Today we made use of a deal that let us see the big sites for a discount. It is called the London Pass, and at first glance it seems like it is an unlimited 24 hour pass that gets you into the sites included. We learned that instead you have a money limit, and so paying for a £55 24 hour pass, you can see up to £80 worth of the sites listed. They advertise it sneakily, and we would have liked to have gotten a bit more use out of it, but it still saved some money and would recommend it to anyone who wants to see the big, expensive sites in London.
Started the day by walking through regents and green park (passing through the Wellington Arch) to see Buckingham Palace and the guards. Unbelievable gates, absolutely gorgeous. We then hopped over to the thames, took a peek around Parliament and Big Ben, and went inside Westminster Abbey.
Unbelievable. It is massive, and every inch of it is ornate. There are also many more people buried there than I had previously know; lots of royalty such a Elizabeth the 1st, Henry the 7th, Mary Queen of Scots etc. as is expected. But there is also a poets corner where famous literary figures like Lewis Carol and Chaucer rest, and in a farther corner, in a simple marker, we also found Charles Darwin. The coronation chair is also housed there.
Walking back to the Thames we caught a ferry next to the London Eye (which would have been cool, but it is unbelievably expensive. £20 is way to much, we did not go up).
We took the ferry down to the Tower of London. The stories are very sinister, but in reality the building is actually very inviting. It is beautiful with light colored stone, and is not as imposing as some of the other structures in London. We ran around the bloody tower and torture museum; and through the main towers where they house armoury. The only thing we did not make it to see were the royal jewels. The line was far to long, we did not want to waste several hours to see them.
We wandered over Tower Bridge (the pass got us onto the upper portion for a spectacular view) and made our way up to the globe. We were a bit disappointed; because we got there when a show was starting, they had stopped given tours and we did not get to go out to see the stage. But we were inside, and did stop by a little museum exhibition they had. Next we ran across Millennium bridge, which took us directly up to St. Pauls Cathedral. Again, stunning and massive. We only took a peek inside because it was at St. Pauls we learned about the money limit on the pass.
After a quick peek in St. Pauls, we went to the London Zoo. Marc and I were very impressed; with the exception of a handful of old exhibits which have plans for renovation all of the animals have great exhibits and seemed extremely well cared for. For example the African Wild dogs had a huge exhibit that spanned along the river, and gave them a large space to run on. And it wasn't just the mammals; the insect exhibits were equally large and showed a lot of care. The leaf cutter ant exhibit used a rope that came up out of there enclosure, which the ants followed up, out, then back down. Really nifty!
To finish up the day, and the few remaining pounds on our pass, we went to a art house to see Tree of Life. On the way we passed through Kings Cross Station, and of course had to visit Platform 9 3/4 :) . As far as the film itself, it had some big names, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt. Some of the messages and topics addressed in the film where wonderful and had a lot of truth, but overall it was blogged down by long sequences of intense music and blunt imagery.
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