Tour of London

We got back on the coach for the last time until we go to the airport. Today a woman gets on the coach with us. We are having a tour of London. The tour seemed to drag on and on; it was almost 3 hours of driving around and pointing out buildings (click here for a site I found that might give a better tour). Even though I was pretty bored, I did learn a lot of interesting things about the city that I didn't know before.

Some of the history of London included the Romans settling in London in 43AD. The city was only one square mile. Many roads are still in the same places they were when the Roman soldiers marched in and out of the city. Now many villages join the one square mile to form the current metropolis of London.

We passed several landmarks of the city. There were several different colleges of London University that we passed. London University was the first university that did not base their admission on what religion a person was. Another interesting thing we saw was Paddington Station; I was excited because I loved Paddington Bear when I was little, and this is where his story came from. The part of town where Paddington Station is, was a bad part of town until the station was brought in. The station brought more people, which also brought more money. We drove by Harrods. Our guide explained that Harrods was the first department store in the city, and you could buy anything from a flea to an elephant there. I was amazed at how big it was. It took up a whole building!

We stopped and got out to look at the monument of King Alfred. Where the monument stands is where the Crystal Palace was originally built. The Crystal Palace was built to show off the things that Alfred and Victoria collected from all over the world. Millions of people went to see the palace when it was there. They made so much money that they were able to build another building across the street called the Royal Albert Hall. The Crystal Palace was moved to another location, but was later destroyed by fire. The monument of Alfred that now stands in its place has Alfred in gold in the middle. On each corner a different part of the world is represented. This monument was amazing to me with all the detail and it's enormous size.

We got back on the bus until we got to St. Paul's Cathedral. We went to take a closer look. Since we were going to be visiting the building in detail later on in the week, and half of it was covered up due to work they were doing on it, I was a little annoyed that we had to take so much time to look at it.

Tower of London

Finally, the tour was over and we headed to the Tower of London! I was surprised at how big it was (and that it wasn't just one tower, oops). We saw most of the tower, but we were there for several hours. A lot of the towers didn't have much in them, and since we didn't have a tour it was hard to know what the purpose was for most of them.

We did see the Bloody Tower, which is where several people died. It was interesting to know that England very rarely tortured their prisoners. But, when they did, the torture was severe. They had the rack and several other "normal" torture devices, but they also had a thing called the scavenger's daughter. To use the scavenger's daughter, you were curled in a ball (as if you were hugging your knees), then you were placed in a harness that wrapped around your back and your shins, then weight was added on both sides as it crushed you inward! My favorite place at the Tower of London was where they had the Crown Jewels. It was even better than I expected it to be. They had displays first, so you knew what you would be looking at later. They also showed short video clips that showed which jewel belonged to which monarch, and some of the monarchs being coronated with that jewel. The star of Africa was on display, which is the world's biggest diamond. I decided I could handle being queen just to know I get to wear those jewels every once in awhile.

Les Miserables

That night we went to see Les Miserables. When we got to the theatre and walked in I immediately noticed all the red velvet with gold trim. It was a very pretty theatre. We had to walk downstairs then back up another flight to our seats. I was happy that I didn't have any trouble seeing from my seat. The play was even better than I expected. I had heard that I would love it, but I really, really loved it. I was a little surprised that they actually sung the whole time. I think sometimes it took away from the play when it seemed forced, most people don't sing normal conversations. Other times I felt the play would not have been as effective if they hadn't been singing. It definitely brought more intensity and meaning to the slavery part at the beginning of the show. I loved the scenery, too. I thought it brought a lot of meaning. The turning stage was my favorite part. I loved how it seemed that you were watching two scenes at one time. I knew I loved the play when I found myself reacting out loud to certain parts, for example, when Fontine spat on the mayor I made a little yelp in surprised. I enjoyed the conflicts in the play, especially the social conflicts. One woman had to decide to give up her baby so her baby could have a better life, then she also had to become a prostitute to make money to send to her child. It was a great production.

We've only been in London for two days and I love it already!!