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Published: April 26th 2010
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We only had one full day in London and Jo was keen to see the Tower of London. The underground day passes start from 0930 to avoid congestion in rush hour so we arrived at Tower Hill around 1000. We were just in time for the start of a tour led by one of the 36 “Beefeater” tour guides that live on-site at the Tower. This guy was brilliant! He spoke of the beheadings and public hangings that used to take place in the Tower and how life would have been within its grounds hundreds of years ago. If you have any plans to visit the Tower of London ensure you take the tour. We spent well over three hours within the Tower walls - having a look at the Crown Jewels and through the artifacts on display in the White Tower.
Once out we crossed the Tower Bridge and headed towards The Globe Theatre on the south side of the Thames. London is truly an incredible city - around each corner is a little church or pub or other building that would be major tourist attractions anywhere else in the world but are par-for-the-course in this area. The Globe
tour lasted a little over an hour and a half and was also worth the time spent - even for someone as cultureless as me. It would have been shorter if it wasn’t for dumb-ass American tourists asking about “Shakespeare in Love”.
We continued on walking across the Millennium Bridge to Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. We went up Regent Street and on to Carnaby Street. Many years ago when I was last in London I remember Carnaby Street as a place with all sorts of small shops selling weird jewellery, rare records and alternative clothing. Unfortunately it was now full of label brands such as GAP and O’Neill and it has lost its charm completely. A few souvenir stores still sold Carnaby Street merchandise but all the vibe had gone.
We walked on through Soho and then headed back to The Generator. Paul was off for a few drinks with some of his colleagues and Jo and I wanted to continue some sightseeing after dark. Our first stop was Westminster to see Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We wandered around for half an hour or so then decided to get the underground to
White Chapel to see if we could find a Jack the Ripper tour. The area looked a little dodgy and there was a sign at the exit of the station from the London Police warning that muggings frequently occurred in the area. We decided not to pursue the idea any further and headed back to Tower Hill to get a few photos of the Tower of London by night.
We got back to The Generator and had been reading for a few hours when Paul and a mate showed up. They talked us into a few drinks at The Generator Bar and we finally got to sleep around 0200.
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