London England

After our long day of travel to London we travelled to the airbnb place we were staying in the west end of London. We stayed with a nice couple and their young son. Aaron had a harder time finding time to work in the last while, but he managed to catch up.

A reminder of home

After a day of planning and grocery shopping, we went on a free walking tour around some of the main attractions and Westminster Abbey where Kate and William got married.

Trafalgar Square. National Gallery to the right. Huge building straight across is Canadian Consulate

Trafalgar Square

Buckingham Palace, home of the Queen.

Westminster Abbey, many famous weddings here including Kate and William

Side entrance of the abbey

Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster, home to British Parliament

Other side of the Palace, The Clock Tower of Big Ben in foreground

A little further down the River Thames

After we saw some street performers and a National Gallery for free.

National Gallery

We visited the Kengsington Palace where the Queen grew up in and where Kate and William and their family now live. They have a big public park surrounding the Palace that is open to the public. There were a few art galleries nearby the park that we visited for free. We went on a walking tour of the old City of London, which has existed for over 2000 years.

Kensington Palace

Old City of London, The Temple Church

St Paul's Cathedral

After having a hard time finding places to stay in Amsterdam for that weekend, we visited the Tower of London which is a big fort and castle. The crown jewels were on display there with their beautiful shiny diamonds and jewelled crowns glistening in the light. No pictures allowed there. At the castle we learnt about the history of the medieval times where they kept animals on chains in a tower and they would do tricks. Also where they executed people and the gory history of their torture. The tower served as storage for weapons and ammunition for a long time. There was the Tower bridge that we looked at briefly, which is often confused for London bridge ("London Bridge is falling down..."), which wasn't that impressive.

Tower of London, inside the fort. Just outside the City of London

 

the Tower Bridge

While we were taking the train to Oxford, the royal princess was born to Kate and William, less the a kilometer away from the train station where we were. Her name is Charlotte but our tour guide thought her name was Alexandria. We really enjoyed seeing the beautiful architecture and schools in Oxford. We visited a small rustic pub called Eagle and Child where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would meet with others while they were writing some of their famous books, such as the Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Radcliffe Camera (reading room), Bodleian Library, Oxford
Underground is a massive cavern of books

We learnt of the church that C.S. Lewis went to. At the front doors there are fauns carved above a door frame and a lion in the middle of a door across from the entrance. In the winter there was a heavy curtain to push through to get to the door. And to the right there were 3 street lamps, so urban legend says this is the place that gave him the idea of writing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Good ole' Cricket game next to an Oxford school

On our return to London and the airport we missed our train by about a minute so we had to take a taxi to make it. Luckily we did make it to our flight which was thankfully delayed by 30 minutes. Our time in London was short, but it was nice to see the famous city as well as Oxford, and the royal palaces of our own country as well.