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Published: February 5th 2008
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Gday All
Well today was another full day of touristing
The morning was crisp and clear but the wind was a lazy wind.....it wouldnt go around you it went straight through.
We decided to take a Big Bus Tour of London which is a double decker bus with the roof cut off, really good value for money if you know the tickets are valid for 2 days but we really enjoyed it, friendly staff and very helpful.
Its a hop on hop off tour so our first stop was St Pauls Cathedral which was really astounding....We got a couple of photos of out front but you arent allowed to take pictures inside, understandable since its a working church..The carving and paintings were magnificent.
We went down to the crypt and visited Nelsons Tomb and the Duke of Wellington
We then got back on the bus and eventually crossed London Bridge and no it wasnt falling down....We got off on the other side and walked to the Southwark Cathedral which according to them is the oldest Gothic Church in UK...It was only built around 1212 so maybe it is...haha...again we only were able to take a picture
of the outside....on the inside it was again beautiful. Edmund Shakespeare (Wills younger brother who died of the plague) is buried here, there is also a stained glass window depicting all off Wills plays...wow.
From there we walked through some of the smallest streets that cars and trucks use that I have ever seen...passing the Clink prison from which all prisons get the nickname...we stopped and had a look at the Cutty Sark a full size replica of Nelsons Ship which is in dry dock for the moment until National Geographic are ready to take it on its next voyage....it is open to the public to get on and view but...you guessed it it was closed yesterday for February for some maintenance...oh well
We then walked along the bank of the Thames and went to The Globe Theatre where we joined a tour and were shown through.
Its about 200 yards from the original site and it has been confirmed it is exactly the same size now as the original, It was a very well structured tour that we would recommend to anyone
After another short walk we were back on the bus and went to the
Southwark Cathedral
This building started out as a Priory Church in 1212 Tower of London
This is one of the places I really wanted to see. And it lived up to my expectations all except its not a tower its a castle, a proper one that you expect to see when someone says castle.
We walked up the Bloody Tower and had a look at where Sir Walter was kept 3 times...poor bugger a really good thanks for his work
Ive got to say that Jules would of been a giant back then cause all the doorways were very small....
A recent addition (well in the past 20 years since Jules was here anyway is a memorial to all the people beheaded there...Henrys queens and so forth....
We then went up to view the crown jewels and what a sight they were. We werent allowed to use the camera in there either so if you want to see them you will just have to come over here yourselves. Someone has made a board game about the time Colonel Blood tried to steal the Jewels in 1671 so we bought it...looks like fun.
Wow time goes quick we had earlier bought tickets from the bloke from Big
Bus Company for madame toussads but by the time we got finished at the Tower we wouldnt have made the 4.30pm cut off...we were lucky though when we got back to the bus stop the boss (Big Bus) was there and he gave us a refund which we thought was great cause it was our fault we didnt get to use them and didnt expect to see the money again. So I took Julia to the bar at the hotel and we spent it on Pints and Cocktails...hehehe
Well tomorrow we are off to Dover to pick up our hire car and see the white cliffs hopefully the weather is like it has been.
Love to all
Mark and Julia
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Rhonda
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Jealous
You cannot believe how jealous I am of you two. It looks like you are having a wonderful time. I bet it is cold. Love the photos, cant wait to see more, love Rhonda