LONDON! (part II)

..alright, after a nice 48 hours off I think my brain is ready to get back to the task at hand; which of course is writing about my day in London! So where was I? Ahh yes! The White Tower. Next, I walked up the stairs into the White Tower where a current exhibition was running showing off a large collection of the armor made for and worn by a number of past kings and knights. There was also a really cool display that showed the "armor" or things used from other cultures from around the world that had been given to different monarchs as gifts. One of them was a full Japanese armor that would have been worn by samurai that was given as a gift to James I in 1613 during the early years of English contact with the Japanese. The piece that I (of course) thought was really cool was the full headdress and countless flint arrows that was given by the Lakota Sioux. After exploring the White Tower and seeing most of the exhibit, I headed out and made my way toward the Medieval Palace--the living and sleeping quarters for both Henry III (1216-1272) and [his son] Edward I (1272-1307). After walking through this, my time at the Tower of London was coming to an end. I went to the gift shop to buy a magnet for my mom (obviously) and then found the exit. I had spent a little over 2 hours there, although I must admit it would be easy to spend more time there. But, sadly, I was on a tight schedule, so I needed to keep moving! After officially leavings the outer walls of the tower I made my way back to the Tower Hill tube station and boarded the Circle Line headed for Westminster station. After a quick ride, I got out and headed for the "way out". As soon as I stepped out, there he was: Big Ben! (And no, not the creepy rapist football player..) I took several photos of the House of Parliament and then walked the short distance to Westminster Abbey. I quickly looked around and took some pictures and then walked for about 15 minutes until I came to Buckingham Palace. The flag was raised, meaning the Queen was in :) After again, taking some quick pictures and soaking in the history of what lay before me, it was off to my next stop. By this point it was probably close to 2 and I knew I only had about 3 more hours until I would need to head for the airport to catch my flight home. I walked around the nearby park and made my way to the Victoria underground. There I got back on the tube towards Piccadilly Circus. I took some quick photos of Piccadilly (most of which is currently under construction), went into a tourist shop called 'Great Britannia' and bought a super cute bib with a bear dressed as a Royal Guard for Emilian :) then it was off to find somewhere to get some lunch. I walked to Soho which is just Northeast of Piccadilly Circus and found a nice little pub. I walked in, ordered a Guinness and found a small table next to the window. I took a quick look through the menu, even though I already knew what I wanted: Fish'N'Chips :) I went back up to the bar and ordered and then returned to my seat where I then filled out some postcards. My food came and it was delicious. I soaked in my last hour or so in London in the pub just relaxing a little bit after the crazy running around of the day. After my late lunch, I gathered all my things and headed for the nearest underground station. There I got on and made my way to Liverpool Street, which is also a train station. I bought my train ticket with the last of my money (literally the LAST of my money.. I had about £19.36 on me, and my ticket was £19 exactly.. phew!). I boarded the train that left at 5:55 headed for the Stansted airport--which would be about a 50 minute train ride--and chose a sit. The days events were starting to catch up with me as I was pretty tired. I made it to the airport at around 7 or so and my flight didn't leave until 8:10, so I killed some time browsing the shops throughout the terminal. It was finally time to board my flight, and again I was sitting in 1F so getting on and off without any luggage was a breeze. The flight was on-time, and only took about 45 minutes this time to touch down at the Köln-Bonn airport. Kai came and picked me up and I told him a little bit about my time, and also about how excited I was to lay down in my bed :) And that my friends, was my glorious 32 hours in London, England! I've uploaded most of my pictures from my trip on Facebook, but for those of you who don't have it (aka Travis and Lisa) I'll put some up here soon. Miss and Love all of you! xoxo MegLett