London - Architecturally and Historically Rich
London - Architecturally and Historically Rich
On Tuesday (the 29th May), we woke up with the sunshine's rays sneaking through our curtains! Excited with the prospect of some half decent weather we set out on our adventures earlier today and jumped on the tube headed back towards Westminster Abbey. Much to our dismay suddenly the rain began coming down again..Bummer! Still, by the time we reached Westminster it had stopped (perhaps at my subliminal request?) so recharged with enthusiasm we progressed to the abbey prepared to have a good look inside and snap a whole lot of pictures. Imagine how disappointed we were when we got there and discovered they were demanding an entry fee of £10. Crikey! Pouty and cranky, we turned up our noses and continued on foot hoping to return when we had our bank accounts set up and some money transferred over.
By then our bellies were grumbling consistently, so we grabbed a bite to eat at a place called "Mmmm Toasty". I love how you can buy nice hot soup around town here, Steve and I shared a bowl of Minestrone Soup and a Zesty Chicken toasted long roll! YUM! This little eating haven was inconspicuously hidden underneath the Charing Cross Rail Station. Belly's full and re-energised, we wandered around down The Strand to Courthauld Institute and Somerset House. Looking in, I was dumbfounded by the architecture of this place (and more on this subject later) and gazed around Fountain Court snapping happily. We also stumbled upon King's College apparently the most prestigious college in town! We walked out onto a terrace of sorts with tables and a delicious view overlooking Victoria Embankment and down onto the river Thames. Hurriedly, I turned to Steve and said "We gotta get down there!" and pointed down with my finger like a 5 yr old excited to see something for the first time! So we indeed, found our way down to the river and absorbed the atmosphere as we enjoyed some of the sunshine that had reappeared again.
On Victoria Embankment you will notice HMS Wellington. During World War II she served as a convoy escort ship in the North Atlantic. She is now moored alongside the Victoria Embankment on the River Thames in London as the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners where she is known as HQS Wellington. Further down, we came across Black Friars Bridge, we looked at it with a puzzled familiarity about it and with a longer look we realised the design looked similar to Princes Bridge in Melbourne! Do we have anything original? *chuckles* This is going to be a seriously long blog, we had a BIG day. So how about you guy's take a break here, make a cuppa, have supper and come back....
Right... everyone happy now? Tum's full and all caffeined up? Alright, let's keep going. *Ella sips her cup of tea*.. Wow, obviously Steve didn't think I was sweet enough, because its VERY SUGARY! So from the HMS Wellington, we changed direction and headed up to St Paul's Cathedral, because it is one of THE places to visit in London, and rightfully so! History says that Prince Charles and Lady Diana were married there and it was also the venue for the Great Winston Churchill's funeral. What a way to exit uh? As we walked up the hill, we were overcome with this monolithic dome and architecture. WOW.. HUGE doesn't quite cover it. We stopped in awe and looked up to take it all in. Excited at the idea of checking it out inside we raced up the stairs to enter this majestic looking cathedral. Inside were greeted with swarms of people and a sign that informed us that cost for entry was £9.50. *sighs* So, I wriggled my way further inside through the crowd and deliberately ignored the NO PHOTO's sign and sneakily snapped a photo! Busted, damn.. I had the cathedral nazi tell me politely " No, photographs please". So, we moved on. Another thing to add to the list of things to visit when we have some more pounds to spend. *sighs*On Tuesday (the 29th May), we woke up with the sunshine's rays sneaking through our curtains! Excited with the prospect of some half decent weather we set out on our adventures earlier today and jumped on the tube headed back towards Westminster Abbey. Much to our dismay suddenly the rain began coming down again..Bummer! Still, by the time we reached Westminster it had stopped (perhaps at my subliminal request?) so recharged with enthusiasm we progressed to the abbey prepared to have a good look inside and snap a whole lot of pictures. Imagine how disappointed we were when we got there and discovered they were demanding an entry fee of £10. Crikey! Pouty and cranky, we turned up our noses and continued on foot hoping to return when we had our bank accounts set up and some money transferred over.
By then our bellies were grumbling consistently, so we grabbed a bite to eat at a place called "Mmmm Toasty". I love how you can buy nice hot soup around town here, Steve and I shared a bowl of Minestrone Soup and a Zesty Chicken toasted long roll! YUM! This little eating haven was inconspicuously hidden underneath the Charing Cross Rail Station. Belly's full and re-energised, we wandered around down The Strand to Courthauld Institute and Somerset House. Looking in, I was dumbfounded by the architecture of this place (and more on this subject later) and gazed around Fountain Court snapping happily. We also stumbled upon King's College apparently the most prestigious college in town! We walked out onto a terrace of sorts with tables and a delicious view overlooking Victoria Embankment and down onto the river Thames. Hurriedly, I turned to Steve and said "We gotta get down there!" and pointed down with my finger like a 5 yr old excited to see something for the first time! So we indeed, found our way down to the river and absorbed the atmosphere as we enjoyed some of the sunshine that had reappeared again.
On Victoria Embankment you will notice HMS Wellington. During World War II she served as a convoy escort ship in the North Atlantic. She is now moored alongside the Victoria Embankment on the River Thames in London as the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners where she is known as HQS Wellington. Further down, we came across Black Friars Bridge, we looked at it with a puzzled familiarity about it and with a longer look we realised the design looked similar to Princes Bridge in Melbourne! Do we have anything original? *chuckles* This is going to be a seriously long blog, we had a BIG day. So how about you guy's take a break here, make a cuppa, have supper and come back....
Okay, two disappointments in one day...Oh well. One thing we have found about London and amuses us greatly is that London is truly like a BIG monopoly board. So, anyway we headed down to the finance centre in London at the tube station BANK. At this place, we looked up into the sky to check out the buildings. The design you can see were influenced by Roman architectural styles. Simply divine! In that square, there was the Bank of England (it is the only place where they store £1,000,000 notes!), Mansion House and the Royal Exchange with a statue of the Duke of Wellington outside. This man's place in history is as the Commander of the forces that defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Over the road, there is a statue of James Henry. This man was recognised for his invention of a tunnelling device (which is patented). This invention was used to create the first tunnels for the London Underground. The Royal Exchange also doubles as a high society shopping area stocking brands such as Chanel, Bvlgari, Cartier, Omega and Tiffany & Co! Our journey for the day ended with a visit to the Tower of London (where they charged a nice fee of £16 per adult), so we also snapped some pictures around it. Through the Traitor's Gate a man known as Thomas More was taken into the tower and finally beheaded! Poor bugger! There is so much history here, we also stumbled across a small visitor centre playing informative videos connected to the tower. A short walk from the tower is the Tower Bridge, (which apparently is often mistaken for London Bridge by tourists!) Not us.. we did our research prior! Apparently, it took 8 yrs to build. Construction started in 1886. For a more concise history lesson about the bridge : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Bridge. Steve and I, casually made our way across it admiring the design and the shear size of it. Pretty advanced for something built in the late 1800's, its colossal! For our pictures from our day : http://picasaweb.google.com/hillsj/TowerOfLondonAndTowerBridge
