Exploring London

Well we have been in London for a couple of days now, but this is the first chance we've had to blog.

We took an awesome ferry from Dublin to Wales, then a train to London and walked to our hostel. The hostel is basically a summer camp style room with 10 bunk beds and a bar/lounge/restaurant on the first floor. It isn't ideal, but earplugs allow us to sleep.

Since we've gotten used to waking up early, we went to the Tower of London first thing yesterday morning. We had a tour led by a Beefeater (Yeoman's Warder) who was very engaging. It seemed odd to us how celebrated the gruesome details of the tower's history were. We also went on our own to see the Crown Jewels! Most of them date back to the 1600s and have been passed down with the changing styles of each king and queen. They were amazing and the most expensive things we have ever been in the presence of.

Next we found ourselves wandering in search of somewhere to eat lunch. We ended up at an Anatolian Turkish restaurant and ordered things we had never heard of that turned out to be delicious! We still couldn't tell you what they were, though. 

Our walk then took us to the Tate Modern to marvel (and sometimes laugh) at modern art of various forms. There was a little girl laying on the floor of one of the rooms who was drawing the art on the walls, and we agreed that her picture was better than the originals.

After relaxing on the lawn and listening to a street performer play the violin for a while, we walked down the Thames and stopped to watch street dancers and bubble blowers. We walked until Big Ben was across the river from us, so of course we went and stood underneath and walked near the Houses of Parliament. 

We ended our night by going on the London Eye. The views were spectacular and made us appreciate how massive London really is.