By this day, I had realized that I was never going to be able to see all of London that I wanted to see. While the day before, I had a good sightseeing tour around London, I didn't get to explore much of the museums/historical buildings, and it just felt a being empty seeing the outside but not the inside. I figured that it would be useless trying to save money when I was here to see the country and learn as much about it as possible. So I had a really ambitious plan for the day (considering that museums/places of interest only open from 10am-6pm):
1. Wake up early and go to the tower of london
2. Westminster Abbey
3. National Portrait Gallery/National Gallery
4. Harrods... check out the Princess Diana Memorial...
When I woke up that morning, it was a gloomy morning and raining. And boy were the winds strong. I was lucky I decided to take a chance and purchase my ticket from the hostel so that I could skip the crowds standing in the rain when I arrived. It was all I could do to make sure that the wind did not blow my umbrella away from me and I was still able totake pictures as I walked around... it was no easy feat i assure you!!!
The fortress from the outside
Replica of living quarters of Edward I
This is tower bridge... london bridge is further down the river... was a strategic bridge when the tower of london fortress was in action...
HMS Belfast in the distance...
Traitor's gate...all prisoners to the tower entered through this gate (e.g. Anne Boleyn)
Chinese Bronze cannon from China. After seeing this, I was beginning to get the impression that most of England's previous artefacts are not really their's but stolen from other countries... (think rosetta stone...)
The white tower: the oldest building in the tower of london fortress.
The outer wall has been existent since the roman times. It was William I's decision to build the fortress just behind the roman wall so as to utilize it as a double defense...
The Gherkin building in the distance. I don't know why but the first time I saw this building, I kept thinking I had seen it before in a James Bond movie or something, and I kept asking my friend this as we walked around... "are you sure this building was not in a movie?"
Traditional steak and ale pie during lunch!
The Jewel House. This is where the english crown jewels are kept, so it's prob the most secured room in the whole of london. The jewels on the crown/sceptre are pretty spectacular... especially the kui-i-noor (sp) and the black ruby... it's like wow just staring at it... of course... again... "taken" from other countries... one even gets to see the othee items used during the coronation such as the dinner set and the church baptismal objects..
This riverside fortress is comprised of 5 main areas. But it is most notorious for it being a prison. So in every tower we got to see the rooms that the prisoners were kept in. Now, baring in in mind that there was no 48 hour max captivity limit, prisoners then were kept in the tower for many months. And as a result, there was many carvings on the walls made by prisoners... they were often messages about their beliefs, or carvings of initials etc etc...
Entrance to the bloody tower: the name because this is the tower where the suspected killing of the two princes, edward and richard in 1483 took place. It's quite a sad story. It's thought that their uncle, Richard III was responsible
Believe it or not, I really had to brave the super strong winds to take these two pictures of the exterior of the Tower of London.
So now... of quickly to westsminster abbey and a look at the parliament buildings: yes where gordon brown goes to work everyday....
Parliament Buildings: Big ben again
Another protest...
Oliver Cromwell statue... kinda funny... since he was the guy who broke up the monarchy temporarily and his corpse was dug up and hung like a criminal when the monarchy came back to power.
Westminster Abbey: One of the must SEE things when one is in London. This is a really beautiful abbey (but unfortunately no pictures allowed inside) which is where the kings and queens of England have been buried since the 12th century. It was also the site of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation (the first televised coronation) and Princess Diana's Funeral service. The many interesting sights that I saw and learnt about in this abbey included (but no limited to):
1. Coronation chair: The chair used during coronations where the future monarch sits on. There used to be rock belonging to Scotland that was placed underneath the chair, but it was given back to Scotland in 1996 with the condition that it will be brought back for future coronations. This was the simple explanation given to me by the English. It wasn't till I went to Scotland (Edinburgh) a few days later that I learnt of the true significance of this rock. The Scottish believe this rock to be the "rock of destiny" and it is the rock on which Scottish kings have been crowned since immemorial... and there is a belief that when the stone is in Scottish hands will Scotland be able to rule on its own.... The stone was stolen from Scotland in 1296, but in the Treaty of Northampton of 1328, England was supposed to have given back the stone. However, they did not keep their side of the bargain. So it is ironic that the Queen still insists that the stone be given back for future english coronations when they were supposed to give it back like 700 years ago.... It was a very interesting story when I heard it. And there is also the story about 4 glasgow students who thought of a plan to bring the stone back to Scotland (and they actually succeeded doing it)... I shall tell that later...
