2 Day Trip to London, UK Part 2

The Friend at Hand English Pub
By the time we got to Picadilly Circus, we realized how hungry we were. It was getting late and didn't see much "cheap" options near us, so we decided to head back to the area of our hostel and see what was still open. 
As soon as we were off the tube and down the first street we saw a nice welcoming English Pub. At first it was so crowded we thought we would have to eat standing up, but then some guys saw us searching for a table and decided they were done and gave us their table. Now, we had looked up a few typical English meals and wanted to try some of the local cuisine, so we both decided on a Pie. And because we were in London at an English Pub, we just had to have an Ale. 
The ones on tap were some local cask ales. Cask, or real, ale is a type of beer defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".

A chicken and Mushroom Pie
with "chips" and veggies

"London Pride" Cask Ale

Smart Russell Square Hostel
The Hostel was actually not that bad. It was cheap and very close to the Underground and center of London that we couldn't complain. The place was huge, we're not sure how many rooms there were, but ours had 6 bunk beds. I've seen photos of rooms with more and instead of bunk beds, it was a triple bunked bed. So crazy. It had 2 common rooms, one with couches and tables, the other had a few computers and tables (free wifi). The main downside were the showers, but there had to be a big disappointment somewhere. And since it was only for one night, we put up with it and went to bed with the thought that we had another long day ahead of us.

Day 2
The Hostel gave us a complimentary breakfast, which by their definition was toast and corn flakes and a cup of either instant coffee or English Breakfast Tea. We still had some food left that we brought with us from Zwolle, so in total we had a decent sized breakfast and started day two in London.
Since we were traveling before 9:30, our cards didn't work on the underground and so we grabbed a double decker bus to try and get us to Tower Hill area. The buses were a little bit more confusing to figure out, so we only used them this one time. *There is a short clip of us in the bus in the link at the end.*

London Bridge v. Tower Bridge
You may not have known, but just like Big Ben and Elizabeth Tower, there is a difference between London Bridge and Tower Bridge. London Bridge refers to several bridges that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge constructed from concrete and steel. It replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old medieval structure.

The current London Bridge

Tower Bridge (built 1886–1894) is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name. It has become an iconic symbol of London. *History Lesson* The bridge consists of two towers tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. The bridge's present color scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue for the Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. Originally it was painted a mid greenish-blue color.

  Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to see it open, but that's ok it was still amazing to see and walk across it.

On both sides of the bridge
(Along where it would've opened)

Buckingham Palace

Changing of the Guards

This may seem backwards when reading through, that we were at Tower Bridge right next to Tower of London but went to Buckingham Palace and then came back to Tower of London, but that is because they only do the Changing of the Guards ceremony every other day and only at noon, so we did Tower Bridge to kill some time, and then had to rush back to catch the ceremony. 

11:15 Guards, with the bands, start arriving, 11:30 is the official start time, and 12:00(noon) is when the guard change ceremony ends. We weren't sure how crowded it would be since it was the end of October, but sure enough we had to try and push our way through to find a decent spot. 

http://www.changing-the-guard.com/dates-times.html 

What happens: At the time of Guard Changing, the Old Guard forms up on the north side of the enclosure on Horse Guards Parade and the New Guard on the south side. As the New Guard arrives, each Guard carries the Standard and the Trumpeters of both Old and New Guards sound the Royal Salute on the arrival of the New Guard and on the departure of the Old Guard. When both Guards have formed up in the enclosure, the Corporal Major, Senior NCO and the sentries of the first relief of the New Guard leave for the Guard Room which is then handed over. The sentries of the Old Guard, after being relieved, rejoin the remainder of the Old Guard on the north side of the enclosure. The Standard and Trumpeters are only on parade with a Long Guard.

Buckingham Palace is the Queen's official London residence and is used to entertain guests on state, ceremonial and official occasions. You can always tell if the Queen is in residence, look at the flagpole on top of the Palace, if the flag is flying then 'the Queen is at home'! (When we were there, the Queen was home). ;)

*The Victoria Memorial is what is at the center of the Queen's Gardens in front of Buckingham Palace, dedicated to Queen Victoria.

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames. The Tower has served variously as an armory, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public records office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The castle was used as a prison since at least 1100, although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.

