LONDON

"By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show." - Samuel Johnson

London is the largest city in Europe and there definitely isn't a shortage of things to do and see. Captain Edwards assumed the helm once again as we drove from Edinburgh all the way through England to London, again in a tiny red car. The first day in town, Ryan unfortunately had to visit the hospital with a case of strep throat. Thankfully, he was given some medicine and was good to go later in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Katie and I expLONDONed (exploring London? Lame word? Probably.) We took the free tour from New Europe and covered:

• Hyde Park, Green Park & St. James Park
• Trafalgar Square
• Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament
• Westminster Abbey (we caught an evensong service - very cool just knowing everything that has occured in that place)
  
• Churchill's war bunker
• 10 Downing Street
• Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (photo above)
• Plenty of others that I can't remember...

Probably one of the weirdest things that I learned along the tour was how the city of London decided to deal with its pigeon problem in Trafalgar Square. In order to deal with the overpopulation of pigeons, the city put contraceptives into the bird feed, thus the birds couldn't reproduce. Then, they allowed people to dress up as giant pigeons and dance around (below). How are they going to get rid of this pigeon....

We then headed over to Brick Lane to get some Indian food for dinner where workers, anxious to lure you into their restaurant, offer deep discounts - you couldn't walk one block without getting stopped by a promoter.





That evening, we showed Crampton what he had missed under the bright moon.

Above: The London Eye & South Bank
Left: The House of Parliament & Big Ben

Another attraction of note was the Tower of London & Tower Bridge  The Tower of London cost 14.50 Euro but was well worth it. It is a medieval fortress that houses a great history (including superstition about ravens), Yeoman warders (Beefeaters) and the crown jewels (including the three largest diamonds in the world - very impressive!)