Liverpool

September 20-22

 

I spent the weekend in Liverpool. Liverpool is known as the hometown of the Beatles. So of course I went to a Beatles exhibition.

 

Not surprisingly there were many pictures of the Beatles.

There was also their set.

And the Yellow Submarine, which was awesome, and had fish tanks inside.

 

Liverpool is gorgeous. Being situated on the Mersey River, allows for much of it's beauty.

There are many museums in Liverpool, all within a five minute walking distance of each other. There is a Tate, a Slavery Museum, a boating museum, and the general Liverpool Museum.

The area of Liverpool that I was in also has a huge mall.

It was a great weekend, and it was nice to get away from the crowds and the busy London city for a couple days.  



London at Night

September 19

 

London is beautiful, but it becomes even more so at night. I walked along the Thames River from Westminster to the Tower of London.

 

It was a long walk, but it was gorgeous.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

The London Eye

The London Eye and the Aquarium

The city

The side of Westminster Abby

Westminster Abby



 



Tower of London

Sept. 14

 

Today we went to the Tower of London. Which is more like a multitude of towers of London, but I guess Tower of London has a better ring, and at some point way back when, there was only one tower.

 

                     Tower of London from outside.                                      Tower of London inside 1st defense system (left),

                                                                                                                      outside second defence system (right).

 

The Tower of London used to be a residence for Royalty, but like Buckingham Palace there is no Royalty currently living there. But what is housed there are the Crown Jewels.  

 

 

Like many of the Royal things, you can not take pictures of the Crown Jewels.If you ever plan on going to see the Crown Jewels I would suggest getting there in the morning and starting with that. We did exactly that and there was no line (we got there around 10), but a couple hours later there was a HUGE line! But the Jewels were very beautiful, as expected.

 

After the Crown Jewels we went on a tour. I would also suggest doing this, although I would not personally call it a tour. More like a speech about parts of the history of the tower. The tours are lead by the Yeomen Warders.

 

 The Yeomen Warder that led our tour

 

The Yeomen Warders are really awesome people. There are somewhere between 35-40 of them at any one time, right now there are 37. They have all served in either the Air Force or the Navy. The all live in the Tower of London with their families.

 

 



Where the Yeomen Warders live, inside the Tower of London 

 

There are really great guys, and all clearly love their jobs, although the position is difficult to get. The Yeoman what we had as a tour guide was really funny, and we got to see another Yeoman that was having a reunion of sorts with a buddy he served with.

 

 

Also at the Tower of London, like at all of the Royal places, are the stereotypical guards.

 

Guard, guarding.

 

They are so still and quite, that when they move it startles you. But the walk back and forth every once in a while, and they have to switch posts, all of which is done in a very particular way.

 

Guards returning from switching posts.

 

For a long time the Tower used to house animals, such as Polar Bears, Tigers, Lions, and Monkeys. The King wanted them there, and the public sometimes came to see them. Now there are animals made of wire mess around.

 

There are still animals at the Tower, but they are just Crows (and any other birds that fly in). There are six crows that are kept at the Tower.

Currently at the Tower of London is a memorial for the 100th anniversary of World War I. It's called 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.' The project involves the planting of 888 246 handmade ceramic poppies, one for each British Forces (the Commonwealth) member that died in the First World War. The poppies continue to be planted everyday, until the last one is planted on November 11, 2014. It is absolutely gorgeous.

  

 

By the Tower of London is Tower Bridge. So we went on the bridge, and got some pictures of the Bridge.

 

The Tower was really amazing!







A busy day

September 11

 

Today was a very busy day. I started the day by stalking celebrities. Maroon 5 is currently in London. This morning they did a performance for BBC radio, then they are at the roundhouse tonight for the iTunes festival. I'm not normally a stalking celebrities person, but I waited a very long time, to get some pictures, and autographs.

Band members of Maroon 5, including Adam Levine

 

After that I had class, Urban studies. We went on a little field trip after class to see a model of London. It was huge and really cool. The grey buildings are the ones that are built, and the white are the ones that have been approved but not completed. They can be anywhere in the process, but it gives a look at what the future London will be.

 

 

Next a couple of us went to see if we could get day of tickets for the musical Once. We were able to get front (and second) row tickets! They even used the set as an on stage bar before the show, and during intermission.

 

A very busy day, but it was great!

