London: In Pictures

A summary of our time in London through the lens of a camera.

London Bridge

 St. Dunstan in the East

 

Tate Modern

 

St. Paul's Cathedral 

Churchill War Rooms

Parliament

Big Ben

Les Misérables

British Museum and British Library

And all the random things in between...

First thing to do in London: Get outta there

We left Oxford on Saturday afternoon for London. By God's good providence (and I'm giving Him all the credit) I chose Sunday as our day to visit Stonehenge and Bath. I say that because, upon arriving at our hotel, we found out the London marathon would be happening the next day. Good timing. Had we been in London that day, we would have seen nothing but runners. (Which is cool- but not when you only have three days to spend there!)

So, we left early Sunday morning from Paddington Station to Bath.

Upon arriving, we headed straight to the Scarper tours purple bus that was waiting to take us to Stonehenge.

 

The countryside is covered with bright yellow fields right now. Apparently these are rapeseed crops.

I was a little surprised to hear all the same jokes as our driver pointed out landmarks along the way- but then again, most people don't take the tour twice. He was super nice though, and even  remembered me from the visit with my mom and sister (and told me to tell my mom "hello".) What a nice guy.
So, as expected, we pulled up to Stonehenge about an hour later. Yep, the stones were still there.

 

Luckily, it was a lot warmer this trip.

With audioguides to ears, we sauntered around the site and took pictures from all angles.

 

And after about an hour, we were headed back to the purple bus to return to Bath.
There's lots to learn about, other than the rocks themselves. Like, those who call themselves Druids and hang out posters that say, "Support the Druids bring back the ancient dead" or "Bring back the guardians to Stonehenge".

There's also rumor of extraterrestrial activity, due to "UFO sightings" and crop circles that have appeared in the area in the past. Ironically, there's also a lot of military training done out in this part of the country, too. Hence why you see signs like this:

Neat stuff.
We got back to Bath around 1 p.m. and grabbed some lunch before joining one of the Mayor of Bath honorary guides for a walking tour.

Our leader is the guy in the straw hat. This picture was taken right before we decided to duck out of the tour to explore Bath on our own.
But, he did answer one of my questions about why the waters of Bath "work":
- One reason why the waters of Bath truly were successful in healing people was a quite natural explanation. The women in that day wore make-up that contained lead. They ate diets rich in red meat and port (which had lead in it too) and never saw the sun. End story: most suffered from lead poisoning and a lack of Vitamin D. On coming to Bath, they naturally alleviated at least two of these problems.
Why a formerly infertile queen had a baby boy after visiting the Bath remains unexplained by science.
Anyway...
Up and up we went until we arrived here.

The Royal Crescent!

Even though it looks like one big building, it's separated into apartments. From the cars parked out front, I would guess all the people living here are "high class", as we like to say around NOOC. (Front to back: Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Mercedes...)

Its architect, John Wood, had a large impact. The Royal Crescent (and other places like The Circus, seen in the picture with the tour guide) inspired much of the architecture you see in Bath.

Once we'd made it back to where we started, we stopped for some ice cream and a pretty view of the River Avon near Pulteney Bridge

and then walked over to Bath Abbey long enough to get a family shot

and then right on to the Roman Baths. The crowds were thinning out some towards the end of the day and we had a chance to get some shots sans tourists. 

Almost. 

My father-in-law is so funny.

 

Brandon's dad took some really nice pictures of us there.

 

After our tour, we went to dinner, where I tried a Pimm's for the first time. Pimm's is a type of gin-based drink and is generally mixed with a lemony soda.

It also has little pieces of fruit, mint leaves, and...cucumber! (Which a former co-worker once added to my water as a prank. I got a good laugh when I saw it in this drink.)

After dinner we walked very slowly (because of full tummies) to the station to catch our train back to London. 

Here's our last shot of the day, of the famous Paddington Station: