Lexi's Adventures: London: Day 2: Orientation, Guided Sightseeing by Bus, and Tower of London

Today was a busier day than yesterday, but all-in-all it was a nice and eventful day. I'm starting to get used to my surroundings and the way that London works. It's bustling with so many people and cars in a very tight little geographical area. It seems that they are just building up and up. It is actually quite amazing to see how much they fit into such little spaces. It also started raining today, which was interesting. I haven't braved the tube yet, but I did learn how to utilize the underground, overground, and the buses today. I think tomorrow I might actually get on the tube and I am prepared to be confused.

Today we had a quick orientation on London as well as the organization that this study abroad program is about. We were in the University of London Union, basically a student union. There's nothing too remarkable to talk about my orientation there. I learned about London as well how to utilize AIFS services. We saw an amusing video about how to utilize the tube as well as the buses. I'm not sure it helped because it does seem like a confusing system, but I also think I could grow accustomed to it fairly easily with regular use. Everyone in London seems to know how to get places without having to look it up and frankly that amazes me!

We were on our own for lunch and we didn't want to stray far from where the student union was because that was where we were going to meet everyone again to start our guided sightseeing tour of London. We found food on Tottenham Court Road, which is a fairly large street (I think) close to the student union. I opted to find food at a place called EAT. I had an Italian Meatball Soup that was pretty nice and I was glad that I didn't stick with the comforts of home. I'm not starving yet (picky eater).

I learned during my guided sightseeing tour, that began after lunch, that I need to bring a journal to keep track of things that I am seeing. The sightseeing tour was by a private couch (bus) and it was actually quite cozy. The only unfortunate thing is that I couldn't see or get pictures of much of things on the left side of the bus and at the beginning I couldn't get decent pictures of things because the rain droplets on the window made the quality not that great. Also the fast movement of the bus made it difficult to get non-blurry pictures at times. I did get quite a few pictures (125-ish) and I plan to share quite a few at the bottom of this post. I might need help identifying some of the buildings in the pictures though, unfortunately. That is why I might need to keep a journal.

We saw quite a bit of London but still just barely scratched the surface. We drove by the U.S. Embassy and the square (what I might call a park) that some call "Little America". There's statues of former and dead presidents, like Roosevelt and Reagan, and one more I can't remember. We saw Buckingham Palace (not many good photos of that because it was opposite side of me), Westminster Abbey, lots of churches like St. Paul's (which I'd love to see close up), a couple of hospitals (St. Bart's, which you're familiar with if you watch Sherlock and I was excited to see the hospital that Sherlock jumped from at the end of Season 2), the River Thames, London Bridge, Houses of Parliament, their big financial area, the "City of London" which is one of the boroughs in London, and just lots of cool old buildings. I learned a lot about how the Brits are very proud about their defeats against the French as well as the many public executions that happened back in the day. We saw some cool old dead guys houses and some courts. We drove by New Scotland Yard and I tried to take a picture, but I was on the opposite side of the bus.

Our final stop was at the Tower of London. There is a lot of history around this place. A lot of executions again (and by a lot I mean just under 200, but they sounded gruesome and a spectacle). This was a very fortified tower built by a Normandy king that was trying to take over London. It was a well built tower/castle (?) that is surrounded by two walls as well as formerly a moat that was filled by the river water which used to be sewage as well as have a polar bear in that water. It used to also house London's zoo (it was small, but it was a zoo with previously wild animals). There were many lives taken there and it acted as a prison. Those found guilty of treachery were beheaded on Tower Hill right outside of the Tower of London. We got to walk around and see various areas. The only prisoners there anymore are 8 ravens, because a previous king was told that if he kept no less than 6 ravens there at the Tower of London then the monarch would fall. They have 8 ravens, which fly around but have clipped wings and are fed quite nicely. Recently two of them died and our guide said that the Queen must have been sitting on the edge of her seat because of this superstition. Within the walls, there is a building that houses the Crown Jewels, which are ridiculously valuable with one specter having an over 500 carat diamond the end. I couldn't take photos of the Crown Jewels unfortunately, but they are very amazing and extravagant and beautiful.

We ended the tour there, which was okay because it was dark and getting really cold. Although I do wish I could have had longer at the Tower of London and had actually been able to go into the main tower. It was quite a sight to see and interesting to learn about the rich history there. London is a very old city (almost 2000 years old?) and it has a lot of history and stories to tell.

Tomorrow we are going to have a guest lecture and also go to the Police Heritage Museum.

I think I am going to find some time to go to some museums (they are free here in London) and go to the megastore filled with comics and awesome nerdy things (might do this by myself) as well as going on the London Eye (big ferris wheel) when it is open and they aren't cleaning it and get some pictures of the Houses of Parliament, London Bridge, and the London Eye after dark. Pictures below.