London: Day 12: Last full day in London, Marine Policing Unit

Today is a bittersweet day for me.  This is my last full day in London.  I depart from my housing tomorrow at 9 am and then head directly to the airport. No more London.  I really loved London.  More than I had excited to enjoy a city. I knew I'd enjoy the experiences, but this city is just so spectacular. I wish I could plop it and all of its history right into Colorado.  But, alas, that is not really possible.  So I must promise to come back to London again, but I am not sure when that will be.  Obviously this was not a cheap trip, but it was truly worth every penny.

London: Day Eleven: Supreme Court and Old Bailey Live Trial (no pictures today)

Today, I wasn't able to take any photos because I thought I couldn't care my camera at all with me today.  I would have been okay to carry it to the Supreme Court, but that's okay.  Today will be a text post only, no supplemental photos, which I think sometimes are the funnest parts of these posts.

We saw the Supreme Court today, which is surprisingly new compared to other Supreme Courts.  Then we went to see a live trial at the Old Bailey, which is basically their lower level criminal courts.

London: Day 10: Highgate Cemetery, Sherlock Holmes Museum

Today was not a super packed day, but I did stuff for a majority of the time.  Also, it was one of the most exciting days for me.  This is because I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes museum so immensely.  I just barely realized that it existed today and immediately had to go see it.  Especially because it was one tube stop away from me and a short walk up the block from the Baker St tube station.  We also visited a cemetery, which is supposedly one of the more haunted places in London.  It is also where Karl Marx was laid to rest (twice).  More on that later.

London: Day 9: Inns of Court, Royal Courts of Justice, Lincoln's Inn, Policing Differences lecture

Today was a day with a lot of walking and it was interesting to learn something new about their justice system, that is certain.  We made a walk around the Inns of Court, something I never knew even existed.  Then we walked through the Royal Courts of Justice, where unfortunately photography is prohibited. It was very nice inside there though.

London: Day 8: Policing Lecture, Clink Prison Museum, Platform 9 3/4

Today was another interesting day.  I still have not gotten my sleep under control.  I slept about 2.5 hours last night, but tonight looks like a promising night of sleep.

Today, we had an early morning lecture on policing.  I could go into so much detail from the creation of constables, to the Bow Street Runners, to the river police, and then the advent of the Metropolitan Police force.  Law enforcement has a lengthy history here in London.  Their crimes rates are interesting to look at.  They have very few murders each year in London, I believe she said under 100? About half of them are related to domestic violence, a significant number are from teenagers with knives.  When asked why the rates were so low, the answer was that they do not have easy access to firearms.  This method works well for England.  I'm not sure that it would be so successful in the US.  I was also intrigued that the smaller forces outside of London and their departments are called Constabularies.  Not sure why this is so intriguing, but it is.  Probably because in the US, they are all just called Police Departments.

During lunch, I went to the bookstore and gave in and bought two Sherlock Holmes book. It was worth it. And, hey, one of them is from the Museum of London, so it wasn't a complete waste to buy a book out here.

We took a trip down to the Clink Prison Museum where an old prison used to stand.  Apparently this was a very notorious prison and completely ruthless.  From what I saw on the inside, environments were awful and subpar, and everyone was essentially tortured.  It was morbid to a certain degree.  I'm glad to see that prisons have had some sort of reform and are a bit less inhumane.  Especially because people were being tossed into the Clink for even petty crimes, like having a late payment on a debt (we're all guilty of that, aren't we?) or being falsely accused of crimes or stealing a small loaf of bread to feed your family.  People starved in this prison, died of diseases...  Something interesting I learned in the lecture.  An arsonist who risked many lives got a severe punishment, by English standards.  That being that he received 11 years in prison and he'll likely serve half.  In the US, he likely would have received close to life in prison.  And when individuals are sent to prison, they receive a lot of education and rehabilitation. This is quite a difference from our retributivist society in the US where little focus is placed on education, rehabilitation, and recidivism.

I then got on the train and we stopped by King's Cross St. Pancras station and found platform 9 3/4.  I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but the experience was cool to have and why not, right? I'm out here, I might as well go do that. I bought my picture (just cost me 7.50 pounds) and a couple of souvenirs.

That was the end of my day, but it was still a fun day.  Tomorrow we are going to tour the Inns of Court and have a lecture.  Soon I think I will take a trip to Earl's Court Station and try to find the Tardis.

London: Day 7: Free Day, Sherlock Holmes Pub, Giant Comic Book Store, and the 221B Door

Today was not a jampacked day, but it was a day that I chose things to do and they were things that I enjoyed.  I only have a few free afternoons for the rest of my trip and I'll likely go do a few more things on my own then.

Today, I chose to mostly do things by myself, because I figured other people might not enjoy as much as me.  The one thing I did go do with one of my flatmates was go get lunch at the Sherlock Holmes pub.  I had mapped out my entire day and this trip required I go one stop up on the circle line, get off at Baker St, and then take the Bakerloo line done to Charing Cross station.  Then it was a short walk ot the pub.  It was pretty delicious, and one of the first true London meals I've had since coming out here.  The pub was so quaint and quiet.  I loved the atmosphere in there.  It's early on a Sunday, so not terribly busy.  Not to mention, I just love Sherlock Holmes, so this was a must see for me.

