London

Our next stop on the trip was London, We opened up our stay by having a traditional English breakfast at the nearby pub. Bacon, sausage, egg, toast, beans, and hash browns it was delicious.

Nelson’s Column is right in the middle of Trafalgar Square, it was built to commemorate Horatio Nelson, who was killed in the battle of Trafalgar. Across the street from Nelson’s Column is Admiralty Arch, it was constructed in 1912 and leads up the mall area to Buckingham Palace.

At the end of the road from the arch sits the Victoria Memorial which was completed in 1911. It features a large gold-plated statue of Queen Victoria, it also contains two bronze statues one of the Angel of Justice and the other of the Angel of Truth and Charity. Across from this memorial sits the official house of the British Monarch, Buckingham Palace. We were lucky enough to get to the palace right as the changing of the guard event began. The palace and the courtyards were truly amazing and it was such a nice day we decided to sit in the park at the palace for a while why we rested our legs.

Westminster Abbey is a large Gothic style church, it was built by Edward the Confessor for monks and nuns to live and pray in 1050 A.D. William the conqueror was crowned in this abbey which is a tradition that continues to this day. Right across the street from the abbey is Big Ben and the Parliament building. This area has been the home of the British Government for more than 900 years. It is a gothic inspired collection of buildings that spans over 8 acres and has 1100 rooms and over 100 staircases. The House of the Lords occupies the southern wing and the House of Commons is in the North wing.

It wouldn’t be a complete trip for us without visiting places we watch on TV. early every Saturday morning. I’m talking about Football stadiums or soccer for us Americans, I will say we did get a little overzealous at first and walked around 16 miles to get to them before realizing our passes worked for the outlying underground zones to. So after walking to two we took the quick routes to the next. It was amazing to us to see how different all these neighborhoods were and the fact that you turn a corner and the stadiums are right there they aren’t huge like our stadiums and arenas they are neighborhood size fitting around 20-30 thousand. We got to check out Chelsea, Fulham, Arsenal, and Tottenham, and while each was located in the greater London area the difference between the four was astronomical.
Paris is up next. Cheers