiting for several minutes we were back on the bus and headed passed the Bank of England, the Monument (in remembrance of the Great Fire of London), and crossed the London Bridge. The London Bridge was much plainer than we could have imagined it – but the strong history makes up for it. A bridge has existed at or near the present site for nearly 2,000 years. The first bridge across the Thames in the London area was built of wood by the Romans on the present site around 50 AD. This bridge was a military pontoon bridge. The location was most likely around the area of modern Westminster where the untamed Thames was relatively low most of the time. Around 55 AD, a piled bridge was built around a Roman barracks, set up to acclimatize the troops to the colder weather. The barracks and bridge were destroyed in a revolt led by Queen Boudicca in 60 AD. The new town and bridge was built around the position of the present bridge, giving access to the islands of Southwark. The bridge fell into disrepair after the Romans left, but at some point, either it was repaired or a new timber replacement constructed. In 1014, the bridge was torn down by the Norwegian king Olaf, as a way to divide the defending forces of the Danes who held the walled City of London plus Southwark, thereby regaining London for the Anglo-Saxon king. This event might have inspired the well-known nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down” – although the version of the song known today refers to the many bridges that were destroyed and rebuilt. In 1091 the bridge was destroyed in a storm and again in 1136 by a fire. Only a few more facts about the London Bridge, I promise! In the early 1890’s the London Bridge needed to be replaced. The new bridge was designed by engineer John Rennie. Unfortunately, in 1924 it became apparent that the bridge was sinking an inch every eight years. In April 1968, Rennie’s version of the London Bridge was sold to an American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch of McCulloch Oil for $2,460,000! (Legend has it he thought he was purchasing the more impressive Tower Bridge) Robert McCulloch had the bridge reconstructed at Lake Havasu City, Arizona spanning a man-made canal that leads from Lake Havasu to Thomson Bay. The bridge that stands there today was opened in March 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II. Spanning 928 feet, the bridge is light up in red at night.

Once across we saw the Southwark Cathedral, HMS Belfast (WWII ship), and the Tower Bridge. We decided to get off at the Tower Bridge to get a closer view of it. This is the largest bridge in London and definitely the most elaborate and elegant of all. After seeing the Tower Bridge we got back on the tour bus to cross the Tower Bridge and head toward Tower Hill where the Tower of London is positioned. We walked around the Tower of London before getting back on the tour bus and heading toward the Southwark Bridge. Once across, we walked over to see the replica of the Golden Hinde. The Golden Hinge was the ship that became famous as the flagship of Sir Francis Drake during his voyage around the world. The journey took three years, with the Golden Hinde being the only ship to complete the voyage. When the ship returned to England, Elizabeth I decreed that the ship should be preserved in Britain’s first museum of ships. Sadly, however, the original ship rotted away in the 1600’s. It was really neat to see the ship.

After seeing the Golden Hinde, we walked through Soutwark over to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. This theatre was also a recreation. The first one was destroyed when a cannon went off in the middle of Hamlet and caught the thatch roof on fire. The second globe was destroyed by the Puritan, Cromwell. We took the tour which took us inside the globe. The construction of the globe was as authentic as possible, with the roof being made of thatch and the wooden beams and benches by creating notches and locking the wood together. The tour guide told us that when Shakespeare would put on plays the public would come across the London Bridge to Southwark (because no one lived there because it was too run down). After a tour of the globe we walked through the exhibition area where we saw people fighting with swords that a local man made himself.

Walking past the Thames River, we decided to take the walking Millennium Bridge north. The Millennium Bridge opened in June 2001 making it the first new bridge across the river Thames in London since the Tower Bridge opened in 1894. However, the day the bridge opened and the following couple of days the huge amount of people crossed the bridge producing a sway movement that was far greater than expected. The bridge was closed and later re-opened in February 2002. The tour guide had told us earlier that the designer said it only swayed because of the way people in London walk. However, during our stay here we noticed a lot of travelers in the area.

On the other side of the Thames River, we took the tour bus back down near Trafalger’s Square to rest our feet a bit at the Sherlock Holme’s pub. While we were relaxing here we met two older couples traveling to London from Minneapolis! They told us that we weren’t missing much back home just a lot of snow. Rested, we decided to explore Soho. In the process though, we walked through Chinatown. It was very crowded in these areas, but it was very impressive to see all the shops and smells the area produced. Soho is the entertainment area – there were a lot of bars, restaurants and theatres in this area. Somehow we made our way back to Piccadilly Circus.

We took the tube back to the hotel to eat our dinner out of the rain which had started to pour down. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the grocery store to try some cider beers with our dinner. Cider beers are very popular here – we hope back at home we can find these cider beers! For dinner we ate our beef sticks, popcorn, cheesy puffs, crackers (part cracker and cookie) and some raisins. After eating, we were quite tired and tempted to go to bed. Rather than go to bed, we rushed out of the hotel to get back on the tube to get back downtown.

We got off the tube at Piccadilly Circus and took a walk southeast to Trafalgar square where we needed to take the tube following the river to take us to see the bridges lit up at night. However, while we were on the tube it stopped several stops before we wanted to get off. The message said this would be the last stop for the night. Not wanting to have to walk all the way back to Trafalgar’s Square (at least ½ hour walk – with only walking not looking around). So, we caught the other tube heading back to where we came from to make sure we could get home okay. We had no problem getting back to the hotel and falling right to sleep! Tomorrow night we will go out to see London at night.