Big Bus Tour, Take Two

June 29
When I sat down to write this blog, I thought, the aren't that many pictures because we went places where you couldn't take pictures. I was wrong. apparently we still managed to get quite a few.
This morning, we decided to try the open top bus tour again. it was about 15 degrees cooler than the day before, which was perfect for Dane (who had tried to convince me to wear shorts, and I'm so glad I ignored him). around the city there are a few phone booths that are part of a community art project. This is the one closest to our hotel and the beginning of the tour. on it, in what look like magnetized plastic letters, is a poem about the hope for future generations.




It's a little hard to see because I was far away from it, but this is a massive statue of a horse head that is also near the bus stop.




"Who will buy my sweet red roses? Two blooms for a penny!" This is where the 'who will buy' song from Oliver was filmed! I had suspected when I saw it, and then it was confirmed for me. And then I was singing that song for the next two hours. :)








and the park across the way where the little boys push the little girls into the fountain. We were moving too fast and the trees were too think to actually see it. In fact, I'm not even sure it's there.




Getting ready for the olympics!




This is the old Scotland Yard building. Once again, though, my interest is more in how it was used for Harry Potter. :) It was actually r other side used but this is the front of the building used for the ministry of magic.




Just thought this was cool looking.




What we think of as London is actually London plus several boroughs that make up a larger community. For example, Westminster Abbey isn't actually in London proper, it's in Westminster. When you get to the border of London proper on the main streets, these dragons (the symbol of the city) stand sentry. The sun behind it makes it hard to see the coloring, but I still liked how the picture turned out.




This is St. Brides Church, designed by Christopher Wren and is said to be the inspiration for the tiered wedding cake.




And another of Wren's masterpieces, St. Paul's cathedral. It is huge and impressive in a way that this picture fails to capture.








The Shard, at the time that it was built, was the tallest building in Europe. It h since been surpassed by something (I have no idea what).




You can't really see it, but in the center of the little dark strip on the fit near the top is a person outside the windows (probably cleaning them). This was Dane's face when I pointed him out.




Dane loves Sherlock Holmes and was so excited when I pointed out that this was where he jumped out the window of Parliament.




I was FREEZING when Dane took this picture. He was loving the weather, and it was almost making me cry.




Three thousand year old Cleopatra's Needle (which has no connection whatsoever to Cleopatra) is a pair to the one in New York. See the sphinx at the bottom? It's facing the wrong way. It's supposed to be faced out, protecting the needle, but it was put down wrong and never fixed.




This is on the side of St Margaret's church, which is adjacent to Westminster Abbey. It's just down the street from Big Ben, which is probably used more often than this.








Westminster Abbey was amazing. You are not allowed to take pictures inside, but I will try to describe it for you. If you have ever been in a European cathedral, it is probably very similar. It you have not, there are not really places in the US that compare. It is quite elaborate, and filled with vaults, tombs, and monuments from the last 800 years. Several monarchs, including Queen Elizabeth I, are buried there. There is also a section called Poet's Corner. When Geoffrey Chaucer died, he was friends with some of the monks who lived at the abbey and so was buried there. Because of that. a few other authors were also buried there shortly after and it became somewhat of a tradition. Tennyson, Robert Browning, Edmund Spenser, and Charles Dickens were also buried there. If a significant author was buried elsewhere, they might still have a headstone put in the abbey, such as T.S. Eliot, William Blake, John Keats, Jane Austen, and William Wordsworth. Every hour on the hour, a minister goes to the pulpit and leads all the visitors in a minute of prayer. It's amazing to be somewhere that people have gone to worship for hundreds of years.




After the Abbey, we headed over to the British museum. On our way, we picked up sandwiches and ate lunch on this charming little park.







Many of the doors in London are wide like this because many many years ago, instead of taxis there were sedan chairs. You know, the kind that were carried by a big strong man in front and back. They would bring the chair all the way inside the door, thus requiring the extra width.


I tried dialing 62442. I was not given a name badge or welcomed to the Ministry of Magic.




This is the British museum. We didn't stay all that long because we realized we were too tired, and it would be better for us to come back later in the week. I'll post the pictures we did take after we visit again.




This is one pic we took- its from an outdoor exhibit of plants native to north america. :)



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