Tuesday, June 7, 2011 @ 11:15 PM in 2011 London
The weather today was perfect. We started off by eating breakfast and then heading to the Tower of London to take a tour and see the crown jewels. We got there expecting huge crowds but ended up relieved when we didn't have to wait in line for tickets and as soon as we got through the gates there was a tour starting. The tour was conducted by a Beefeater that showed us the highlights of the tower and gave us some history about the place. After the tour we walked through the Crown Jewels exhibit where we got to see may of the old crowns and items used in coronations and high profile events. Next, we walked around the wall along the top and got to go into several of the towers. In the center of the Tower of London was the White Tower that housed the armory originally, but now had several museum type exhibits, some hands on. We decided to get some lunch and head to the London Eye.
For lunch, we ended up eating outside the Tower of London where they had some mixte sandwiches, which tasted pretty good, but not quite as good as the ones we got in Paris. We had lunch with a perfect view of Tower Bridge. We got back on the tube and headed to the London Eye. I had purchased the tickets online earlier that morning and just had to go up to a kiosk and get our tickets printed out. We got right on and got to see a great view of the city. The ride lasts a half hour and each pod holds about 20 people. After the eye we took the tube to a station so we could walk down the Millennium bridge and then go to the Tate Modern.
The bridge was pretty cool, as you could see St. Paul's Cathedral on one side and the Tate Modern on the other. Next, we went into the Tate Modern and looked through the exhibits. Many of them were very strange, but we got to see some big named artists' paintings, like Picasso and Monet. Some of the stranger exhibits included a video of trash blowing around on the street and another of baby sea horses swimming around. We spent an hour or two in there and then decided we should grab something to eat before going to the Shakespeare Globe to see a performance of Much Ado About Nothing.
For dinner, we went to the Anchor Bar where we had a few drinks and I ordered a steak and ale pie. For drinks I had Bulmer's Original cider, which had more apple flavor than the Strongbow I had been drinking. We headed to the globe where we got our tickets. We had a few minutes before they'd seat us so we went through the gift shop where they had a ton of Shakespeare items for sale. Our seats where on the 3rd level in the first row, so we had a pretty good view of the stage. The performance was really good and kept the crowd engaged the whole time. The seats were just wooden planks but they had little pads for rent, but we opted out. It was a little cold because I was still in shorts, but luckily I had my jacket so it wasn't too bad.
When the performance ended, we walked back across the Millennium Bridge to the tube station, taking pictures along the way. We got off at the Embankment tube station and got some pictures of the London Eye and Parliament/Big Ben at night. At this time, it was already after 11:30pm so we headed back to the hotel to call it a night.
Teaser photos:
Posted from: England