2. Tomb of Elizabeth 1/Mary Queen of Scots. A little ironic that these two rivals are buried in the same abbey. But that's what you get when your rival's son gets the throne after you pass away...
3. Poet's corner: A big space of the abbey contains memorials to many literary giants, such as bronte sisters, dickens, chauncer, shakespeare, austen...
4. Grave of the Unknown warrior: The body of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of WWI was buried here in 1920. He represents the war dead.
5. Architecture of the abbey: the Nave/lady's chapel are something to see.... the altar tables and paintings are also pretty awesome when you take a seat on one of the wooden chairs and take a few minutes to just look all around..
Westminster Abbey-> courtyard
St Margaret Church: Interesting fact: Winston Churchill was married in this 15th Century church.
Westminster Abbey -Exterior
Half expected to see Sherlock Holmes when I saw the street name... but no... and no police inspectors lurking around the area either..
English pubs really have interesting names...
St Martin in the fields... again.. could only see from the outside... have to save this for the next trip.
National Portrait gallery: Unfortunately, in many of the places I visited today, I couldn't take pictures inside. However, this turned out to be one of my favourite museums and I spent a couple of hours wondering around inside. Here, you can find portraits of the Bronte Sisters, Shakespeare, Elizabeth 1 portraits, Margaret Thatcher, Germaine Greer....
Mini Times Square... Picadilly area/Leicester Square. TKTS counter is here (it's where we get all our discounted musical/theatre tickets). Really wish I had time to watch a musical here... but oh well.... at least now I know where it is... It was by fluke that I really stumbled across the TKTS counter and Leicester Square really, as I was just walking around after finishing with the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.
Next post: Harrods..
1. Wake up early and go to the tower of london
2. Westminster Abbey
3. National Portrait Gallery/National Gallery
4. Harrods... check out the Princess Diana Memorial...
When I woke up that morning, it was a gloomy morning and raining. And boy were the winds strong. I was lucky I decided to take a chance and purchase my ticket from the hostel so that I could skip the crowds standing in the rain when I arrived. It was all I could do to make sure that the wind did not blow my umbrella away from me and I was still able totake pictures as I walked around... it was no easy feat i assure you!!!
The fortress from the outside
Replica of living quarters of Edward I
This is tower bridge... london bridge is further down the river... was a strategic bridge when the tower of london fortress was in action...
HMS Belfast in the distance...
Traitor's gate...all prisoners to the tower entered through this gate (e.g. Anne Boleyn)
Chinese Bronze cannon from China. After seeing this, I was beginning to get the impression that most of England's previous artefacts are not really their's but stolen from other countries... (think rosetta stone...)
The white tower: the oldest building in the tower of london fortress.
The outer wall has been existent since the roman times. It was William I's decision to build the fortress just behind the roman wall so as to utilize it as a double defense...
The Gherkin building in the distance. I don't know why but the first time I saw this building, I kept thinking I had seen it before in a James Bond movie or something, and I kept asking my friend this as we walked around... "are you sure this building was not in a movie?"
Traditional steak and ale pie during lunch!
The Jewel House. This is where the english crown jewels are kept, so it's prob the most secured room in the whole of london. The jewels on the crown/sceptre are pretty spectacular... especially the kui-i-noor (sp) and the black ruby... it's like wow just staring at it... of course... again... "taken" from other countries... one even gets to see the othee items used during the coronation such as the dinner set and the church baptismal objects..
