London Day 3

Today was the most exhausting and exciting day of the entire trip so far (seeing as it's only been three days). We've done so much that I'm going to have trouble remembering everything we did. First, we had breakfast at our hotel, which was so filling, that our next "meal" was dinner. Anyways, we took a tube train down to the London Bridge, where we would walk along the river to the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre. The Globe Theatre was where all of Shakespeare's plays were originally produced, but it rotted away after Shakespeare's death. In recent years, there were efforts to rebuild it, in the original style: Wooden walls reinforced with oak branches and wood bolts, topped with a thatch roof. It is actually the only building in London that is allowed to have a thatched roof, as they were banned in 1666, after the great fire that destroyed most of the city. This new theatre opened in 1997, and Shakespearian plays run all year in the evening, and tours such as the one we went on run all year in the morning.

After touring the theatre, we crossed the Millenium Bridge, a footbridge built in 2000 to celebrate the new millenium. At the other side of the bridge was the St. Paul's Cathedral. We wanted to go inside to climb to the top where we would have a panoramic view of London, similar to the London Eye. We were shocked by the admission just to enter the church. It was 12.50 Pounds! That's almost $20 to see a church and climb to the top. Luckily, our London Pass covered our admission. After the exhausting climb up 528 steps, most tightly packed and in spirals, we were rewarded with a panoramic view of London, where we could see almost every famous landmark in the city.

After leaving the church, we took a double-decker bus to the London Bridge (not the Tower Bridge). The London Bridge area has quite a few "haunted" attractions, as the area during the medieval times was quite violent. Luckily, one of these attractions, the London Bridge Experience, was covered with our London Pass. It was however, not the most exciting part of our trip as they advertised. The first three-quarters of the tour consisted of a walk through a replica of the arches of London Bridge, with informational performances by some actors. These actors had some pretty lame jokes, many awkward pauses, and the audience was rather... unmoved. The last part of the tour was a walk through the scare attraction, the London Tombs, where we walked through this path with scares such as (fake) dead bodies in the dark, guys covered in blood makeup popping out at you, claustrophobic encounters in the dark, and insane men bringing running chainsaws inches from our necks. I guess it was worth the time if you have a London Pass, but not worth the $30/person they charge at the door.

After the 1.5 hour "experience" we started walking to the Tower Hill pier where we would take a guided boat cruise down the Thames, it started to lightly drizzle, but we didn't really worry about it. Part of our walk to the pier included walking across the famed Tower Bridge. Right as we were in the middle of the bridge, we heard sirens, and many confused tourists, and crowds of people flocking to the ends of the bridge. It turns out that they would be raising the bridge to let a boat pass. What a perfect time for this to happen, right while we were walking by. We were actually the last 2 people to be let across before they closed the gate. We watched as the bascules were raised in under 90 seconds, allowing the large pirate-style sailboat to enter.

Once we arrived at the pier, we purchased a ticket for a cruise to Westminster where the House of Parliament and the London Eye are located. The tour guide was very interesting, and made fun of the many buildings and bridges we passed, making great jokes while giving us the information we wanted to know. One problem we did have though is that a pouring rain started while we were on the boat, but it was fine, since there was a covered area too. As we docked into Westminster Pier, the weather miraculously cleared up in a matter of seconds, and the deep gray skies turned into blue. We tipped the tour guide and then walked towards 10 Downing St, where the Prime Minister lives. On our way, we saw a War Museum featuring the Cabinet War Rooms, we decided to go in, and we found out (surprise) that our London Passes gave us free admission. We went through these very interesting rooms, left the way they were at the end of World War II. The Cabinet War Rooms were essentially where the Prime Ministers and the Commanders of World War II in the British Army lived and planned their offenses. It was built under a 15 foot thick slab of steel-reinforced concrete, built to withstand a direct impact of a 250 kilogram bomb. It was actually never bombed, but provided shelter for the constantly bombed city of London in World War II. An interesting room was the map room, where there were world maps on the walls with pins representing attacks and battles of the war, that were placed by the commanders themselves, and left untouched for over 70 years.

We exited the museum, and then made a circle, where we found ourselves near Westminster Abbey. We decided that we should go inside, but when we found out that the famed place of worship cost 15 pounds ($22) per person to enter, we just walked away. Since we had to get to a theatre to watch the musical we bought tickets for, we started to walk towards it. On our way, we passed 10 Downing St, the home of the Prime Minister, and through the theatre district of London. Once we arrived at our theatre, we still had about an hour before the show, so we settled down at a neighboring restaurant. There, I had the best, juiciest, and scrumptious bacon cheeseburger I've ever had (at the hefty price of $15 of course). By the time we were done eating, we walked next door into the theatre.

The show "We Will Rock You" was the first "real" musical I've been to, and it sure was one I won't forget. The cast played many of Queen's greatest hits, with accompanying dances and light shows, and even played an encore of Bohemian Rhapsody. It was very, very impressive, worth every penny we spent on the tickets. By the time the performance was over, it was 10:30, so we took a tube train back to our hotel, via a metro station located conveniently outside of the theatre.

This visit to London is sure one I won't forget and I'm going to leave on a few remarks. First, the weather in London is COMPLETELY unpredictable. If the weatherman says it'll be sunny, expect either heavy rain, a cloudy sky, or a beautiful day, as even the forecast only a few hours before the actual weather occurred was completely off. I think the weathermen would be better off finding more useful jobs. Second of all, something scary has been happening to me. After spending only 3 days in London, my mind already thinks in English with a British accent, and cars driving on the wrong side of the road seems completely normal. Hopefully three days in America will do the opposite. But, that won't be for another two weeks, as tomorrow, we'll be flying to Poland, and in the days that follow, we'll visit Germany and France as well. Bye, and I'll be probably writing again in a few days, once something interesting in Poland happens.