 

 

 





Buckingham Palace

September 8

 

Today a large group of us went to Buckingham Palace. As always with a large group, we got split up pretty fast, and ended up with smallish groups. We went to go see the changing of the guards at 11:15, but even getting there half hour early we couldn't see anything, so a few of us plan to go back another day. Although I did get a couple pics of some people leaving by horseback.

 

 

I also was not really able to get a great pic of Buckingham Palace itself because of the large crowds, but will work on that when I go again to see the changing of the guards.

Front side of Buckingham Palace                                                           Back of Buckingham Palace     

We did the Royal Day Out, which means we went to the Queen's Gallery, the Royal Mews, and the State Rooms. The Queen's Gallery was good.

Interesting historical information, and gorgeous pictures.

 Pictures from the Queen's Gallery

 

 Pictures from the Queen's Gallery

There were also items other then pictures.

After the Gallery was the Royal Mews (which is the stables).

They were pretty cool. Got to see some of the horses, and the tack room.

                          Stevenson                                                                                                Concord 

While at the Mews, we also got to see some of the carriages that the Royals used.

 

After the Mews we went to the State Rooms. The State Rooms don't allow for photography, so I don't have pictures, but I also don't think that pictures would have been able to do it justice. Buckingham Palace is beautifully decorated, extremely elaborate, and like nothing you have ever seen. It was incredible to be able to see where the Royals have lived parts of their lives. We were able to see where some of the Royal pictures of Will and Kate on their wedding were taken. We also saw the current exhibition called "Royal Childhood," which was so interesting to see a number of things from the Royals, and how it was growing up. Would definitely suggest putting 'go through the state rooms' on your bucket list. The other ones you could probably live without, but the state rooms are a must see. 
After you leave the Palace, you walk through the Queen's Garden, which is very nice.

 

 It was a long day (left at 10:30, didn't get back until 6), but it was great! I'm enjoying London, but I'm back to class tomorrow. Time to get my homework done.

Hampstead Heath

September 7

Today included a visit to Hampstead Heath. Hampstead Heath is a big green space, with a number of pounds and walking trails. It is very well used. Whether they were just sitting relaxing, reading a book, biking, hanging out, or walking their dog, there were tons of people there. One of the main parts of Hampstead Heath is parliament hill.

 

                                                                                                 The top of Parliament hill

 

 

The view from the hill was amazing.

 

 

 As we continued to walk we came upon an unusual area. In Canada we have dog parks, in London, they have children parks. Same concept, different animal.

 

The entrance to the children's park. 

It was a beautiful park, and a great day!





Public Transit

The transit in London.... It's unlike anything else. Toronto pales in comparison, so do the cities I've lived in.



Tube map

There are a number of different ways to get around. The tube is the most intricate, but there are also busses and trains. The busses do not have set times, but just tell you how often they come. The 31, which we took the other day, comes every 6-10 minutes, which at times is an over exaggeration. When we were looking to come back yesterday, we saw the bus we needed pass when we were a minute from the stop. We had only been at the stop a minute when the same bus came again. Making the time between the busses 2 minutes. The tube is similar in that they come every 6-10 minutes, so if you miss one, or it is too full, you just wait, and there will be a new one very soon. I am figuring out the system, and like that I don't have to worry about time, as it doesn't really matter when I get to the stop. I know I won't be waiting more than 10 minutes. I have yet to wait more than 5.

Tube                                                                Bus        

Adventures in Leicester square

September 1

This afternoon and evening was spent in Leicester Square. Leicester Square is a cool place, but our reasoning to go there was chocolate. Leicester Square is home to the UK M&M shop.

The shop consists of four floors of chocolate and M&M merchandise. Seeing as there are four floors, it should be no surprise that there is a LOT of stuff. Seeing as it's London, the store had iconic London things. Such as a guard, the famous walk across Abbey Lane, and a London bus.



M&M's walking 'Abbey Lane'            M&M standing guard    

   

After buying 100 grams of M&M's the venture at Leicester Square continued. We found William Shakespeare.

We also found one of the iconic telephone booths.

Before leaving the Square, we found ourselves hungry, so we went and ate. We also ventured outside of Leicester Square, and found Kings Cross station, where platform 9 3/4 exists. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, I've never read the books, and only saw the first movie (when it came out, forever ago). But it was cool all the same. You can take pictures with the cart. You can even wear Harry's glasses and scarf, but with a very long line, we did not feel the need to stand in today.



Well, that was today's adventure. Classes start tomorrow, which is always an adventure in itself.