A Look into my Life

That’s right! We got snow last night. I just happened to look out the window at one point last evening and to my surprise I found bits of white stuff falling from the sky. At that point I grabbed my coat and shoes and ran out the door to witness this spectacular event. Some of us got the bright idea to run down to Tower Bridge and try and get some pictures of it in the snow. By the time we got down there the snow had sadly stopped. Check the gallery for some bad, yet exciting pictures of last evening!

Before I get into anything else there have been several changes in the UK over the past week or so. The most import is the dollar to pound ratio. Its now $1.50:£1. Things are becoming affordable! Fall has also moved into the area. The temperature has fallen over the past week (ask Jamie!) and the days are becoming much shorter. The island has also left British Summer Time after last Saturday. For this week we are only 4 hours ahead of Eastern Time. With the time change the evenings end very early. This hit hard today while sitting in class. The sun had set by 4:30pm!! By the time I got back to my tube stop it was dark. Plus I had to go food shopping. What a depressing place! We have been warned that it will begin to get dark as soon as 3:30pm while we are here.

Without further distraction, back to break week! Wednesday was a London day. We went around to all the important attractions in the city. First off was Buckingham Palace. We were there EARLY and were the only tourists in the area. Made for some excellent pictures and stress free enjoyment of the royal residence. Sadly the queen wasn’t at home this morning.

Next we headed to Tower Hill for a walk across Tower Bridge and spent a few hours within Tower of London. Look back for details on the tower. Not much changed since my last entry, other than a much lamer tour guide. Pictures will be posted however!

We swung back to check out St. Paul’s Cathedral. The size still amazes me. We had lunch next to it at a Pizza Express. We then headed to Harrod’s for some shopping. This is a department store spread out into a building that could house a medium size mall. It is owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Al Fayed. On the bottom floor is a memorial dedicated to Diana and Dodi. 

After that we walked down Oxford Street and picked up a few nick knacks a long the way. Of course stopping by the Apple Store!! We then snagged some dinner and proceeded to relocate our luggage to my flat for storage and preparation for our early departure for Amsterdam. It will take me some time to type that up. Look for it tomorrow since it’s my day off!

Until then, enjoy the snow Western Pennsylvania!!

Oh my what a day! Where to start? I suppose the beginning will do. We awoke today to the gray drizzle that I have found to be the norm for Fall in London. We departed from our hotel in hopes to take in a few sights regardless of the weather. First off was checking out Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Then crossing the street to see the magnificent Westminster Abbey. Its amazing the amount of history and architecture in just those few squares.

At that point time was running a little short, we had a 12pm reservation for a flight on the Eye, so we crossed the Westminster Bridge. Taking pictures of course! And headed up to the Eye. We boarded and were whisked away. Riding this for the second time I was still amazed by the view. There simply isn’t anything like it around. Well, until I climb the Eifel Tower tomorrow!!

After we ‘landed’ we took off towards the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Then was somewhere I have wanted to go to for quite some time, Greenwich! It’s located just outside of the city. It’s a nice little section and I may revisit it again in the coming weekends. We ascended the large hill to the Royal Observatory and had a photo taken on the Prime Meridian.

After grabbing some grub at a pub we headed back to the hotel and have called it a night. We have to be up around 4am to catch a 6am EuroStar train to Paris. I’ll get pictures up of that when I can. To hold you over though, I have posted today’s pictures. Sorry there aren’t any comments for them. I’ll work on that when I get some free time.

The past two days I have been coping with what can only be described as the plague. It’s been terrible and I’ve tried my best to battle through it. Today got the best of me and a five hour nap followed my outing this morning. I did call NHS to make sure that I will survive. They said I should be fine. Thank gosh! I did nearly lose my life to a cyclist. I was crossing a small alley and he came out of no where! Then I nearly lost my head, the tube door started to shut, I’m a bit too tall. Thankfully I ducked in time. The door wasn’t going to lose though! It tried to eat my bookbag at the next stop. I prevailed though!

Regardless of how I felt this morning I had a schedule to keep. I got up, cleaned up the flat some since some of my flatmates went to Amsterdam this weekend. I then headed down to the river to watch a lift at Tower Bridge. It was quite uneventful, but neat to see regardless.

