Day Eight - The London Blitz Part One

At the pub a few nights before in Oxford, all of us decided that we would rather explore London on our last free day together, rather than separate out into couples. So everyone brainstormed their "top three" must sees for our free day. Using our London Pass book as well as the Opalinski's London guidebook, Debbie put together a schedule to hit all the highlights. They called her "the planner" and Brett served as the expediter to set the pace for walking and navigate the rail and tube stops. Even the Fannins decided to stay with us for the majority of the day. We nicknamed this whirlwind tour of London, our "London Blitz."

We were at breakfast in the lobby by 7am and out the door of our hotel by 7:30am. We walked to the nearby station and caught the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) into London proper where we switched to the tube (subway) system. We arrived at St. Paul's Cathedral a few minutes before their opening time at 8:30am. So we goofed around a bit.

Ed laid on the ground to get a shot of the cathedral; Andra the nurse practioner jumped in to give him CPR!

Once inside, the London Pass worked great to cover our entrance fee and we set off with our audio tour handsets (ipods) to explore. St. Paul's inside was indeed very beautiful and opulent. Like Westminster Abbey later in the day, we were not allowed to take photographs. We spent a lot of time in the crypt below exploring some of the graves - architect Sir Christopher Wren, Florence Nightengale and many others.

After St. Paul's we got back on the tube and headed for the Tower Hill area featuring the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We got there just in time to join the free 55 minute tour given by one of the Yeoman Warders who lives there and guards the palace. Their nickname is "Beefeaters" and this is an invitation only opportunity for which one must have already served 22 years in the military to receive (they provide housing onsite for the Beefeaters and their families). Our guide Jimmy gave us 900 years of history in just 55 minutes brilliantly! We heard all about the prisoners and the executions there (private in the garden, public outside the wall up the hill).

We also toured the chapel where folks were buried after being beheaded – of the thousands buried there only 33 were identifiable and their names are on a plaque inside. One king had to have his head sewn back on and be cleaned up dressed up after death because they had not made a portrait of him yet!

Next we headed out on our own to explore the Jewel House with the Crown Jewels - crowns, maces, orbs, scepters, swords and plates. Very impressive and opulent! Finally we gathered all back together at the entrance and got some good pictures with the Tower Bridge in the background.

We all headed back for the tube and this time got off in the Westminster Area. There we finally caught up with the huge crowds we had managed to avoid all day. We saw the Houses of Parliament with the clock tower Big Ben. In the nearby square we saw the statue of Winston Churchill and also our first views of Westminster Abbey.

We took an hour to tour Westminster, which was really overwhelming because it would take probably more than one day to see everything inside. Plus there were a ton of people inside. We especially enjoyed seeing all of the people buried in Poet's Corner.

And that was just before lunch! More to come in the next post.....