Day 83, 4/13/2010

Day 73, 4/3/2010

First full day in London, and it was such an awesome day. I didn't even care that I was there by myself. So I started the day with getting up and ready around 8:00 I didn't get out of the hostel till about 9. Mostly because I ate a really crappy breakfast provided by the hostel, then heading out, instead of just going. The first place I went was the St. Paul's Cathedral. I wanted to see the interior. So I got on the underground and rode it over to the St. Paul's stop. It wasn't hard because It was on the same line as Queensway. When I got there I of course looked at it and took a lot of pictures. Then when I went to go inside it turns out that it would cost me 12 pounds to go into this place. I was a little mad because this was the first church I've ever heard of that charged you to go in to see it and they didn't allow photos. I thought that was a bit ridiculous. So after seeing this place I headed to the underground again to continue on my way to The Tower of London. It turns out that the stop near the tower was offline or closed for the weekend so I had to walk down from a different stop. This was alright because I was able to walk along the river and I got some good pictures of Tower Bridge on the way to The Tower of London. When I got there I thought it was an actual tower, well I learned just by looking at it that the Tower of London was actually a fortress and palace. I walked completely around the entire fortress first to take pictures which later I didn't like... o well. After that I decided it was time to go inside. Before going to the ticket line I checked out the souvenir shop right there beside the entrance gate to the fortress. After deciding what I was going to purchase I got in line for my ticket. That took like 20 minutes to get through. The line was very long. Finally, I got my ticket and I purchased the guide book at the ticket stand. I of course started at the gate. This is now the only entrance you can enter through. I started down Water Lane, then into the palace area of the Tower. After getting through that entire wing I exited on the opposite corner from the exit. At about that time I saw the Ravens for the first time. This was actually really cool. There is a legend that says if the Raven's leave the monarchy will crumble into oblivion. I don't remember exactly where I went next but I eventually saw everything they had to offer. In roughly this order. After the palace area I went to see one of the rooms that held the older crown jewels. I never went to see the actual crown jewels because the line was soo long that I didn't want to wait. There were some very interesting rooms besides the palace that were important to the violent history of the tower. A lot of the rooms had carvings on the walls made by the prisoners. The awesome thing is that they were able to identify who made them. A lot of them were from famous people. So after I saw most of the curtain wall and whatever it had to offer I headed toward the actually White Tower. This was really neat because this was what started the fortress on this location. It was also the first palace on the location. Even though the king who built it didn't stay more than three months it was still outfitted to be a palace. This was cool also because they had armor. Armor from the kings and others as well as weapons. This was very very cool to see. Although I know nothing about the armor it was still the most interesting part of the Tower. The final thing I went to see is the Bloody Tower. This is the only tower that contained REPLICAS of the torture devices. This was interesting because from what I understood this was not the place that they would have tortured them. I got to see some replica's of these devices. There was a wrack, manacles, and another device that makes you scrunch up and it doesn't allow you to stretch out. So after that I was done with this place. I was tired and there wasn't much else for me to do. At some point during the day I ate a small lunch. Also before leaving the tower I got a few souvenirs at a shop inside the inner curtain wall. After leaving the tower I stopped by the shop outside to gather the rest of the souvenir's I planned on getting for my family, then I headed back to the train stop after looking at the outside of the tower again. This was when I decided to go to The Globe Theater. I wasn't sure if I would have time to see it any other time while I was there so I really wanted to see before I left London. I had to walk back to the stop then ride the rest of the way back to St. Paul's stop. Then I walked across the Millennium bridge to the theater. I walked around outside of it for the most part because it was too late to go on a tour of the interior and I didn't really have the time because I was going to go to church at St. Paul's. My brain conveniently forgetting that it was an Anglican church not a Catholic church. But, before I went to church I hung around the theater. Mostly to check out the souvenir shop and decided what I might want to purchase later. After only being there for a little while I decided that I would go to the exhibition and the tour in the morning. There is just no way I could miss this. After that I turned back around and headed back across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's for Mass. This was definitely an interesting experience. I was already in the church in a seat when I remembered that this wasn't a Catholic Church. I decided to stay anyway and just experience it even if I didn't participate. I didn't even sing because I didn't know the songs. The first part of the service was outside in front of the church. The Bishop spoke and then we lite our candles and went into the church to stand around the baptismal font and watch people get baptized. Then we headed back to our seats. Mine was to the right just underneath the dome. I ended up just looking at the decoration the entire time I was in mass. I also have to confess, I went to mass not just because I planned on going but because I wanted to see the inside. That was the only way to get in for free. After the LONG service during which I feel asleep, I felt bad for that, I started to head out and noticed that people were taking pictures so I went a head and got my camera out and took a few of the things that I wanted pictures of then I headed out into the night to look for a place to eat. Right there next to the church I found a burger place. This was a very good place to eat. I ended up getting a chicken burger with fries. After that I went back to my hostel and got on the computer after paying for it of course. I only talked to Sean for about an hour because he left after that. Then sleep for the night.