The Tower of London from the Tube Station
"White Tower" - where royalty used to live
This monument marks the spot where beheadings took place!
After leaving The Tower of London, I went on a tour of the London Bridge - oh wait - it's just what everyone THINKS is the London Bridge.... it's actually called Tower Bridge. London Bridge is pretty unremarkable... I didn't even take a picture of it! Anyways, Tower Bridge is impressive, and the views were nice. I think my engineering friends would have enjoyed the explanation of exactly how steam power lifts and lowers the bridge, but it was still sort of interesting (sort of, I'll stress.)
Tower Bridge
View of the "modern" downtown London from Tower Bridge
After Tower Bridge, I took the Tube to St. Paul's Cathedral and toured this magnificent chuch. So... this has to be the most amazing church that I have seen to date (granted, I have not yet been to Italy, but St. Paul's caps all the amazing chuches in Paris). It is just excuisite inside... and the impressive thing is not the stained glass, as with many churches... it's the lack thereof. The beauty of the inside of this church (at least the nave, which is still largely undecorated) is it's simple beauty. The inside is all beautifully carved stone, and large, clear glass windows. At the front of the church is where Queen Victoria had her way - it's all guilded out and painted, which is also impressive, just in a different way. I seriously just sat and stared at the inside of the church for about an hour before I could get up. I repeatedly said "wow", just looking around. Unfortunately, this was another church where no photography was allowed, but, trust me, it's amazing. I climbed all 500+ stairs to the top, and enjoyed some more great views of the city. Absolutely lovely! This was probably the single best highlight of the trip. Here are some pictures of the exterior of the church and the views:
The Side View of St. Paul's
The Entrance to St. Paul's
View of the Millenium Bridge Crossing the Thames to Tate Modern (Art Museum)
View of the Thames and the London Eye (Ferris Wheel looking thing in the Distance)
After St. Paul's, I hit a few more sights. I had purchased a "London Pass" for Friday and Saturday, which allowed free entrance to a lot of the popular sights in London, so I was trying to make the most of it. My first stop was at an operating room museum, which I had heard about a long time ago, and kind of forgotton. The basic idea is that patients allowed surgeons to operate on them in front of a theater of students, and, in turn, received their medical treatments for free (I like to think of it kind of how the students in Grey's Anatomy watch from the upper balcony - same concept - only much closer, and the patient wasn't put to sleep! Scary!)
The Theater - Operating Table in the Center
After that, I went and toured Shakespeare's Globe, which is a replica of Shakespeare's famous theater, which was completed in the late 1990's. It was really interesting to see the venue that people of Shakespeare's time would have watched his famous plays in. I didn't have time to see a performance, but there are nightly performances there. Definitely on my list of "to do's" for the next trip to London.
The Globe
My last trip was to Tate Modern, which is a museum of modern art on the South Bank of the Thames. Okay, folks. I'm an accountant. I try and I try to get into modern art, but, to be completely honest, I just don't get it. Really. I've tried. I've been to some of the best modern art museums in the world, and each time, I leave, scratching my head. Please don't hate me for being honest, but, seriously... I feel like I could make better art in excel spreadsheets. ;)
Tate Modern Art Museum... works by Warhol, Leichtenstein, and Picasso were the only ones I sort of "got" :)
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