London, England

Day 1

We left on Thursday night the 8th of September and arrived in London on Friday morning. Right when we landed we took the train into the city and immediately started walking around to all the sites.  It wasn't too hard this trip to find our way around because we actually could talk to people and ask for help, which is unlike other places where we can't spake their language.  We started at St. Paul's Cathedral, then found a grocery store to get some food to eat lunch. 

After lunch we made our way over to the Museum of London. It was a great museum to visit on the first day because it was not overwhelming and also provided a good historical background.  Then we walked toward the Tower Bridge while taking stopping along the way to see Monument Tower and the Tower of London.  The Tower Bridge was really interesting and we decided to linger around until the draw bridge pulled up.

After we walked across the Tower Bridge we made our way over to the Tate, which is a modern art museum that we both really enjoyed. It was late when we finished touring the museum, so we called it a day and went straight to our hotel.

Day 2  

We started our busy day with the Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the keys. This ceremony is a big tourist attraction and there were thousands of people in attendance.  It was really fun to watch the guards in their formations and listen to the band play as they marched to the palace palace together.

Next, we made our way over to the National Gallery and spent the majority of our afternoon walking its halls and corridors.  As evening was approaching we realized we needed to leave soon if we wanted to visit the British Museum, so quickly finished up and walked over to the British Museum.  We didn't realize how big the this museum was going to be and soon recognized we wouldn't be able to complete the museum tour in the time we had remaining in our day.  For this reason, we made the decision to split it up into two days.

After we were kicked out of the British Museum at its closing we stuck to our plans and wandered in the dark until we found House of Parliament and West Minister Abbey. We were able to get some great pictures, and it was really fun to walk around at night. After snapping a few shots we went back to our hotel to get some rest for another big day tomorrow.

Day 3

We started our next day at Hyde Park to simply walk around and witness Speaker's Corner. This park was large, open, and beautiful. We found Speaker's Corner later in the morning and was somewhat disappointed to only find three or four people speaking. We had hoped to see missionaries standing on their soapboxes, but only a few crazy people were preaching.  Despite the inactivity in the Speaker's Corner we still felt privileged to be in a location where so many great men have preached. From the park we headed over to the British Museum to finish off what we missed yesterday.

 

After the British Museum we took the tube over to the Imperial War Museum.  It is a museum that documents the numerous ways the United Kingdom has participated in, especially World War II.  Interestingly, they were displaying a melted, burnt section of the World Trade Center along with an exhibit detailing the efforts of modern historians in preserving artifacts from the attack. A little twist of irony: the day we visited the museum was on 9/11 (10 year anniversary).  After the Imperial War Museum we walked to Big Ben to take some day time pictures.  Then, we walked along the Thames River where they were celebrating their annual fall festival. We enjoyed the craft booths, food, and other activities.  When it got dark they had a night parade that we decided to stay up and watch, and the lights and music were very entertaining.A good way to finish off our time in London.