Ghosts and the Holy Grail

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Today was my chance to check out what living in London is about. I caught the tube into the centre of London, which was much easier outside of peak-hour and without luggage.

The first adventure for the day was a walking tour of the sites in the Da Vinci Code that occur in London. We started from Trafalgar Square, and walked across the city to the Temple Church where all the knights have effigies in the floor of the church. The church is hidden in a tiny laneway, and certainly has a feel of mystery about it.

The next stop on the tour was Westminster Abbey, where Sir Isaac Newton's tomb is. Unfortunately by the time we got there, it was closed to tourists as mass was in progress. Hopefuly I wil check out the inside of it later in the week. The Da Vinci Code trail ends there, as in the story they then jet to Scotland, so I will see if I can pick up the Grail Trail when I get to Scotland in a week's time.

The best way to see a bird's-eye view of London is to take a "flight" in the London Eye. A prominent feature of the London skyline, the Eye is world's highest viewing platform. It provides a sensational view of London, and I took a heap of photos as we went around.

I am glad I bought new walking shoes before I left, as I feel like I walked across pretty much all of London today. From the London Eye, I walked across to Buckingham Palace. Luckily I arrived just as the changing of the guards ceremony had just started. It seems like a crazy ceremony, as they walk around each other in circles and it all looks pretty weird, but I am sure there must be some good reasons for the actions.

Hiking back through Picadilly and Leicester circuses, I arrived at Trafalgar Square again just in time for the Ghost walk tour. Unfortunately it is summer here, and still light until about 10:30pm, so telling ghost stories in broad daylight loses some of its effect. The tour was interesting, and made more fun as 4 of the ghost stories occur in pubs, so a quick pint in each pub helps to "open the mind" to ghostly possibilities.

The final stop of the Ghost Walk is Ye Old Cheshire Cheese pub, so about half the group stopped there for a bite to eat and a couple more pints. We then created our own pub-crawl, visiting a few more pubs on the "Ale Trail" and earning ourselves a special t-shirt for our efforts.

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