London, Day 2

Today was yet another exciting day. We covered a lot of ground in and outside of London, so I'll summarize what we did. First, we had breakfast at our hotel. Next, we took a subway train from our hotel to London Paddington station, on our way to Windsor Castle. From Paddington, we took a train to a London suburb known as Slough, where we would take a train to Windsor. At Slough, there were high speed trains dangerously passing through without stopping. It was such an issue that some workers had to yell to save the lives of the people who mistook the incoming trains as their own train.

Once we arrived at Windsor Castle, we used our London Pass for free admission. Windsor Castle is the residence of the queen on weekends, and is the largest castle still occupied by a monarch today. Our audio tour took us through the the castle courtyard, historical state apartments and reception halls, and the castle's chapel, the St. George's Chapel. Something very interesting at the castle was one of the royal guards, the guards who have the large wigs and guard most royal places in Britain. They are quite famous for being able to maintain a straight face without laughing, just focusing all attention at their jobs. The guard that we saw on duty however seemed to be easily distracted. We saw a group of tourists try to flirt with the guard, who ended up making him laugh. We exited the castle and walked through the "Royal Shopping" center, which was basically a mall in fancy medieval style buildings. We then took trains back to London.

In London, we first decided to visit the Tower Bridge. There is a common misconception that the London Bridge is the bridge with the two towers and the walkway above a draw bridge. That is false however, that is the Tower Bridge, while London Bridge is a bridge downstream that has no real significance. In the walkway, we had a nice of view of the Tower of London, and the City of London, containing London's most prominent skyscrapers. We then took a tour through the historic engine rooms that powered the draw bridge with steam from the 1890s to the 1970s. Since the drawbridge has moved to an electrical system, the old engine rooms were put on display. We then took a short walk to the HMS Belfast, a British battle cruiser that served in World War II. It is now sitting in the Thames River next to the Tower Bridge.

We came a little too late for the 2-hour audio tour, and didn't really learn much about the history of the ship or the details of the chambers, but by just walking through its many decks and chambers, we got a feel for what life was like on board. We then continued to walk across the southern bank of the Thames River, passing through an historic London Prison converted into a museum. We saw some of the awful torture mechanisms used in the time and posed in each one, pretending we were the unlucky victims. We continued our walk, seeing some famous attractions along the river, such as the Millennium Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, the Houses of Parliament, and the Big Ben.

We ended our walk at the iconic London Eye, the world's largest ferris wheel. We bought a ticket, and since there were some clouds, the wait time for the ride was less than 5 minutes, and we experienced one of London's most famous attractions in under an hour. The London Eye was quite interesting while giving a very good view of the entire city, especially the houses of parliament. It was not however something completely outstanding or thrilling, and more of a thirty minute visit to an observation deck. By the time we were out of the London Eye, we were exhausted by walking a fair length of the Thames and visiting many famous attractions on the way. We took a subway train from nearby Waterloo station towards our hotel. The London Underground is more of a maze than a train system, as stations are often closed, and connections at stations are confusing and lengthy. It is however still the only reasonable way to get around the city quickly, as the roads are always packed. On our walk back to the hotel, we looked for a restaurant, and noticed a local restaurant giving away an offer to get two burgers for the price of one. We ate there, and I was quite impressed with the quality of the burger. My Dad got a Thai Chicken sandwich which also was very good.

By the time we got back to our hotel, we had spent around 12 hours in and around London. Today, we covered pretty much every major attraction in central London, and thanks to the London Pass, we saved quite a few pounds/dollars on transportation and admission. Tomorrow, we will finish our tour of central London by visiting the London Bridge Experience (a haunted tour of the crypts below the famous bride), St. Paul's Cathedral, The Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. We will finish our visit to London by attending a West End (London's Broadway) musical called "We Will Rock You", featuring the music of Queen. The day after, we will be flying to Bydgoszcz, Poland, where I will spend some time with my grandparents, and not do as much sightseeing.