We spent a fair bit of time on "The Tube" which is a really efficient way of getting around London. Note to self though, if it's hot out, it will be EVEN hotter in the Tube.
After the Tower of London we stopped for lunch and then went to the Sir Winston Churchill's "Britain at War Experience". It was REALLY neat. It showed what life was like in England during the war, there was lots of photos and items dating from the 40's. They also had a bunch of exhibits set up showing what it would have looked like after a building was hit by a bomb. They had some fascinating things in the gift shop like cookbooks with recipes to make use of what was available, relplicas of posters and lots of other neat things. I'd recommend visiting the Britain at War experience, it's really neat and so different.
I personally liked the part about the Women's Land Army.
After that we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and WOW. Amazing.
Again, this was another place we weren't allowed to take photos, I did buy post cards though! Perhaps I should scan some. It's amazingly beautiful and HUGE inside. I can't imagine the work it would have taken to build. We did climb the many, many stairs up to the "Whispering Gallery" (the big dome part) but that was about as far as I could go. I'm a little afraid of heights! The Whispering Gallery is neat because if you sit all the way across from someone and whisper something at the wall, they'll be able to hear what you said. It's acoustically designed to do that. The crypt in the basement is something else too, lots of statues and VERY old people.
More of the outside of St. Paul's.
And after that we walked along the River Thames......
This is an Egyptian Obelisk called Cleopatra's Needle. It was made in Egypt for the Pharaoh Thotmes III in 1460 BC, making it almost 3,500 years old. It is known as Cleopatra's Needle as it was brought to London from Alexandria, the royal city of Cleopatra. It was brought over in 1879 to celebrate the British victory over Napoleon 63 years earlier.
On either side of the obelisk is a Sphinx. It's hard to see in this photo but you can see damage done to them during the bombing of WWII.
We passed another war memorial too. There are lots of them and they're all fascinating.
And this neat building on the waterfront. I believe it's the National Aquarium?
Everywhere you walk, you'll find something fascinating, especially if you enjoy statues, history, architechture and carvings.
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