Londinium, Day 2, and Day 3 at Hampton Court Palace

Day 2

SO!  On to Day 2 of my London adventure.  Though Alex and I were beyond exhausted, we knew we only had a limited amount of time so we were out of our hotel by 9:30 to see the sights.  Our first stop was the British Museum, which has some really awesome stuff.  However, it gets a bit redundant after awhile, looking at a bunch of old rocks.  The Reading Room and Main Atrium, though, was a sight in itself!  Absolutely stunning.  

We left there and stopped at a souvenir shop and bought a few things.  Then it was off to the Tower of London!  We bought an all-day pass for the Underground which was an AMAZING decision, it saved us so much time, money and walking!

I think the Tower of London is my favorite place in London.  Just looking at it and thinking of all the history, the torture, royalty that lived there, mystery, and the fact that it's still in use today -- the first part of it was built in 1078!  The Crown Jewels were utterly breathtaking.  You would not believe them unless you see them, which you have to -- you're not allowed to take pictures!  And the story about Edward IV's sons being imprisoned in the Tower and then just disappearing, only later they found the bones of a 12- and 10-yr old boy under the stairs of the White Tower!  Just because they were a threat to Richard III's claim on the throne.  Anne Boleyn was beheaded there, and Queen Elizabeth I was even imprisoned there for a while.  Funny enough, some important prisoners had entire apartments where they lived in luxury with their wives, children and servants.  Others just rotted in cells.  NICE!

After that it was back on the Tube to Waterloo for the London Eye.  That was insane!  It's basically a huge Ferris wheel and you get FANTASTIC views of the entire city.  If you've been to London before it's not a must-see, but if it's your first time I would definitely recommend it because you get a scope of how huge the city is.

Our next adventure was to Kensington Gardens, which I insisted on due to my lifelong infatuation with Peter Pan. For those that don't know, in the book, Peter's mother took him to Kensington Gardens when he was a baby.  His pram rolled away down the hill and he was lost, so the fairies took him to Neverland.  There's a statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens that  I needed to take a picture with.  It was awesome.

At this point we were exhausted and hungry, so we went back to the hotel and ate at this really cool buffet place in the hotel lobby, then proceeded to go back to London Pub because it was just a really fun place!  While we were there, on our third Carlsberg, Eminem's "Lose Yourself" video came on with footage of 8 Mile and the Ambassador Bridge, and Alex and I were both indescribably happy.  I've never been so excited to see 8 Mile!  

Day 3

Day 3 took us to Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII's "summer home" and later the retreat of William III and Mary II.  This place was un-freaking-believable.  You never really think about how people lived back then beyond the fancy "costumes" and court jesters, but just touring the kitchens made my mind go insane.  Alex took a picture of me standing in a fireplace that was bigger than my bedroom -- no lie.  We did an audio tour which was awesome, so we learned all these cool facts about the people that lived there, and there were play-actors around dressed as Henry VIII, Kateryn Parr, and members of court (it was "Henry and Kateryn's Wedding Day", and we had to bow when we saw him, and Alex and I had to hold a door open for him and we freaked out and thought we were going to be beheaded . . . haha).

All in all it was a FANTASTIC trip.  I can't wait to go back!  We are heading down there in November to see Phantom of the Opera in London's West End and do some souvenir shopping and hit up the Hookah Lounge again.  This weekend it's a trip to Lincoln and Cambridge so . . . stay tuned!