Day 2: Westminster and the Tower of London

Our hotel is set right in the city of Westminster, across from the official "town" of London (over the Thames.) Because of that, we decided that the first stop should be Westminster Abbey, which is a moderate walk away.


Westminster Abbey from inside the Cloisters

Oddly this is the best exterior shot I have. Somehow the rest of the pictures from the front didn't make it.

Westminster Abbey is probably the most important church in England, and one of the oldest, with a place of worship having existed on that spot for nearly a thousand years. This is also where the Kings and Queens of England are Coronated.

Sadly, you're not allowed to take pictures on the inside, which is weird since I thought I had taken them the last time I was there. But the interior is incredible, with incredible, varied architecture (the interiors often changed with Kings) and the graves of some of England's most influential figures, including many Kings.


The Cloisters, where much daily monk living took place

It took us about half the day to get through it all. Quite the site.

For the second half of the day, we sat through the last half of our Bus tour. It was still cloudy and cold, so by the time we got to the Tower of London we were freezing and hungry. But thankfully, we found a friend:



Wagamama is a Japanese Ramen house, and had easily the best food we've eaten so far, with the freshest ingredients and much-needed hot soup.


Megan has finally mastered chopsticks!


Spicy ramen with chicken.

After refueling, we headed into the Tower of London, famous for it's various functions throughout its history, but probalby the most imfamous as being a place of execution. This was kind of difficult for us to do thoroughly as it began to rain heavily while we were there. We managed to get through some of the perimeter, then saw the Crown Jewels (pictures weren't allowed there either) and then headed back.



The White Tower


Megan next to a Yeoman Warder (also known as a Beefeater). They guard the Crown Jewels and give tours, and they live in the Tower. We eventually had to give up the tour because of the rain and the ever increasing crowd that followed him around.


The building where the Crown Jewels are held. You can see the long line (or in British: "queue").

To end our day, we attempted to go on Ghost Walk. This Ghost Walk was free and part of our bus tour, but we never found the tour. We asked a policeman if he knew where they were, and said he hadn't seen any tours waiting in front of the National Gallery (and Trafalgar Square). He asked us if we had a contact number, to which I replied I didn't have a phone.

So, we decided instead to eat a a pub.


The spots are raindrops reflecting the flash, and not, in fact, ghosts.


Megan's Irish Beef Casserole

My steak and chips.

We have to partially forgive the British for their food, because this meal was good. Apparently one should just order what they know how to do, which is grill steak and make casseroles. Very satisfying.

The beer pictured is "London's Pride" which I ordered when I saw its name on the lever thingy. It was good. Well, I thought it was good. Megan had a sip, and her response was:

"It taste like it smells, which is gross."

And so we come to the end of Day 2.

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Apologies for the delay in the blogs. It takes a long time to upload the hundreds of pictures we take a day, sometimes up to two hours. I've also uploaded a few videos you'll see. By the time those pictures and videos are uploaded, I've usually fallen asleep on accident.

I'm going to try and get the rest of of them up later today, as all of the pictures are prepped. It's also a lighter day as we take the train to Edinburgh.