First, I went to the London Eye. It was a beautifully sunny day and I thought that I should seize the opportunity to check out the view. The eye continuously moves and takes 30 minutes to travel around the entire thing. It is similar to a ferris wheel, however the capsules allow you to stand and are entirely closed in, with enough room for 20 people comfortably. The views were great and I was able to see a lot of the major landmarks. The London Eye wasn't included as part of the pass and costs 15 pounds to go up.
After the Eye, I took a ride on a boat in the Thames River Cruise. The guide pointed out a lot of landmarks along the way and it was cool to be able to be on the Thames. After getting off the boat, I visited the Tower of London. I went through the very parts of the tower, and read about the history of what it was used for and its expansion in size and shape throughout time. The tower of london is more of an army base than a single tower, and includes many small towers with a larger portion in the center. I also viewed the the Crown Jewels which included alot of the crowns and other pieces of garment that the Royal families have had thoughout history. After the Tower of London, I ate a sandwich and potato for lunch and headed to the Tower Bridge. Inside there are videos giving the history of the bridge and its means of construction. It only takes 1 minute for the bridge to lift in order for ships and large boats to pass into the port easily. I also viewed the steam engine that is used to propel the bridge to raise so effortlessly.
I went to the design museum. It wasn't covered with the pass, so I spent a while looking through the bookstore which had a lot of fascinating things. Many intriguing books and little things that were interesting. For instance; salt and pepper shakers that hug eachother. What is a trip without a little bit of danger and forced reckoning of safety. I looked to the left (as taught before crossing a street) and went to cross and then, instinctively stopped and put up my hands and in doing so a bus had barely grazed the tips of my fingers. Not a normal bus. A giant, red, scary bus. I was instantly in shock and frozen with fear. I stepped back to gather my composure. My heart was racing so bad and I couldn't help but think about if I had decided to jog across to the road rather than walk. It was crazy.
However, I did brush this off and regain my ability to think. Why does London have to have streets that are opposite what I'm used to? Huh?! I head to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I get my ticket and walk around the gallery and read a little bit of history about the Globe. After about 30 minutes, I meet in the lobby with others to begin a tour. We are told about the construction and how the current Globe is really the third version and wasn't actually built until the 20th century by a filmmaker who wanted to pay hommage to Shakespeare.
Next up, the Tate Modern museum. Needless to say, I was pretty tired by this point, but was excited to see works by Picasso as well as some pretty neat cubist statues. I walked through the floors and examined the works that stood out to me most. I was a little frustrated that I couldn't get into some of the exhibitions and that they wanted more money to see some. However, It was definitely worth seeing what I did. I walked along the Millenium Bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge that is very cool visually. I saw the St. Paul Cathedral and then took the Underground (the subway system in London) back to the hostel.
I got online and checked emails, talked to family, and then showered. I wrote in my journal the events of the day so that I could easily type them later for the blog. I went to bed at around 11:30, after talking to another one of my roommates, a girl from Italy, for a while.
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