A day with the Queen..or NOT...visit to London

So today we were off to London, for the day, since it was so beautiful outside, I'm talking 68 degree weather, can't get better than that. So we get into London, and decided to head over to see the London Bridge, well let me just say, as silly as this sounds, when I heard the song "London Bridge is falling down" as a kid, I always imagined this bridge to be beautiful and look like it did in nursery rhyme books, well imagine my surprise when I found out that the London Bridge did not look like what I have always imagined, but instead, it was the Tower Bridge that did.

Be Honest: All of You Pictured It Like the Bottom Picture Too: Admit it !!  :)

So although disappointed by being tricked as a child in my nursery rhymes, I got over it, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the bridge and all of it's surroundings. It was beautiful, and their is a Tower of London not to far from it, that houses many dungeons and such, but I had seen this on my last trip to London as a kid, so we decided to pass on it this time around.

We were then off to see St. Paul's Cathedral, which is the seat for the Bishop of London. This church sits upon the highest point within the city of London. It has a huge dome which is one of the tallest in the world. Many famous people in history have had their funerals here: Winston Churchill, The Duke of Wellington, Margaret Thatcher, etc., and it is also where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were wed.

St Paul's Cathedral

After St. Paul's we walked down to Covent Garden, which is basically a huge outdoor square with restaurants, shops, outdoor stalls, and entertainment, a great place to just hang out on a sunny day, or to do some local shopping.  The area is huge and reminded me of a larger version of the Charleston Market area for those of you from SC.

So now we continued our walk down to Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square is another open square within London, for people to gather. The square is named after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The square is a place for all types of events, from political events, to concerts, celebrations, and more. While we were there, they were preparing for the Queen's Birthday Celebration event which was going to be in the square a few days later. 

Trafalgar Square- Full of people

After passing through the square, and spending some time people watching, we were now making our way around to Buckingham Palace. This place needs no explanation!  :)    Unfortunately being a Sunday (and a holiday), we didn't get to see the changing of the guards, which is done daily, but I saw it last time I was here. However, it was still awesome to see the palace where the queen lives again, wish I could've caught a glimpse of her and her royal entourage! Buckingham Palace has a beautiful fountain in the middle of it, which has a statue of Queen Victoria on top of it. Apart from this statue, the palace itself is adorned with gold, and even the black gates have gold detail to it. I thought the White House was big and beautiful, but I don't know, it looks like the Buckingham Palace may have it beat...lol !

Buckingham Palace

The Guard in front of the Palace

After the Buckingham Palace, we had two more sites to see before completing our day in London, so we continued our walk onwards to see......the famous London clock:  The Big Ben !!!!  This clock tower, which is the 3rd tallest free-standing tower in the world, and the largest four-faced clock tower, is part of the House of Parliament building.

Big Ben and the London Eye

Then we were off to Westminister Abbey which houses the church where Prince William and Kate got married for all you Royal Followers. 

That concluded our day in London.....it was quick, but I got to see everything that London is known for!    Now I get to enjoy some more time with my parents, and countdown to the rest of my trip......T-3 days before starting my tour!!! Can't wait.....