Final Day in London

Our third and final full day in London is wrapping up with yet another 7 miles of steps and some mild sunburn from the London sun. 90 degrees and sunny really wasn’t the weather I was expecting, though the sun is certainly appreciated. I think we are both looking forward to going north to Edinburgh, Scotland tomorrow where the high temps are in the high 60’s-low 70’s - but still sunny!

As far as our adventurers today, we started off the morning with a visit to the Tower of London where we joined one of the towers led by the Yeomen Warders, though commonly known as Beefeaters. Formed in 1485, they’re role today is the upkeep of the Tower of London, protecting the Crown Jewels, and providing tours for the public. The tour was very interesting as we learned of the history of the place, even if some of that history was a bit gruesome as it used to hold prisoners and was the site of executions. One of the Beefeaters holds the title of Ravenmaster and is responsible for the care of the ravens that live at the Tower. A legend surrounding the Tower and the ravens is that if the ravens ever leave, the White Tower (the main, center tower) will fall and disaster strike the kingdom. So today, the ravens continue to be well cared for and we saw many of them while walking around on our tour.

After completing our tour, we got some pictures of Tower Bridge and then proceeded to go up (and down) 206 steps to the upper walkways on the bridge. It made for some amazing views and photos, though Joel wasn’t too fond of the sections of glass floor they have so you can straight down onto the bridge and water below.

Our final stop of the day was the one I think Joel was looking forward to the most, and we got a good view of it from up on the bridge, the HMS Belfast. Built in 1938, the Belfast was active in both WWII and the Korean War, it’s now a museum that you can explore on your own with additional information provided by an audio guide. While the hot, sunny weather made many of the decks and rooms uncomfortably hot, it was still really interesting to see. You were able to go up and down between decks to see various rooms and learn how they were used. The stairs up and down through various hatches were very steep, almost a vertical ladder, and Joel was often having to duck when walking around inside.

To cool-down, we grabbed some ice cream and I came across something I’ve never seen before, a vanilla ice cream, dipped in white chocolate ice cream bar. It was so sweet and amazing and I’m now trying to figure out if any brand sells such a thing back home! While we enjoyed our ice cream, one thing we kept being amazed by was the combination of old and new buildings in the skyline side by side. Seeing stuff like the Tower of London or St Paul’s Cathedral right next to very modern buildings like Sky Garden or The Shard is crazy.

One final picture we grabbed tonight on our way back from trying fish and chips (which was very good!) was of a Paddington Bear statue. We’ve seen him located in the park just in front of our hotel, but had not stopped to take a picture of him yet.

That wraps up the London portion of our trip. Tomorrow morning we catch a 7:30am train up to Edinburgh while is about a 5 hour train ride. Will be a nice chance to rest our feet and then start some exploring in Edinburgh once we get checked into our next hotel!