Sunday, June 5, 2011 @ 10:35 PM in 2011 London
Our first full day in London is over! The day's activities included a bike tour of the River Thames and a Jack the Ripper tour. The weather today was rainy and only 50-60 degrees, much colder than yesterday. I only wore a shirt and shorts on the bike tour and was pretty cold. We stared off by having breakfast in the hotel, then jumped on the tube and headed to Waterloo Station where we were supposed to meet with the bike tour group. We got to Waterloo a little early and walked around the train station.
The bike tour was only me, Eric and another guy named Kevin who also ended up being from Greenwood, Indiana. The bike tour took us down the River Thames and we got to see the London Eye, Millennium bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe, London Bridge, Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, a River Thames boat cruise and headed back west on the river. Then we got off and saw Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square (where there was a huge Sikh gathering) and rode by Parliament and Big Ben. For lunch the bike tour stopped at a pub called the River Thamesside Inn where we had a beer and some fish n chips. We also got to ride our bikes across the Tower Bridge when we were heading to the river cruise. We also learned about how Shakespeare created over 600 new words in Hamlet alone.
After the bike tour we headed back to the hotel. Along the way we found a grocery store next to the Gloucester Road station (right by our hotel). I bought some apples and Eric bought some juice. We had about an hour and a half to kill before dinner time at the hotel so I changed into some warmer clothes and Eric took a nap. We then headed down to Covent Garden for dinner and ended up eating at an American style restaurant to get a break from fish n chips. After that, we wandered around until we finally found the Strand Palace hotel where we met up with the Jack the Ripper tour. It took us a while to get there because our phones couldn't accurately pinpoint where we were so we kept missing streets we were supposed to turn on to get there.
The Jack the Ripper tour was interesting. It was still raining and cold while this took place. We started off getting a little tour of the actual city of London and some history surrounding it. We also saw a few notable places, such as areas where Sweeny Todd lived and some old Roman gates to the true city of London. After that, we got off the bus and started the walking tour. We got to see the spots where Jack the Ripper murdered each of his victims and also stopped for a break in a big market area. We got back on the bus and were dropped off near Trafalgar Square and had a pint of beer at the Sherlock Holmes pub. We met a guy on the tour from Kansas City who was traveling to London by himself and had a beer with him as well (he had an orange juice).
After the tour we were going to try to get some pictures of Parliament at night, but the rain was coming down harder so we just jumped on the tube and headed back to the hotel. Weather aside, it was a good day and we got to see a lot of the city and learn quite a few facts. We also learned that they call a pickle a gherkin here.
Teaser photos:
Posted from: England