This riverside fortress is comprised of 5 main areas. But it is most notorious for it being a prison. So in every tower we got to see the rooms that the prisoners were kept in. Now, baring in in mind that there was no 48 hour max captivity limit, prisoners then were kept in the tower for many months. And as a result, there was many carvings on the walls made by prisoners... they were often messages about their beliefs, or carvings of initials etc etc...
Entrance to the bloody tower: the name because this is the tower where the suspected killing of the two princes, edward and richard in 1483 took place. It's quite a sad story. It's thought that their uncle, Richard III was responsible
Believe it or not, I really had to brave the super strong winds to take these two pictures of the exterior of the Tower of London.
So now... of quickly to westsminster abbey and a look at the parliament buildings: yes where gordon brown goes to work everyday....
Parliament Buildings: Big ben again
Another protest...
Oliver Cromwell statue... kinda funny... since he was the guy who broke up the monarchy temporarily and his corpse was dug up and hung like a criminal when the monarchy came back to power.
Westminster Abbey: One of the must SEE things when one is in London. This is a really beautiful abbey (but unfortunately no pictures allowed inside) which is where the kings and queens of England have been buried since the 12th century. It was also the site of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation (the first televised coronation) and Princess Diana's Funeral service. The many interesting sights that I saw and learnt about in this abbey included (but no limited to):
1. Coronation chair: The chair used during coronations where the future monarch sits on. There used to be rock belonging to Scotland that was placed underneath the chair, but it was given back to Scotland in 1996 with the condition that it will be brought back for future coronations. This was the simple explanation given to me by the English. It wasn't till I went to Scotland (Edinburgh) a few days later that I learnt of the true significance of this rock. The Scottish believe this rock to be the "rock of destiny" and it is the rock on which Scottish kings have been crowned since immemorial... and there is a belief that when the stone is in Scottish hands will Scotland be able to rule on its own.... The stone was stolen from Scotland in 1296, but in the Treaty of Northampton of 1328, England was supposed to have given back the stone. However, they did not keep their side of the bargain. So it is ironic that the Queen still insists that the stone be given back for future english coronations when they were supposed to give it back like 700 years ago.... It was a very interesting story when I heard it. And there is also the story about 4 glasgow students who thought of a plan to bring the stone back to Scotland (and they actually succeeded doing it)... I shall tell that later...
2. Tomb of Elizabeth 1/Mary Queen of Scots. A little ironic that these two rivals are buried in the same abbey. But that's what you get when your rival's son gets the throne after you pass away...
3. Poet's corner: A big space of the abbey contains memorials to many literary giants, such as bronte sisters, dickens, chauncer, shakespeare, austen...
4. Grave of the Unknown warrior: The body of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of WWI was buried here in 1920. He represents the war dead.
5. Architecture of the abbey: the Nave/lady's chapel are something to see.... the altar tables and paintings are also pretty awesome when you take a seat on one of the wooden chairs and take a few minutes to just look all around..
Westminster Abbey-> courtyard
St Margaret Church: Interesting fact: Winston Churchill was married in this 15th Century church.
Westminster Abbey -Exterior
Half expected to see Sherlock Holmes when I saw the street name... but no... and no police inspectors lurking around the area either..
English pubs really have interesting names...
St Martin in the fields... again.. could only see from the outside... have to save this for the next trip.
National Portrait gallery: Unfortunately, in many of the places I visited today, I couldn't take pictures inside. However, this turned out to be one of my favourite museums and I spent a couple of hours wondering around inside. Here, you can find portraits of the Bronte Sisters, Shakespeare, Elizabeth 1 portraits, Margaret Thatcher, Germaine Greer....
Mini Times Square... Picadilly area/Leicester Square. TKTS counter is here (it's where we get all our discounted musical/theatre tickets). Really wish I had time to watch a musical here... but oh well.... at least now I know where it is... It was by fluke that I really stumbled across the TKTS counter and Leicester Square really, as I was just walking around after finishing with the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery.
Next post: Harrods..