Anyways, my day started like this, I woke to the sounds of a camera flashing and an extremely bright light going off in the room. Turns out my mom likes to take pictures of people while they sleep. You see, Hannah and I are currently sharing a bed that is smaller than a twin bed and I like to use as much space as possible so my mom woke up in the morning to find me in the middle of the bed and Hannah just barely hanging on. After my mom decided she had enough pictures she woke everyone else up and told us to get ready because we had a long day ahead of us.
As usual, it took us about two hours to get ready due to the 15 min between showers we have to wait for hot water. Once we finally all dressed warm for the weather, we headed out. Our first stop was Westminster Abbey and we took the tube (London Subway) to get there. Once inside the Abbey we were immediately amazed by the beautiful stained glass windows and the architecture that was done back in 1245. Unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed. We did an audio tour of the Abbey and learned some very cool things. (Craig here. Supercool cool. Coincidentally enough, I just happened to be reading Column of Fire by Ken Follet and this book covers the Monarchy during the 1500's and fit in perfectly with this tour). After about 2 hours in the Abby we decided to go get a typical English meal.... McDonalds!
Once we were full enough to continue on our journey, we set off to our next stop, The Tower of London. We took the tube again and got off at the nearest station and walked to the tower. It was hard to miss considering it was a large wall surrounding four towers next to the London Bridge. And yet we still managed to miss the entrance and walk in an entire circle before seeing it. We did another audio tour in the tower and learned that it was a castle that was designed to protect King Charles I and some other Kings. When we saw about half the castle mom and Hannah said that the next thing they wanted to do was see were the crown jewels so, we walked down the where we thought the line started. Turns out the line was waaaayyyyy longer than we thought. It was actually probably fives times longer than we originally thought. Every time we thought is was the end of the line, it wasn't. But, because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we waited for about an hour. It went by fast because we had lots of training from the day before (see earlier post for more info). When we got inside there was another long line to see the jewels, but luckily you got to go on a moving sidewalk so everybody got a chance to see them. The highlight of the tour wasn't the amazing crowns and endless jewels but when Dad wasn't looking where he was going and walked right into a wall. While I didn't see it, I could hear Hannah laughing out loud from across the room. :) . (Craig here. Yes, I ran into the wall but in fairness, it was really dark. At the end of the tour, Emily and Mary Pat skipped out on the best part of the tour, Prison, Executions and Torture. Kings in medieval times sure liked to behead people.)
When we were done at the tower we headed on over to Buckingham Palace to see it in the dark.
It was almost 8:00 by the time we got back and everyone was exhausted. Dad thought he would stop and get a pizza. He couldn't figure out why it was so cheap.... until we saw it. Triple that order please! (Craig here. MP and I were looking for some real good pub grub. I meticulously searched the internet for a good pub in the area and found a winner. Google mapped it and out we went. Saw the sign and went in. Restaurant was packed which fit my reading on Google. Got the menu only to find out we were in the wrong restaurant. Somehow we ended up in La Divina. What a great mistake! Awesome Italian restaurant with some of the best pasta we have had in a while.)
Ok, I am exhausted and heading to bed. Not sure what tomorrow brings. Here is a link to all the pictures from today.
Another great day. I'm sure her majesty was very disappointed not seeing you Emily. Her loss.
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