Bath: Day 15

Yes, I finally posted up pictures of London! The top one is what it looks like. My friends Sam, Becca, Amanda, and I went to The Sherlock Holmes pub which was super cool. It was decorated with everything and anything related to Sherlock Holmes. Even the dishes were named after stores or characters. They also had a model room of Sherlock's room. SO COOL. Not to mention the best burger ever and some nice pinot griggio. The second photo is the London Bridge. Third: View of the city from the London Eye, Fourth: The London Eye, Fifth: Us in front of Big Ben and Parliament, Sixth: In front of the Buckingham Palace fountain, Seventh: Statue in front of the palace, Eigth: Us in front of the gates to the palace, Lastly: The change of guard- sooo cool to see this! We watched the whole thing and nudged our way up to the front after awhile so this was one of the better photos I could get. I did manage to record some of it too!

We went alllll over London today- I can't even begin to recall all of what we saw today. We started off the day at Patisserie Valerie, a really awesome French bakery for an apple tart. YUM! We then caught the Original London Tour, a double-decker bus tour that allowed us to hop on and off it whenever we liked. So nice- especially because our bus passes for that (including the river tour) are good for up to 24 hours. We saw Parliament, Big Ben, the Tower of London (ran out of time for the inside tour- we will go tomorrow to see the Crown Jewels), London Bridge, went on the Eye, saw Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey, a zillion other monuments and cathedrals, Nelson's monument, etc. Trafalgar Square, went all about Piccidilly Circus, saw where Mozart first composed his symphony at age 8, the street where J.K. Rowling lives, where Prince Charles lives, where all the beheadings took place (where King Charles I was hanged).

The list goes on and on, believe me. I can't even comprehend it anymore. We covered so much ground. We literally went from one end of London to the other and into Westminster as well. It was all amazing and the architecture is so cool. History everywhere you look- really makes you realize how young a country we really are.

Oh, we also went to this cute little Italian bistro for lunch. It was nomnomnom for sure. I have realized why "English" food is so good. It ISNT English food! They just borrow all sorts of types of food from everywhere else and make it well. The true English food isn't actually to my liking- no pudding, bangers and mash, fish and chips, etc. for Giana. BLUCK. I have tried some of it and it just does not agree with me. I'll be perfectly happy with my fake English food, thanks.

Unfortunately, the weather was kind of typically English today. Freezing, windy, downporing rain and sun in spurts. Lovely for tours, right? Well hey, we still had an amazing time. OH! And before we got on the London Eye (Mom, you would have freaked out with how high we were) we had to do this 4 minute amp-up movie thingermabobber. It was a 4D experience, which I had no idea what that was before doing it. You have to wear these 3D glasses and it's like a typical 3D thing, but the added bonus is the attention to sensation. It was a short clip showing London from the sky- really neat. They actually had bubbles they blew, and misted water on you, and fake snowflakes, etc. going on in sync with what was happening with the movie. It was super cool.

I just can't believe how much we fit into one day! Tomorrow we are going to see the Crown Jewels, Shakespear's Globe Theater, and do a little shopping on Oxford Street and head back home to Bath. We already purchased our train tickets so that's a comfort. London has been a worthwhile adventure that I will remember!