Wednesday, March 30, 2011 
Since yesterday was Wednesday, Sport day, we planned to spend the day in London. The London Tower and Tower Bridge can be a mess on the weekends with all the tourists so we decided a weekday would be a much better time to go and explore these landmarks. We packed our bags and headed out, just like any other time. Instead of buying train tickets everytime we take a trip, we bought a prepaid card called the Oyster. Technically, the Oyster card only works for zones 1-5 and Epsom is a little further out in zone 6. The Oyster is good for any train, underground or bus in those zones. The Oyster makes traveling cheaper around the London area. The Oyster has to be scanned when we get on the train/bus/underground and has to be scanned when we get off the train/bus/underground. Well, since we are in zone 6, there is no Oyster scanner. We always jump off at Ewell East station, run to the scanner, scan our Oyster and jump back on the train. No big deal, right?! Well, today was the first day that our 'jump off, scan, jump on' plan back fired. Jason jumped off, scanned the Oyster cards and walked, not ran, back to the train. Well, right as he was about to get to the doors, the conductor blew his whistle, shut the doors and took off. Yep, Jason was on the train platform and I was on the train heading to London. I mouthed "What the heck?!" and thought a few choice words before trying to gather myself. What should I do? Get off at the next stop and wait for him? What if the train that he gets on doesn't have a stop at the stop that I get off at? I decided to get off at Stoneleigh, which is a stop out in the middle of nowhere. The next train wasn't due to arrive for another 15 minutes so it gave me plenty of time to play out some James Patterson books in my head. I'm not going to lie...I was a nervous wreck. Myself and two men were the only people on the platform so I decided to walk a little further down and hide out rest between two old, run down buildings.
Finally, the train was coming and I tried my hardest to inspect every train coach. I think my green coat helped me get spotted because next thing I know, Jason is waving at me through the train window. We were united again! What a way to start the day! Once we got to London, we were on a mission. We walked along the river, seeing all we could see and stopping only to grab some lunch. Once we finished with lunch, we walked outside to a pleasant surprise...rain. Usually it rains for 20-30 minutes and then it stops (from our past one day of rain experience) so we decided to just huddle together under our umbrella and continue our walk towards our final destinations. The walk was pretty wet and windy but we kept saying "We aren't going to let a little separation at the station and rain get us down!" Truth be told, we were cold, our jeans were wet and we were starting to get a little irritated with huddling under the small umbrella. We continued on our rainy walk and we got to see quite a bit of things. Everyone was hiding out, under shelter, but we were out in the middle of everything. 
We found Shakespeare's Globe, which contains all the history of Shakespeare. It has a thatched roof, which definitely adds to it's historic feel. 
We kept walking down and then the Tower Bridge appeared. It has a very rich, grand, Harry Potter-like feel to it. 
We crossed the bridge, learned all the history involved with the bridge and made our way for the Tower of London. The Tower of London considered one of the safest places in London and that is why it is still home to the Royal Jewels. Pretty much the only reason I wanted to pay the admission fees was the see the jewels but once we walked in, there was so much more there. We waited around for the Yeoman Morder "Beefeater" to give us a free tour through the tower.
The tower used to be a holding cell for some of the worst criminals. They were held at the Tower and then they would be escorted up Tower Hill for their execution. Pretty intense place...even Anne Boelyn was held and executed here. 
The history in this tower, scratch that, throughout London is unmeasurable. We had such a great time exploring and learning all the historic events that the Tower of London was responsible for. 
The rain did slow down quite a bit during our tour but by then we were frozen to the bone. We grabbed a warm hot chocolate after the tour and made a mad dash for home. Don't worry, when we had to scan our Oyster cards on the way home...we BOTH got off to scan our Oyster cards!!
Finally, the train was coming and I tried my hardest to inspect every train coach. I think my green coat helped me get spotted because next thing I know, Jason is waving at me through the train window. We were united again! What a way to start the day! Once we got to London, we were on a mission. We walked along the river, seeing all we could see and stopping only to grab some lunch. Once we finished with lunch, we walked outside to a pleasant surprise...rain. Usually it rains for 20-30 minutes and then it stops (from our past one day of rain experience) so we decided to just huddle together under our umbrella and continue our walk towards our final destinations. The walk was pretty wet and windy but we kept saying "We aren't going to let a little separation at the station and rain get us down!" Truth be told, we were cold, our jeans were wet and we were starting to get a little irritated with huddling under the small umbrella. We continued on our rainy walk and we got to see quite a bit of things. Everyone was hiding out, under shelter, but we were out in the middle of everything. We found Shakespeare's Globe, which contains all the history of Shakespeare. It has a thatched roof, which definitely adds to it's historic feel. We kept walking down and then the Tower Bridge appeared. It has a very rich, grand, Harry Potter-like feel to it. We crossed the bridge, learned all the history involved with the bridge and made our way for the Tower of London. The Tower of London considered one of the safest places in London and that is why it is still home to the Royal Jewels. Pretty much the only reason I wanted to pay the admission fees was the see the jewels but once we walked in, there was so much more there. We waited around for the Yeoman Morder "Beefeater" to give us a free tour through the tower.The tower used to be a holding cell for some of the worst criminals. They were held at the Tower and then they would be escorted up Tower Hill for their execution. Pretty intense place...even Anne Boelyn was held and executed here. The history in this tower, scratch that, throughout London is unmeasurable. We had such a great time exploring and learning all the historic events that the Tower of London was responsible for. The rain did slow down quite a bit during our tour but by then we were frozen to the bone. We grabbed a warm hot chocolate after the tour and made a mad dash for home. Don't worry, when we had to scan our Oyster cards on the way home...we BOTH got off to scan our Oyster cards!! 
2 comments:
So cool! You should read "Victoria Victorious" and "The Wives of Henry VIII". They are uber interesting and will be even moreso since you can actually VISIT the places they take place!! :D
Tower of London was my FAVORITE! Can you believe those jewels?!! Holy moly!
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