Londontown - Part Two

Thursday, June 28th
The first day of our London Pass began today. We got up bright and early, had a quick little bite of the complimentary cereal, toast and tea of the hostel's complimentary breakfast. Then we walked to the Tube and set off for Westminster Abbey.
Getting out of the subway, we immediately see the Parliament Buildings and the large clock tower that contains Big Ben. We walk past a park that contains statues of Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln and other luminaries. The Abbey is a short walk and soon we're in the line-up to get in. The building itself is beautiful, huge and gothic. Many royals and famous people are buried here, and it's also the location of royal coronation since 1066 as well as royal weddings.
Immediately, you are impressed walking inside - there are large marble statues right at the entrance. We aren't allowed to take pictures of anything (though I may or may not have snuck in a photograph of Winston Churchill's memorial plaque). We are given audioguides and a map; the path through is very well laid out with a way to see everything and the guide explains anything you want to know about each section. Further inside, the design of everything is large and ornate.
Walking around, you see the tombs of various royals, such as Henry III or Anne of Cleves (one of Henry VIII's many wives). Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton are buried here. The more exciting burial area was probably Poets' Corner, just because of the more recognizable names, like Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens and Alfred Tennyson. Laurence Olivier is buried beneath the gaze of a memorial statue of William Shakespeare, which I thought very appropriate. There are many memorial plaques/statues/busts of people who are actually buried elsewhere - some had their services in the abbey and others are just worthy of commemoration. For example, Oscar Wilde, T.S. Eliot, Jane Austen, the Brontes, and many others. I was really excited to recognize General James Wolfe's large memorial, though Josh didn't recognize the name at all. He has a painting and everything! (He is the one who led the army that defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham.)
After the Abbey, we walked to the Churchill War Rooms, a museum housed in the large underground complex that formerly served as British command centre in the Second World War. Many rooms, such as the map room, radio-communications, sleeping quarters and meeting areas were reconstructed or kept intact, and each had signs explaining their usage in wartime. The amazing thing about this structure was that it was never attacked, though it contained so much secret information, important personnel and often Winston Churchill himself. They saw fit to install a huge layer of concrete which is called The Slab in order to offer more protection against a potential bomb attack, but it was unfinished.
After this stop, we returned to the subway and went to the London Bridge. We had a quick bite to eat off food trucks there, and then went beneath the bridge for the London Bridge Experience! (exclamation mark included). This was a haunted walk sort of thing. It starts off in a room that explains the history of the London Bridge including its many revisions, starting back in the Roman period. We're waiting in this room for a while before a loud banging occurs at the door and the experience(!) begins. The rooms varied from role-playing (a barmaiden describing the streets of London while Jack the Ripper was roaming, or the madwoman who took care of the corpses of executed prisoners and prepared their decapitated heads for the spikes that once sat on top of London Bridge (as warning to others.) There was one really trippy room that had spinning coloured stripes of light and a bridge across to the other side - the bridge itself tips slightly but due to the spinning, you constantly feel like you're going to fall off. There was also a dark maze that we all had to go through in a conga style (With our hands on the shoulders of whoever's in front.) The experience(!) wasn't particularly scary for myself or Josh though there were some startling parts. The really fun part was seeing other people get terrified.
After this, we walked to the Tower of London (really a small castle) and had just enough time to walk around the grounds a little bit and see the Crown Jewels. Anne Boleyn was famously executed here. We saw a long line-up for the Jewels, but it moved fairly fast. Again, we were not allowed to take pictures inside. Walking in and out, you pass through a pair of vault doors, each weighing 2 metric tonnes. The Jewels themselves are gorgeous, and there was also a display of the banquet silverware (goldware, really; in particular, one enormous punch bowl that could bathe three small children) that they use for large royal meals. The sheer amount of money in these two rooms must number of the hundreds of millions.
Most places included on the London Pass closed around 6 pm, so we headed back to the hostel to figure out dinner. We found a restaurant nearby and took the bus there, which took us past the well-known Selfridges mall, which contains very expensive items and brand name stores. The restaurant itself was on a small street containing numerous others, and they all looked good. Our selection tonight was a burger place. We each got burgers, though I decided to do something a little different and get one with a fried egg on top - it was actually really tasty. I also got a passion fruit cider that would be excellent for drinking on a beach somewhere; Josh selected a lager for himself.
And so back to the hostel, to figure out the next day, and to bed.