We FINNALLLLYYY got to sleep in this morning! (or 'lay in' as they say here)... I was so looking forward to it until a FIRE ALARM woke me up at 9:45am (which, doesn't sound that early..... but being as exhausted as I was.... yeah.) Sooo we went outside, stood with everyone.... waited..... waited.... waited..... and were finally allowed back inside at which point Jess and I crashed right back into beds until 10:45. We got up, showered, dressed (the morning usual) and headed out around 12 to meet everyone downstairs (I got to talk to mom and dad via video chat while i was getting ready! yay! so good to see them!)
Once everyone was together, we headed out.... the two main lines (the District and the Circle lines) were closed today due to construction so we had to take the Picadilly line (most crowded line on the tube EVER!).... but, we finally made it to the tower bridge stop and walked around for a while. It was, again, a beautiful day (i think the rain's a lie.... or a conspiracy!) - slightly cloudy (big white, sometimes grey clouds) but blue sky and some sun now and then.... breezy/kind of cool. SO..... we walked around for a while (there was this really cute place on the south shore by the city hall (which is round!)... it had like fountains and sculpture and stuff.... and a really nice view of the Tower Bridge. Walked around there for a while and then crossed Tower Bridge. I got about five billion pictures of course!
From there we headed to the Tower of London and got tickets (L13... but totally worth it). Inside, we decided to not take a tour (I think we're starting to get toured out) and instead did things at our own pace. We wandered for a bit and then headed out to where the moat once was (now grassy area) as they were having a javelin re-enactment... people on horses and all dressed up and parades and lots of very cool stuff. We sat out there for about a half hour watching everything and then decided to head back in to the tower. We figured we'd beat the crowd to see the crown jewels (since everyone... practically... was outside watching the re-enactment). The crown jewels exhibit was incredible.... they had a bunch of movies on big screens before you saw any of the jewels (one was explaining what everything was and one showed Queen Elizabeth II's coronation). After these films, you actually got to walk around and see all the jewels (crowns, septers, swords, orbs, jewelry, golden dishes, capes, etc. etc.).... it was all soooo gorgeous and sooooo rich looking!
After the jewels, we headed to Bloody Tower and the Torture Tower where we saw, first hand, some massive torture devices and read about murders and lots of gorrey stuff like that..... it was decently interesting. Then... however... the guys wanted to go to the armoury. Much much MUCH less interesting and veeeerrrry long. (It was like a 4 story building!).... but I got some good pictures, so I guess it was worth it in the end. After the armory we were pretty much done (and the tower was closing in a half hour) so we decided to head out (about 5:30pm)... we wandered around the city for a bit (I don't actually think Steve knew where we were going, though he claimed he did) until we found the tube stop we wanted. We made our way back here and, being incredibly exhausted, decided just to crash the night..... we made food and hung out in the kitchen on the first floor... made plans for the next few days and talked about all we want to do (so much to see, so little time!).... then we crashed in the common room (first floor again.... it was easiest) and watched a movie and then later a 'football' game (yay cute soccer boys!)....... Basically a fast pace day at first, but winded up very relaxing..... Now, it's to bed with me. Rugby tomorrow!!!! yay!!!
