An early start! Steve dropped Aunt Carolyn, Mum, Greg, and me off at the Northampton stop for the train to London. An hour later we were at the Euston stop on the London Underground, navigating our way through the metro to get to the sites! After a wrong stop [we went to "Bank" instead of "Embankment"], we finally walked up the stairs out of the metro and BAM! Hello Big Ben - literally across the street, a mere 10 feet away. It had been six years since I last came up those steps to see that big bad boy. I think Greg was a little gobb-smacked, heh.



We made straight for the London Eye. There's usually a long wait for it, and we wanted to be sure to get tickets. Turns out, we were on in no time at all! I HATE heights, and so does my mum,  but it was fun! None of us had ever done it so that was something nice that we could all share. London sure is one beautiful city.



After that, we stopped by Westminster Abbey which is right behind the House of Parliament. It's where Princess Diana's funeral was held, and where the Queen was, well, made queen! :) We didn't get to go in, but it sure was beautiful. Not to mention the historical importance to the country!



Then we hopped back on the Underground to get to the Tower of London. Once again, something that none of us had done before, and what I was waiting all trip for! The death and burial place of Anne Boleyn! The holding place of Elizabeth I! Built by William the Conqueror, for pete's sake! lol I made a bee line for the monument put in the place where the private scaffold was, where a select and "priviledged" few lost their lives. Three years after Henry VIII built a wing specifically for his new Queen, Anne Boleyn's coronation, she was sent there on that infamous boat ride through Traitor's Gate - to be held in captivity and of course sentenced to death. There was also a musuem of the Crown Jewels that was quite interesting, a "torture" exhibit, and a walk through of the forced residences of Thomas Cromwell and Sir Walter Raleigh when those tumoltuous Tudors reigned with a vengeful fist. Did you know that the Beefeaters, which have been gaurding the Tower for hundreds of years, still LIVE in the Tower?? This year also marks the first year ever there has been a woman Beefeater. GIRL POWER! ;D



Unfortunately we didn't make it to Buckingham Palace or Harrods before they closed, so instead we went to Trafalgar Square and ate a delicious dinner at a pub. I had Toad in the Hole [Bangers, mash, veg, and gravy inside a big Yorkshire Pudding], my fav, and a pint of cider! Heaven! Then we ended the night off in a Starbucks in Piccidilly Circus - sort of like the Times Square of London.