Day 2- London Part One

Day 2- London

Part One

I’m typing this on Day 4 on the train ride to Bath.  I’m not sure how far I will get, hence the division into Part One.  I’m secretly laughing at Matthew, who is also blogging, but with the tiny touch screen of his iPhone, while I have my nice luxurious laptop keyboard.

We began Day 2 with a breakfast at our B&B.  Jamie warned me that they fry everything here, but I was still not prepared for the butter saturation of the fried mushrooms and tomatoes.

I love the train stations. (not to be confused with the underground stations, which may or may not be also train platforms).  They are all a lot like our Waterfront station, but way larger.  Upon exiting Waterloo station, I squee’d at the sight of the London Eye, because it was right there. This was our first time in Central London.

Matthew and I took the train into London center, where we purchased the guided tour bus tickets.  The double deck red buses were kind where you may get on and off as you please.  It was definitely a fantastic decision, as it enabled us to see all around the London City center, including places we otherwise would not have thought to access.  We got off first at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  I’m very proud of this first photograph, which shows the monument outside the building with the Cathedral behind, framing it.   

We entered the cathedral, but promptly found that the main areas were restricted to people who pay 18 pounds or so to tour.  There was a confession room available to use, where I donated 50pence to light a candle for Dad, Mom, David and Rita.  We considered returning for the chorale’s 5:00pm Evensong, but unfortunately never returned.

We continued our bus tour over London Bridge and Tour Bridge, which made me very excited indeed.  Here’s a picture of Tower Bridge, while we were going across London Bridge.  It has the logo for the paralympics suspended from it.

We then passed by the Tower of London, which I misleadingly thought would have a prominent tower, when really it is a massive fortress.  We had a tour around the inside of the fortress on Day 3, and I will most certainly discuss that in a later post.

Taking the bus past the courts and government buildings, the tour guide gestured to the red telephone booths that were very neatly spaced in front of a particular building, saying, “You rarely see anyone using these booths.  They’re mainly positioned there for tourists to take pose for pictures,”.  Sure enough, we saw many people taking pictures with those telephone booths.  Later in the day, I found another one and made Matthew take a picture of me.  It seemed like the traditional thing to do. Matthew hasn't posted it, yet, so I don't have it.

We got off in Westminster, easily the most iconic place in all of England.  The gothic architecture of the Parliament buildings is outstanding. As many of you can tell from my photodumps on Facebook, I took many pictures of Big Ben, from different distances and different angles.  I take after my dad in that respect. (“See how this mountain looks different from this altitude from the north side?  Now here it is at this altitude, a little bit further away, from the southwest.”)  I asked the nice Police Officer guarding the entry gates to the Parliament Buildings for a photo.  The conversation went as follows,

“Excuse me?  Can I take a picture with you?”
“Where are you from?”
“Canada.”
“Is that your boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Okay, come here.”

I’m not sure what that was about, but I complimented his helmet (which I incorrectly called hat) and he took it off, and pretended to kick it, gesturing that he really doesn’t like his helmet.

What certainly surprised me was that Matthew did not recognize the massive sprawling gothic architecture CONNECTED TO BIG BEN as the Parliament buildings.  This is even after he took a panoramic shot of the entire thing.  We then spent the next hour with Matthew looking for the Parliament Buildings, and I just didn’t want to say anything.  I won’t let him live this one down; it’s far too facepalm inducing. 

Westminster Abby is another fantastic cathedral that charges for admission.  I wouldn’t mind attending a service there one Sunday, to fully appreciate the magnificence of the structure and all its history.

We did a partial tour of the Parliament Buildings, which was very restricted and had a security checkpoint identical to that of an airport.  They had a sign showing all the items that are prohibited in the Parliament buildings, ranging from handguns to scissors. Given that England has very strict firearms regulations, I joked with the police officer, pointing that the sign, asking, “So, can you carry sidearms in the rest of London, or just not the Parliament Buildings?”  Matthew did not share my humor, and was afraid I’d get us arrested.

We really didn’t get to see much of the Parliament Buildings, which is unfortunate, but the regulations were very strict and considering we weren’t wearing suits, we weren’t given much freedom.  We did, however, get to view the public gallery, and watch part of a court proceedings.  No photos were allowed within the building, so there isn’t anything I can show you.  They also took our phones before entering the Gallery to prevent anything of that nature.  I really don’t understand why, but, oh well.