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October 23, 2006

My Adventures in London

There are so many things to say about this trip. Even though I was only there for about 4 days, I saw and did SO much. I suppose I could start at the beginning. It is, as they say, a very good place to start.

The first day my sister and I toured the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

(You can click all of these for bigger (somewhat better) pictures)



The Tower (which, technically, isn't really just one tower but several combined in a compound that includes various courtyards and gates and holding cells and prisons and a place for the Queen to stay. Just in case) is really quite amazing. It's amazing that they still deny torturing prisoners there when it was fairly obvious from the displays that they really did. It's amazing being able to stand in the "prisons" of very famous persons in English history. And it's amazing that the upper class really lived pretty decently when imprisoned. Probably close to my current living conditions, just without running water and electricity. But they had beautiful fire places, private rooms that took up whole floors of the tower, and stained glass masterpieces that let in some light.

Nearby the former prison buildings are the crown jewels. I didn't really get an explanation of why they are kept there. It's kind of a strange place to keep the royal goods if you ask me. But no one did. Not even the beefeaters. Sadly, no pictures allowed there...but I can't even imagine trying to capture all that sparkle on camera! The lighting is marvelous in those rooms. It captures every twinkle and sparkle of the fist sized diamonds on some of those pieces. Nearly unbelievable that those gems exist in a setting when entire countries are starving. That was the one thing that struck me when looking at the crowns and sceptors and serving dishes. All of this on display and so much devastation. No wonder our world is a mess sometimes. There is just too much to dicuss here so...

So to turn this away from a political statement, next we visited the Tower Bridge. This exhibit is totally worth the time and money. You get the view up and down the Thames:



The roundish building in the first picture is a city building which is the most environmentally friendly building on the planet. Supposedly. It looks awesome and apparently it uses hardly any energy at all. The tall building that looks like a giant pickle in the last picture is actually called the Gherkin. I couldn't even handle myself after I learned that. I'm such a small child.



The bridge, which most people think is the "London Bridge," is only this beautiful because of a contest held around the turn of the 19th century. There were 2 other options, models of which were displayed in the exibit in the tower. Neither of which were terribly exciting to look at. This one was by far the better option.

That is about enough travel commentary for one day. I'll post more pictures later of other events and travels. And maybe even a finished RR shot in the next few days!

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