London & waiting...

After seeing Brad off at the airport I went back to stay the night at my cousins place in Boston Manor outside London. I was planning on spending a few days in London and meeting up with my auntie and cousin and do a bit of sightseeing with them.

I booked myself into a hostel for a few nights and then met up with my aunt and cousin and did some sightseeing around the Westminster area of London. Firstly we planned on taking a ride on the London Eye, but unfortunately it had been closed for maintenance for a week. Alright for me because I was sure that I'd have plenty more opportunities in the future.
Next was a ferry ride down the river Thames to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London. We bought tickets to the Tower Bridge which gave us access to the walkway high above the road and also into some of the behind the scenes operations of the bridge. Its amazing that so many years ago they were able to build such massive structures with such intricate details in the stonework. After freezing ourselves on the bridge it was time to defrost with a coffee and a bite to eat.
After lunch we went for a tour through the Tower of London. It's a massive fortress, surrounded by dried up moats and has been around for hundreds of years. Some of the stories about the place and the history were very eye-opening as to how far the world has developed from this period of time. Inside the walls of the fortress the Crown Jewels are kept locked away but available for viewing for the public. I tried to sneak a few photos of the crowns but unfortunately got caught almost instantly. See what I have to go through to try and keep you all visually up-to-date!

After the tour we noticed that the day was slipping away and we decided that we wouldn't have enough time to see everything we wanted to see in the one day. My aunt offered the floor of her hotel room for the night so we could finish off the sightseeing the next day. Obviously, I took her up on her offer.

Day 2 we planned to see the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. 1st stop was to be Westminster Abbey. This massive cathedral is decorated with perfectly carved stone walls and ceilings and lit by huge stained glass windows. Here hundreds of important people, from priests to kings to killed soldiers to poets, are buried beneath the floor under massive slabs of stone.
Next stop was the Houses of Parliament. We managed to get into the House of Commons and the House of Lords while they were in session. The House of Lords was decorated in gold leaf and was almost overdone, a bit hard on the eyes! Interesting but boring... I don't have much to comment on here.

Finally we walked passed the Big Ben and headed home for some dinner. Time to say our goodbyes and it was time for me to head out to Ashwell again to waste a few days until Pete arrived on the 21st.