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Published: December 13th 2006
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Hanz & Brian - Monument
and Tower Bridge in the background My last few days of freedom were spent showing Brian around all the touristy stuff in London…
I met Brian at the Marble Arch tube station just before lunch for Hannah’s London Tour - Volume 1.
I took him for a walk through Hyde Park and showed him the new NZ memorial, near the Duke of Wellington Archway, that is to be unveiled in a few weeks.
We walked down though Green Park to Buckingham Palace, had a look around and took some cheesy tourist photos. Then walked through St James Park, Horse’s Guards Parade and along to Big Ben and Parliament House with a quick peak at Downing Street on the way.
We crossed the River Thames to walk along the South Bank past the London Eye and had a look at the second hand bookshop and the street performers. Then had a traditional pub lunch at one of the River side pubs near Blackfriars Bridge.
After lunch we continued down past the Tate Modern, had a look at Shakespeare’s Globe then over the new pedestrian bridge (the same bridge they had to close very shortly after opening because it was swaying so much!) and along to
St Paul’s Cathedral.
We were going to have a look inside the Cathedral, but decided our pounds were better spend elsewhere and continued on towards Tower Bridge, where we stumbled upon ‘Monument’ mid journey.
Monument is a tall tower, built in 1671-77 by Sir Christopher Wren and Dr. Robert Hooke to commemorate the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Its 62m in height, the exact distance from the fire’s source in a bakers shop in Pudding Lane.
It was only ₤2 to walk the 311 steps to the top and decided to give it ago! But the 311 steps up the spiral staircase were a little more than we thought!
We eventually got to the top and got some pretty good panoramic views of London.
We kept walking towards Tower Bridge and found the Tower of London. We had a look inside the information centre but decided to come back tomorrow as it was starting to get dark already and didn’t think we would have enough time.
We took a few touristy photos of Tower Bridge then headed back to the Tube Station to get out of the cold wind!
We went back to my
flat in Marble Arch and made a tomato, basil and bacon pasta for dinner over a bottle of wine. Brian was rather surprised that I could actually cook! (how rude! :P)
After dinner we headed next door to The Victoria for a drink and a chat session, before sending Brain back to the tube station.
I got up rather early on Tuesday and met Brian outside the Tower of London ready for Volume 2.
We went in the Tower of London at 10am with the expectation of spending maybe a couple of hours there.
We got a tour from one of the Beefeater Guards, which was rather entertaining, if not slight gory. Then had a look at the crown jewels which are housed there, and are absolutely exquisite.
I thought I’d be dragging Brain around to have a look at them again in more detail, but he was just as amazed as I was.
By this stage we were both rather hungry (who would have guessed!?!). We found a café and had some scones to keep us going, until we ate lunch a little later on.
We had a walk along the tower walls then
wandered through the armour in the White Tower (where the king used to live).
There was still quite a lot to see, we had a slightly quicker look thought the through the torture areas and the medieval palace.
We finally left after seeing pretty much everything at about 4pm - 6 hours later!!
We were pretty cold, so decided to get on a tube and go anywhere just so we could warm up.
We headed to Leicester square in search of a Pizza Express. We found one in Covent Garden and had dinner… well lunch anyway.
Brian went back to his temporary home for his second dinner and I went home and got myself already for starting work tomorrow!! … I hope I can remember something after all this time!
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Brian rulz
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about time hannah!
If you had as much spare time as I do, you would have had that blog entry done weeks ago! In an effort to fill in more time, and to help you out, I am happy to offer my blog-creating services (for a reasonable fee). I am becoming expert in the composition of useless blog entries,a nd would like to assist others to the same end. Drop me a line at www.travelbrian.blogspot.com