The downstairs of the pub had some pictures and stuff up on the walls that were old Sherlock Holmes relics and old first editions prints and such.  It was really awesome to see.  Their upstairs has a restaurant (not really open yet) and it had a recreation of the 221B Study.  That's what I really wanted to see. And it was spectacular, honestly.  I enjoy my food, I enjoyed the atmosphere, and I had good conversation.

We walked back to Trafalgar Square together and then parted ways.  I got on the Northern line up to Leicester Square and ended up getting a tiny bit lost, but nothing irredeemable, and then went to Forbidden Planet, which is essentially a megastore of everything awesome.  Lots of comic book stuff, tv shows, movies, comics, soooo many books.  It was just awesome.  I decided to not buy much, because a lot of what I found was stuff I could easily get back at home. But it was something that I did really want to see.  I ended up buying a holder for my Oyster card (the pass that pays for me to get on the tube and buses) which has the Gotham City Police Department badge on it. It was too good to pass up, even if I only get to use my Oyster card for about five more days now.  I also bought an Arkham Asylum passport holder.  That I will get more use out of and it was just awesome.

After that, I made my way back to the Leicester Square station, got on the Piccadilly line to King's Cross. I should have stopped there and taken a photo of platform 9 3/4 for my Harry Potter fans.  But I can easily go do that a different day.  The stop is just two stops away from the station by my flat.  Then I got on the Hammersmith and City line to Euston Square and stopped there.  I made my way to North Gower Street where I saw the street and door that they film the facade of 221B Baker St on the Sherlock show.  Of course, the address there is actually 178 N Gower St and not 221B Baker St. It was nice to see, but no pictures. Might go back a different day to get a picture, but perhaps not.  I think another day I'll go down to Earl's Court station (I believe) and get a photo of the blue police box for my Dr. Who fan friends.  Only a little bit more free time before I leave.  But I do feel considerably more comfortable getting around the city by myself now. It was easy and when I did get lost, my map did a decent job of getting back to where I needed to go.

London: Day 6: Palace of Westminster

This will be a short one for the day as my day was much shorter and I spent the remainder of my day planning out what I would be doing tomorrow, which will be a busy day out and about on my own.

Today the only place we toured was the Houses of Parliament, which are housed in the Palace of Westminster.  This is something new I learned because I really thought that the building was called the Houses of Parliament. It's not.  The building is massive though.  Big Ben is a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but it was still really cool to see.  We took the bus to get down there today.  We passed by Trafalgar Square, which is a lovely place to look at.  You can see a picture of that below. 

The area around the Palace is quite bustling, as you could anticipate.  A lot of people were stopped on the sidewalks taking photos. I can't blame them, I was one of those people. The building is amazing. I loved the architecture.  Also around there was Westminster Abbey, which I got to see the outside of.  I think I will be ceaselessly amazed by the architecture in this gorgeous city.  Mostly everything is so old and I appreciate that.

Entering the Palace of Westminster, we came upon Westminster Hall, which is the oldest part of the building and survived the bombings in WWII, due to Winston Churchill's decision making.  I believe that part of the building dates back to the 11th or 12th century.  It saw the trial of King Charles I where he was tried for treachery (against his own monarchy...) and then executed elsewhere.

We took a walk through the entire Palace.  We started over where the Queen walks in on the opening day of the session of Parliament, glanced at her robing room (where they definitely wanted us to know that she puts on her own "best hat", which is her crown), and then made our way to the House of Lords.  This is where the Queen makes her opening speech.  This is a very extravagant room and very impressive. Her throne is guilded in gold. I should also point out that you can't sit in most places.  Red is the color of the House of Lords, because it used to be the most expensive color.  There's a room where they debate and discuss laws.  There are a lot of Lords, I learned, I think he said over 700?

Next to we saw the House of Commons.  This area was bombed during WWII and thus the architecture looks much more different as it was rebuilt in the 1940's.  The color of the House of Commons is green, because it was not as expensive.  This area is still immaculate.  Debates are apparently very heated and the rooms are jammed packed because there's never enough seats for all of the officials. I also learned the public can sit in on these.  There's bullet proof glass where that gallery is though because I guess someone dumped a bunch of powder down onto everyone previously.  Still very fancy looking.  I also learned of the area where Guy Fawkes set up gunpowder to try to blow up Parliament before he was caught.  Apparently they still go look down there now to this day.  They also celebrate on the 5th of November and light off fireworks that are filled with gunpowder. So our guide said.

That was mostly it for the Palace of Westminster.  It was interesting to learn about how bills become laws, somewhat similar to ours.  They debate, they make changes, they have three reading of bills, and then it is signed with the Queen's name (but not actually signed by her).  They apparently discussed the succession of the Colonies (in layman's terms, when the U.S wanted to be independent) in those very houses as well.  Very cool to see.  Not to mention, the wallpaper looks like velvet and the paintings are old and impressive.