London Calling

We went to London last weekend! It's huge, but I think we got to see a lot of the main tourist attractions. We took a train, then the underground, and then we were there! It was colder than I expected.

We started at the London Eye, a fantastic way to see the city if you don't mind heights. The events leading up to it were very similar to what you might encounter in a theme park: long lines to buy tickets, twisting queues before getting into a car, and a gift shop with a place to purchase the photo they took of you. Of course, the views were incomparable.

We walked around after the Eye, finding Big Ben about the same time that we also witnessed hundreds of people in the nude riding bicycles. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to the reason behind that surprise. I didn't get any pictures of them, but I did snap a few of Big Ben (which I would later learn is the name of the bell inside the clock tower, not the name of the tower itself).

We also stopped by Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and saw a performance of The Last Days of Troy at The Globe Theatre.

The next day we waited outside the palace to watch the changing of the guards and then hopped on a double decker red bus to tour the city. We saw a lot of the same places that we had walked to the day before, but it was nice to sit down and learn about them as we passed by.

This is what Tower Bridge looks like from the top of a bus.

This is what Tower Bridge looks like from a distance.

In all, London was overwhelming, and the concentration of other tourists was greater than I had expected. A lot of my time there felt as though I was just constantly in Disney World, or something comparable, because most of the sights that visitors want to see are surrounded by tour guides, maps, and overly priced souvenirs. I'm excited to go back, to see some sights that might not be engulfed by people taking pictures.

In other news, yesterday we went on a walking tour around Liverpool with Laurence Westgaph. Laurence pointed out to us several locations in the area where the existence of the slave trade and the repercussions of the people who benefitted from it are ignored / not expanded upon. Yes, a statue was erected of this man because he founded a hospital, but where did he get the money for the hospital? He was active in the slave trade. That experience taught me to look more closely and think more critically about history that is presented to me. It may be the truth, but it may not be the whole truth. Just something to think about.