The peak period of the castle's use as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries, when many figures who had fallen into disgrace, such as Elizabeth I before she became queen, were held within its walls. This use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower". Despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death, popularized by 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century writers, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the World Wars of the 20th century. Executions were more commonly held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, with 112 occurring there over a 400-year period. In the latter half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. In the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison, and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage. After World War II it was reopened to the public, and is now one of the country's most popular tourist attractions.

If you go plan on going there, make sure you plan on spending a few hours in it. It looks small from the outside, but once your in there it triples in size. There is so much history behind those walls, and its hard to take it all in in under an hour or even two.

View from across the river Thames

Me acting as a tour guide again

Charla acting like Anne Boleyn ;)

White Tower

The Ravens of the Tower

Making fun of the Guards..as close as
we could get, sadly

The site of the Scaffold and where the
beheadings took place inside Tower of London

Cornish Ice Cream

London's Olympic Park

As you all know, London just hosted the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The 2012 Summer Olympics made London the first city to have hosted the modern Games of three Olympiads; 1908, 1948, and now 2012. (London is the only city in the United Kingdom to have ever hosted the Olympics; the United States is the only country to have hosted Summer Olympics on more occasions than the UK). Now that the Olympics are over, they plan to turn it into a park. The park is to be known as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, though it will not be an official Royal Park of London.

It is obviously still under construction, so the closest we were able to get was a viewing area from a nearby mall just outside limits of what used to be the parking lot for the stadium. 

Now it was starting to get late, and we still had a few more landmarks to cross off our list, so after shopping a bit in the official London 2012 shop we headed back to the Underground.

Abbey Road

Even if your not a die-hard fan or not, you can associate Abbey Road (Album) and The Beatles. The album's cover photograph shows the four group members walking across the zebra crossing located just outside the studio entrance. As a result of its association with The Beatles, since 1970 this section of Abbey Road has been featured on the London tourism circuit. The crossing featured on the Beatles cover, as well as the crossing directly north of it, have become popular photo-opportunity areas, despite the road still being a busy thoroughfare for traffic.

When we finally emerged from the Underground, it was a whole lot darker. The sun had set, but of course we still had to go to the now popular street and walk across the crossing. Even in the light of day, it is hard to imitate. The street is still a very active street, and although traffic will stop because it is a crosswalk, they get a little impatient always having to stop for everyone to get the perfect pic.

As close as we got to imitating it

Abbey Road Studios

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is a huge public square, now a popular tourist attraction. Named to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar, it was originally planned to be named King William the Fourth’s Square until George Ledwall Taylor suggested the name Trafalgar Square. At its center is Nelson’s Column, which is surrounded by four lion statues at the base. There is a number of other statues and sculptures around the square, with one that changes displaying pieces of contemporary art.

The square is also used for political demonstrations and community gatherings, such as New Year’s Eve. When we were there, they were setting up for a  NFL Fan Rally believe it or not, but sadly it was for the New England Patriots and St. Louis Rams and was going on after we were on our way back to Holland. 

Nelson's Column

Telephone Booths

Of course we couldn't pass up an opportunity to mess around with the world famous British Red Telephone Booths...

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And now just for some random photos...

A London Duck

Cool street signs

London by Night ;)

Here is a video of the footage we took while in London: it includes our double decker bus ride, the changing of the guard, and big ben ringing. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbbIfpr9tH4&feature=plcp

Adventure back to Zwolle
We were a little nervous that our trip back might be just as "exciting" as our trip to London was, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Like you read in Part 1 we took the Channel Tunnel on the way there, but for the way back we got to take a ferry. The ferry crossed the Strait of Dover as well, but of course it just takes a few extra hours to cross. Because of bad weather, we had to wait a while before we could get on a ferry so there was delay number one of the trip. It wasn't for very long, and soon we were boarding.

Waiting to board ferry

parking level on ferry

Once on the ferry, you had to leave your cars and they lock the parking levels. Then you get to walk around, get a bite to eat, or sleep in some chairs. So we grabbed our iPads, found a comfy quiet little area and finally got some sleep. The port on the French side was full, so we had to wait in the open waters until a pier opened up so we could unload, which took some time. (delay number two...) Once we finally could unload we were on our way and only about 2-3 hours behind schedule, just like we were on the way to London. After that though it was "smooth sailing" all the way into Holland and to Amsterdam. From there we just repeated every step, just this time in reverse and we were back in Zwolle at our room within an hour and a half. I will say it felt a little homey to be surrounded by Dutch again.