Day Two

Day Two was much better.

In summary - I picked up my London Pass, went on part one of a river tour, then the Tower of London, Tower Bridge Exhibition, round two of the river tour, side step to view Parliament and Big Ben (I heard the bell a few times today, but barely missed seeing the bridge open), and then over to church for dinner (no institute the next couple of weeks, but still dinner). Then, I got lost going home but was soon able to find my way.

It started with a free (and actually decent) breakfast at my hotel. I was pleasantly surprised and was given much more food than I could eat.

Then I went in search of my London Pass - I got there too early and had to wait in a little park for almost 45 minutes... and since yesterday was fairly hot, I didn't bring a jacket... but today was fairly cold. Anyway. I found the pass in this little shop, basically in the middle of the road, but down in the basement. And though London is pretty flat, it has LOTS of stairs. They do maximize their space though, that's for sure.

River Cruise part one- Westminster to Tower was really fun, the boatmen are quite funny. And I learned a lot.

Tower of London - was kind of creepy - but my Yeoman Warder tour guide was the first (and only) female warder. Pretty sweet. She was very funny and Mom would have loved her puns. And I learned a lot and not everything we talked about was gross, morbid, or sad. And I saw the crown jewels which were beautiful. And some medieval graffiti, walked along top of the outer wall, traitor gate, etc.

Tower Bridge - lots of walking today... but really fun tour. It showed how the bridge was made and had unique views. And apparently you can look up online when the bridge opens - so I will have to do that sometime. Also I visited the WC in one of the towers, which is fairly unique I would think. Haha...

Back for the rest of the river tour - new guide was just as funny. They claim they aren't guides, they are boatmen, but they were so fun I think they count. They said we passed by Sir Ian McKellen's home with pink deck chairs... and a statue of a man, placed out in the Thames, and then the chef's restaurant - Gordon Ramsay, I think... - And lots of other really cool stuff... Go on the tour...?

Moving on.

Institute dinner was nice - I met a lot of people, unfortunately there were too many so no immediate friends yet, per se, but there is a lot of potential I think.

Then, over confident, and it was dark (though well lit), I turned down the wrong street going home and was completely lost. There was a hotel across from a park, so I walked by it - but naturally it was the wrong park. No worries though, no creepy people or scary feelings - just calm "you can figure this out" - plus London has tons of signs around so I soon found one and was able to find my way back. So now I've had another good adventure.

Ok. I am exhausted... so I will post the pictures below and one day I hope to put the commentary on them because many will not make sense....

Exit signs in England are more dramatic.

Ok I will explain this one. Way in the back there, kind of above the chimney...? You can see a ball on top of a spire - that is Greenwich, and that ball raises every day and then drops to tell the time. The world gets the time from (or used to?) from that ball dropping, so being on the ball means you're on time, caught up, etc.