Next I headed to Buckingham Palace. This is the last few days that it will be opened. I toured through the Queen’s Gallery which was a waste and very boring. After that I caught the changing of the guards. Again rather boring. I stayed for most of it. But being sick and crammed together with a bunch of tourists was not on my list of things to do.

After that was the Royal Mews. This is where the Horses, Coaches, and Motorcars (he he!) are kept. From what my tour guide said today was a lucky day! The Bently State Limousine was parked outside in the court. It’s an odd looking thing. It was specially made for Queen Elizabeth II. There are two identical ones, Bently One and Bently Two. There are also three Rolls-Royces (all from the 40s and 50s). There is also a number of coaches that can be seen. The most noteable being the Gold coach. It weighs roughly around 9000 pounds, takes 8 horses to pull and normally travels around 2-3mph, no steep hills. As you can tell, I did enjoy this portion of the day!

Take a look at the photos. There aren’t many but still a good look. I’m heading to bed! I got to kick the plague!

I wasn’t satisfied with just walking across Tower Bridge. I had to do more. Rising out of bed early Sunday morning I headed back down to the City. There is a ‘Tower Bridge Exhibition’ in which you can go up inside the towers and walk across the walkways. Of course I wanted to do it! When I arrived I was confronted with NO line. I determined it was either to early on a Sunday morning or this was a very unpopular attraction. Afterwards I vote number 2. After scanning my book bag, a common thing around here I was whisked 4 stories into the air and released into the north tower. There was a short video on the bridge and why it was constructed. I then walked across the walkway to the south tower, taking pictures along the way. In the south tower there was another video on the construction of the bridge followed by a walk down the west walkway and back into the south tower where I descended the endless staircase back to road level. Next was a walk through the engine rooms which used to power the lifting mechanisms by steam and hydraulic pressure. This was along the south bank of the river. Check out the pictures, I like this part the best!

I had originally planned to go through the HMS Belfast(naval museum) next but I decided to go through City Hall which is adjacent to Tower Bridge since it was open house in London. Many of the buildings were open to the public this weekend. I could find a listing of open buildings so this was the only one I attended. I tried the Bank of England but sadly they were working, ON A SUNDAY! Back to City Hall…You’re whisked to the 9th floor which is called London’s Living Room. Its a large open area at the top of City Hall with a large open area the entire way around the building. I walked around there for a while taking pictures. There’s no better place than here to see the city and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Descending from the top was done by the huge spiral staircase.

Again, not a lot going on this week, just a walking tour for my one class and the London museum later today. I’ll post details for that and get class info up either tomorrow or Wednesday. Take a look at the pictures of course, they’re up!

Lets get the important business out of the way right now! It was a landmark day! I saw my first UK spec, right hand drive Explorer! I think I was more excited about that than anything else today.

So onto the towering day. I visited the Tower of London today. It was quite a remarkable sight. I entered just in time for a Yeoman Warder (also called Beef Eaters for an unknown reason) tour. The guy was very knowledgeable and very funny. He wanted to throw a pensioner through traitors gate because she kept talking! After that was a walk through the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately they do not allow photography so no pictures of that. They were however spectacular! They glistened like nothing I have ever seen before.

Next up was the White Tower. This included scenes from the Royal Armouries (note the wall displays in the album) and the armour of Henry VIII (he must of thought he was well endowed). The ravens are kept in the garden within the Tower. It was thought that the kingdom and the fortress would fall if the ravens ever left. I believe they have clipped their wings to prevent them from flying away. 

Next up was Tower Bridge. I didn’t do much more than walk across it. The size of the structure is amazing. I will definitely be revisiting it for more pictures and hopefully going through the Tower Bridge Exhibition. Whatever that is. That may be on tomorrow’s agenda.

The day didn’t start off that great. I hoped to leave early but trying to get a group of people organized and out the door proved otherwise. I then found that there were major planned engineering works on the tube system this week which provided no direct route to Tower Hill. So onto the bus system I went. For a first time I think it went well. Overshot a few bus stops but it wasn’t bad. I did ride on the top of a double decker which provided an odd sensation.

Like I mentioned, I don’t know what’s on tomorrow’s agenda but stay tuned to find out!