London Calling

Holy Cow, what a day. What a seriously awesome day.
Today was our "London" day, and if I am being quiet honest, it was the part of the trip that I wasn't as excited about, mainly because I am not a huge fan of cities. Or crowds. Or traffic.
London is all of those things and more, and I loved it. It was completely overwhelming, but in a good way.
So here are the things from today that really stuck out to me, in no particular order.

- Londoners pay no heed what-so-ever to the light up cross walk signs. If there is a gap in traffic, they are going to go. This was a good way to tell the locals from the tourist (aka me and Brynt), tourist sit patiently on the side walk, Londoners go at the first available opportunity.

walking the streets 

-London is a crazy mess of streets and buildings. Almost nothing is square. the roads zig zag all over the place. The buildings are shaped to accommodate the  the crazy roads and therefore have all sorts of odd angles. Some times there are buildings in the middle of the road, like a tiny pub, or an IMAX in the middle of a round-about. Its wonderful, it makes the city feel like an architectural maze.

One of about 50 pics of Big Ben (or the tower that holds Big Ben) because its was just so
awesome.

-Speaking of architecture, its all pretty much amazing. especially the really old architecture, it is truly stunning. The details of the builds are so wonderful to look at, you could look at one building for hours and not run out of new things to see, and there are thousands of buildings.

Tower Bridge

- We were able to attend the Evensong service at St. Paul's Cathedral, and this was probably the highlight of the whole day for me. First of all, the building itself is magnificent; the interior is jaw-dropping. Incredible artwork everywhere and in every form. I did not take pictures of the inside because we were there for a service and its just as well that I didn't because there is no way I could have done it justice. But it was a truly beautiful house of worship.
And then there was the actual service itself- the Evensong service was a meeting comprised mostly of the singing of hymns, scriptures and prayers, with a short sermon given towards the end of the meeting. It was so beautiful. The choir singing was an incredible thing to be heard, I nearly cried. It was a meeting of beautiful music for the sole purpose of praising God, and I was so glad I was there to hear it.

St Paul's

The dome of the Cathedral

- London is a cultural melting pot. Its amazing how many different types of people live in such a small area.

This guy was amazing

-We accidentally saw the changing of the guard. How does one accidentally see the changing of the guard you might ask? Here's how- we had actually planned NOT to see the changing of the guard, We didn't want to wait around forever to see the backs of people's heads. But as we were going around on our bus tour we decided to get off at Buckingham Palace, and as luck would have it, we got there at the tail end of the event. People were already starting to clear out so we were able to watch the last of it. It was pretty cool!

-  The parks here are amazing. Parks is really a lame way to describe them, I would say they are more like wooded wonderlands. They seem to do a great job of mixing sections of very structured, beautifully manicured gardens, with more wild, nature areas. Its absolutely lovely.

- London is a vibrant city, it is a mixture beautiful old buildings, rich turbulent history, young families, trendy shops, and a million other things. It is full of life and energy and you can really feel that. I don't think I could handle it for too long ( I am country girl to the core), but I enjoyed the city far more than I ever expected to.

- We saw a group of guys on a "pedibus" celebrating a Stag party (bachelor party), and it was hilarious. basically 8 people can sit on it at a time, and they all pedal while they drink a the same time. The Groom to be was wearing a wedding dress. One of the funniest/strangest things I have ever seen, ha ha.

- The royal horse guards were amazing. These have to be some of the most well trained, patient horses ( and riders for that matter) in the world. I saw people do some insanely stupid things to/around them, not to mention the enormous crowd of people that are continually surrounding them, and through it all they stand beautifully, hardly even moving. I was amazed.

- We did, saw and learned so many things that there is no way I could write about them all, but I will say that London surprised me. I really enjoyed it and I hope to go back again some day.

So British :)

Fun Fact- the artist that did these lions didn't have a lion to model them after, their hind ends resemble a dog because that is what used as a model, he he.

Admiral Lord Nelson

Tower of London- The only Castle in London