Monday about London

Started slow this morning - all were up about 4am feeling chipper, but decided to try to get more sleep since we'd been awake so long and I had really gone to bed about 3 hours prior. So we rolled out on the town about 12ish.

We walked down to the Notting Hill Station and took the tube to Buckingham Palace, stared at some guards (saw some of them move - gasp), and looked at the monument to Queen Victoria in front of the palace (the first monarch to live there, and the longest reigning royal in Britain).

A few blocks away is Westminster Abbey - on our way there we grabbed lunch at a pub. Patti had a cheese and sweet pickle sandwich - but the "pickle" was this brown stuff that looked like apple butter. It tasted good - but very hard to describe... Amy had the prawn and salmon sandwich - like a tuna fish sandwich except with prawn and salmon, very nice. And I wanted to try a meat pie - I had a beef meat pie with "mash". I love a country where the question is not will you have a potato, its "would you like your potato cut up and fried, OR mashed up with yummy gravy?"

We got the Abbey and the first thing we saw was the side of the church dedicated to "20th century martyrs" which includes Dr. Martin Luthor King. Across from the church is a tent city of protesters with says saying that "capitalism is dead" and "be the change you want to see in the world" - there is also a statue of Nelson Mandela in that square. I bought a tiny book on British royals in the Abbey shop and Amy bought a notepad with "Chopin Lizst" (shoppin list) on it. We didn't go in the Abbey - but we did go into the chapel next to it, where members of Parliament still attend together for communion, and Winston Churchill was married. It was built for the commoners/citizens so the Abbey could be used for the Monks.

Across the way is the Parliament building, most famously known for Big Ben. Big Ben is big enough that it can be seen from many parts of London. You just turn a corner and are suprised by Mr. Ben frequently. The building was formerly called Westminster Palace and was the residence of Henry XIII. We walked down it, to the Victoria Palace Gardens and sat on benches overlooking the Thames.

We walked back the way we came, over the Westminster Bridge and bought tickets for the London Eye. The "Eye" is like a HUGE ferris wheel - but its an observation deck of sorts - It creeps very slowly around, never stopping - and it's nice because the compartments are like small rooms and they only put about 10 people per car. There is a seating area in the center, but you can also stand and look about in all directions. Its right on the Thames, across from Big Ben. Before you get on there is a "4D" experience where you flight over London in 3D, with a white bird flapping beside you and in your face. The 4th D comes from the water they spit on you when you fly by something wet. At one point a dragon (the chinese variety) spits toward us, and we get dragon spittle all over us. Hmmm. I could do without the 4th D. We had one of those cheesy posed pics taken.. And we actually liked it, so we got it.

We walked back across the bridge and caught the tube to Tower Hill - this is where Tower Bridge is located, right across from the Tower of London. The "tower" is actually 4 towers built by William the Conqueror in 1066 - its also the prison where Lady Jane Grey, Bloody Mary, and two of Henry VIII's wives were imprisoned and executed. Even Elizabeth I was held there for some time during the whole "who's really legit?" Tug of war... It now houses the crown jewels.

We had more fish and chips at a place near the Tower just before our Jack the Ripper walking tour - and then we stopped off at the "toilet" - where you have to pay 50pence at a turnstyle before you can enter. Reminded me of Urinetown.

The tour started at 7:30pm (about 12:30 your time) - and lasted 2 hours. We encountered the English rain through the whole tour, but we all had umbrellas (Amy and I had just bought them yesterday when it rained - we were glad to have them). We went to all the places they found bodies and where "Jack" picked up his victims. The tour was lead by the author of several books on the topic, and was even the guy that led Johnny Depp around to the sites when we was preparing to do his Ripper movie. It was overcast all day, but Patti says her feet are tan - so once again I turn to the Beatles..."If the sun don't come you'll get a tan from standing in the English rain... I am the egg man, I am the egg man, goo goo kachoob."

By the end of the tour we were fading fast... Feet were hurting... So we grabbed a tube back home instead of going to a pub for a pint. Maybe tmw night?

Tomorrow is our last full day in London - perhaps a few Harry Potter sites, the Sherlock Holmes museum, Abbey Road, and a 100 year old bookstore. Playing it by ear... Night all! I have added some pics to this (via email) - but I may add more on the web. And if you want to see more, I'm adding all of them to my facebook page.
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