London, England: (18 pictures) - Days 1, 2, and 3
Oxford Circus - This is just a big square in London that's very
crowded with people, cars, double decker buses, and old-looking but new
black taxis.
Me at Picadilly Circus - This is just another big square
in London that's very touristy. It has an IMAX theater and a bunch
of other stuff, but we just walked through it.
Buckingham Palace - This is Britain's royal residence where
the queen lives. I arrived in London the day after the Golden Jubilee
finished, so they were still cleaning up everything around the palace.
Nelson Column at Trafalgar Square - Trafalgar Square is known
as London's Central Square. This column, built for a general who
defeated the French, is 150 years old.
Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery - The National Gallery
in the background behind Sarah is one of the best museums in Europe and
it has quite a few famous paintings that we saw, including Rembrandts,
Monets, and Van Goghs.
Sarah at Trafalgar Square - This is more of a picture of Sarah
than an important building, but it's still nice. Sarah was my host
while I was in England for the first five days of my trip. I met
her on my trip around the United States two years ago. Sarah was
a great host and tour guide and we became wonderful friends during my stay
with her. Here she was standing up on the base of a monument in the
middle of Trafalgar Square.
Big Ben, the Millennium Wheel, and Me - Big Ben is actually
just the name of the huge bell inside the tower, but the whole thing is
still pretty amazing to see because it's so beautiful. I'm not too
bad to look at in this picture either.
Millennium Wheel and the River Thames - The Milennium Wheel,
also called the London Eye, is a huge ferris wheel that takes about a half
hour to go all the way around. It's the world's biggest observational
wheel, but we didn't go on it because of time and the fact that it costed
about $15 to ride.
Sarah and I at Westminster - Westminster, the huge palace attached
to Big Ben, is actually the House of Parliament for England. It's
right on the side of the River Thames and this picture was taken from the
bridge over the river.
Sarah at the Tower of London - The castle building in the background
is called the Tower of London. It's where the crown jewels are located.
We didn't have time to see them because there was an hour long line to
get in.
Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast - This picture was taken
on our "cruise" (tour) boat on the River Thames. The Tower Bridge
is the prettiest bridge in London, and is often confused with the more
boring London Bridge further down the river. The HMS Belfast is just
an old English battleship from World War II.
Millennium Bridge - This is a very recent bridge actually that
was finally reopened this year after it was found to wobble too much to
be safe. Sarah and I walked across it on our final day in London.
Westminster and Big Ben - One last picture taken from
our "cruise" on the River Thames.
Sarah and I at St. James Park - This was taken on our last morning
in London as we were walking to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham
Palace.
Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace - This whole
thing was actually pretty boring, but we figured every tourist has to see
it. And I think every tourist in London that day was there because
it was so crowded.
Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace - This was
in the middle of the ceremony. Soon after this it got to be pretty
boring, so we left. It was going to take about a half hour for the
whole thing to finish.
St. Paul’s Cathedral - This is the most famous church
in London, with the second largest dome in the world. We stepped
inside, but didn't pay the admission to go in all the way to the top of
the dome.
Sarah’s Street and Apartment - This is where we stayed
for the two nights while we were in London. It was about a half hour
double decker bus ride away from central London. Sarah's apartment
is the white building on the left. You can also see her car in this
picture (the blue Honda Civic on the right side of the road), and of course
that's Sarah in the middle of the picture.
Continue on to the English Countryside
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