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OK, this is my third attempt to type this blog and had to resort to using WordPad because the website kept crashing. I find this to be quite irritating but I will not let it tarnish my lovely day. I did quite a bit of sightseeing today, my poor feet are protesting. I swear I have 5 blisters on each, some of them are quite amazing. It hurts to walk, but I'll have to grin and bear it tomorrow because I have so much more to see!
Today started out early, as in 6 am early. Now anyone that knows me knows that this is highly unnatural behavior and that something must be wrong for me to be awake that early. I was mildly disgruntled by the fact, but after staring at the ceiling for nearly twenty minutes I decided I better get out of bed and greet the day! I got up and showered and went upstairs for breakfast, it was nothing special, just some toast, a croissant and a few glasses of milk with an apple to eat later. Last night I decided that I wanted to see the Tower of London today, because Dad gave me some money I wasn't expecting so I had a little more leverage with my funds. It opened at nine, so I got there at 8:30ish, and boy am I glad I did! One of the guide books said to either book early or arrive at opening to avoid lines and congestion, I'm glad I listened. I got there and took some pictures, a nice Spanish lady took one of me with the tower in the background and I wandered around, taking pictures before buying my ticket. I nearly laid a golden egg when I saw the price (£14.50 for students (that is $23!!) and the guide book was another £4.99 bringing my grand total to £29.49/$32.10) but it was SO worth it. The Tower is amazing, I got to see the different stages of construction and I even got a picture of Traitors Gate! Not to mention I saw the place where Anne Boleyn was beheaded.
In addition to the usual stuff there was a special exhibit about King Henry VIII because it is the 500th anniversary of his birth. It was called Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill and was all his armor and stuff, plus quite a bit from other collections from the Royal Armory. I can't believe some of that, it is so impressive! The lances are huge, I can't imagine holding that while galloping toward amother human for a game. Also, I saw the block that Simon, Lord Lovat was beheaded on. Does that make me a really morbid person, that I almost jumped up and down and clapped my hands in glee when I saw it? All I could think of was "Oh My Goodness! Jamie's grandfather was beheaded RIGHT ON THIS VERY BLOCK!" I'm just a tiny bit obsessed with that novel.... After the exhibit I went to go see the Crown Jewels, then I discovered where all the people went. It was kind of crazy, I didn't expect to see that many people there, it was still rather early. The jewels are quite impressive, I couldn't imagine how heavy they would be to wear, good thing they are mostly for coronations only.
After the tower I walked to St. Peter's Cathedral, it was so beautiful. I was a bit disgruntled about paying £8 to see a church, but I paid it anyway and walked through most of it. I saw the crypt with all the buried bodies, that was really sweet. I saw the tombs of Field Marshall Montgomery, the bane of Patton's existence and Lord Nelson. The inside is so beautiful you wouldn't believe it. Everything is covered in mosaics and gilt. There are so many statues of the saints that I didn't even begin to count them all, and the numerous chapels are beautiful. I also went to mass, it is Mary Magdalene's day and the 12 30 mass was a sung mass so I stayed. I figure I haven't been to church in so long I can't remember, so it was about time. I can't believe some people though, it is very obvious that a service is going on, we are all singing in Latin for crying out loud and there is a rather portly man in salmon, white and gold robes standing at the pulpit and people just kept on talking and taking pictures and being disruptive. It wasn't as if they were not warned, there was an announcement over the loud speaker stating services were about to start and ask people to keep talking to a minimum until it was over.
I left after the services and got some lunch at a French restaurant, apparently they put green beans in their pasta with pesto... I was a bit puzzled about that, but it turned out very tasty. After lunch I walked to the Museum of London. The museum was good, but very small, I was expecting something... I don't know... grand maybe? I did like their exhibits, they had quite a lot on the Romans. After the Museum of London I walked a few blocks to the Old Bailey, it is the criminal court, and took pictures. Ever since reading "Trials at the Old Bailey" for my 18th Century British History class I've wanted to see it, and I was impressed.
After that I had two not so impressive sites. The first was Sommerset House, which was supposed to be this amazing thing and I for the life of me couldn't figure it out. It looked like it was all shops, not the museum it was portrayed to be. At least it was free so I'm not out any money. The other was the "Roman Baths". I put that in quotes because after walking through a gate, down a really sketchy stairway and into an alley in which I expected to be mugged, I finally found it, behind a locked door and dirty windows. Apparently if you want to go in you have to call ahead and arrange it with the National Trust, but from what I saw it was a hole in somebodies basement filled with green water and made out of brick.
After that I looked at my watch and decided that 5 PM was a decent hour to head home, so I recharged my tube pass and came back to my hostel. I think I'm going to go get dinner downstairs now. Pictures to come, as soon as I can get my computer up and running.
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