Between the three of us, we probably took over a thousand pictures on this trip. I'll eventually post more of these on Facebook, but the London highlights are here.
We started off with the Tower of London, an old royal palace and military fortress. It also houses the crown jewels and served as a site for prominent executions, including several wives of Henry VIII. Here, you see the exterior and a trebuchet demonstration with some festive-looking tents. The grassy area is actually a filled-in moat. As our tour guide told us, this area used to be teeming with mud, raw sewage and polar bears. Yes, polar bears. The Royal Menagerie here included exotic animals, though the unfortunate polar bears died of typhoid soon after arrival.
Our Yeoman Warder tour guide, Bill Callaghan, was a hoot to listen to. He regaled us with tales of past executions, medieval history, and jokes about the French. Luckily, for those of you not traveling to London in the near future, his tour has been posted on Youtube. Now, if only he would confirm my Facebook friend request. :(
A memorial with a glass pillow marks the spot where the scaffold and executioner's block used to be, where Anne Boleyn and others met their demises.
Tower Bridge is quite beautiful, unlike its more famous counterpart, London Bridge. I actually didn't even bother taking any pictures of the latter, since it was so underwhelming.
We made an obligatory trip to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. I am still unclear as to what guards are changing where, but the highlight was the royal marching band, pictured here in concert formation behind Buckingham Gate. They regaled us with (rather staid) renditions of Hairspray's "You Can't Stop the Beat," Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca," and Enrique Inglesias' "Bailamos."
Westminster Abbey, where Isaac Newton, many major poets and other luminaries were buried.
Here you can see Big Ben, the London Eye in the background, and part of the House of Parliament.
Camden Market, an alternative neighborhood catering to punk, goth and Lolita clienteles. Further north is a series of Camden Locke markets, a maze of stalls selling everything from spiral lightbulbs to books on how to tell if your dog is gay.
Some of the more typical pedestrians seen strolling through Camden Market; I only wish I'd brought my fishnets with me to London.
I was highly, highly amused by these purses, which are constructed from a single zipper and can be unwound and rewound freely. It was just quirky enough for me to splurge on; I think this is the first time I've ever bought a purse. I also snagged a pair of green hemp pants for merely £10. Just call me Ithaca.
All of Britain's major museums are free to enter, which wins them significant bonus points in my book. I decided we needed to see the Tate Modern, since I've never gone to a museum focusing solely on modern art, and the Brits tend to have broad ideas on what constitutes modern art. Alas, we did not see anything involving elephant dung, but here is a photo of the three of us in front of a series of animal mirror panels.
I am looking nonchalant in front of pink cows in the Warhol room.
St. Paul's Cathedral--this is pretty much the best photo I took the entire trip, if only because Matt forgot his camera on that day. Conveniently, there was a letterbox located in an adjacent park, marking the first international letterbox I have found.
The British Museum is a history museum and collection of items from Britain's colonial exploits. Here, you can see many artifacts from ancient Egypt and friezes from the exterior of the Parthenon (which the Greek government is demanding to have sent back to Athens).
The famed Rosetta Stone. I hadn't realized that there were actually not two, but three languages written on this stone: hieroglyphs, Demotic (ancient Egyptian), and classical Greek.
Elsewhere on the must-see London tour, Matt and I stopped by a game shop called Playing Games. This was the most comprehensive gaming shop I've ever seen, with all manner of board, strategy and roleplaying games. The clerks were also super knowledgeable, and took the time to introduce us to a couple specifically London games. The first was a card game called Crunch, themed around the financial crisis, and the second was called War on Terror, featuring a politically incorrect map similar to Risk. Both are produced out of Cambridge.
Here is an ominous warning to all those who might be tempted to shoplift from the store.
Matt and Megan outside the Globe Theatre; we managed to score last minute tickets for As You Like It for only £5. Unfortunately, these were also standing tickets, which meant my feet were rather unhappy by the end of the show. The show was extremely entertaining though, with burning torches, live music, and a dance spectacle at the conclusion. If only we had put this much effort into our dramatic readings in high school english class.
Standing in the pit provided an up-close view of the stage; you could almost touch the actors and in fact, many of them walked through the crowds when they entered scenes or tumbled off the stage during fights. Still, after a long day of walking, I would have much preferred the comfort of a galley seat.
The Shakespeare Globe Theatre balcony orchestra included a sousaphone, drum, trombone, crotales and marimba, among other instruments. I am not sure how historically accurate this is, but it was definitely fun to hear.
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