A Long but Adventurous Day..

What a day. What DIDN'T we do today in London? Well, a lot actually. There's still a lot to see in this awesome city. But that's beside the point. I'm here to tell you about what we DID do!

After getting out Oystercards for the London Underground (a.k.a. the Tube), we toured the National Gallery. We saw lots of beautiful paintings inside; my favorites were the Van Gogh and Money paintings. There was also an extensive collection of artwork from the 1400s to the 1600s, as well. We had fun taking photos outside the National Gallery as well:

Taming the Lions outside the Gallery; those things were hard to climb up! Thus, I was relegated to standing next to the beast..

The National Gallery

Mom and William in front of Trafalgar Square

After seeing the fine art, we were ready for a bit of fun so we made our way to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. William really enjoyed the museum as he is an avid reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mysteries. Throughout the apartment at Baker Street, there were many objects and wax figures that could be found within the tales of Holmes. The few stories that I recognized were the Sign of the Four, the Adventure of the Speckled Band, and of course, the Hound of the Baskervilles. This story is the cause of weeks of sleepless nights after my English teacher assigned it to us in 8th grade. It involves a blood thirsty hound. Needless to say, the small exhibit on the story kind freaked me out:

Yes, that is a giant hound head on the wall

Holmes (William) and Watson (me) conducting an investigation

After that, we went to the London Zoo (against the wishes of 2 out of our party of 3). Mom and William were not so pleased to be there, but I was fascinated. I love animals! They even had an aquarium! I got to see tigers, lions, Galapagos tortoises, and Komodo dragons. SO COOL

Towards the end of the day, we toured the Tower of London. We heard all the stories about the beheadings of Anne Boleyn and other "traitors." We even got to go in the small chapel beneath which victims were buried AND saw the original spot where the chopping block used to be. So glad I didn't live back then because I don't know if I would have lasted that long!

We also got to see the Crown Jewels (of course). The most impressive, in my opinion, was the "Great Star of Africa," the second largest diamond in the world. Here it is: 

No, that's not me holding it! 

Beefeater leading our tour

Testing out helmets/hats in the Soldier's Museum

Sun setting over the Thames

The Tower at night

Later that evening, we were super lucky to go on a special tour at night, where the Beefeaters lock up the Tower. 

Well, now Mom's telling us to go to bed, so that's all for now!