The Thomas Life

London - Day 2

The next day we headed over to Westminster Abbey (fulfilling another of my life long dreams!). The line, ugh.

THEN we discovered we couldn't take pictures inside! The cloisters weren't off limits though so here's a picture of them.

Okay, well so maybe we sneaked one. The tomb on the left is Sir Isaac Newton and, ironically, the tomb on the right is that of Charles Darwin.

Beautiful stone work outside of the 20th Century Martyrs. Another personal hero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is up there.

I'm so glad we got to go inside! I was able to see the tombs of Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens as well as Elizabeth I's tomb which was really amazing. Totally worth the line!

After lunch we walked across the George Bridge into Lambeth on our way to the Imperial War Museum. See the Eye?!

Beautiful shot of Parliament.

At the war museum! If you ever get to London, you need to go. Really well done and a very humbling Holocaust Center that is worth it.

We left Edinburgh on a Sunday and arrived in London about an hour later. London is: crazy, hectic, AMAZING, overwhelming and full of life. It was everything I dreamed it would be. We stayed just a few blocks from Buckingham Palace so we were able to walk by a few times. Liz & Phil were in Australia so we didn't stop for tea.

Green Park across from the palace - see the tiny black mark on the center of the photo? This is a woman walking her dog. That's how HUGE the oak trees were.

Living out my life long dream - visiting the British Museum.

Rosetta Stone - one of the few things actually enclosed in glass.

Assyrian lions who guarded the palace - a little over 9 feet tall.

I found this funny. Read the plaque - notice the bottom line.

Yeah that's about this creepy guy. All I could say was "at least my God isn't in a museum"

Pieces of the Parthenon placed back together in a very large room. The museum holds most of the original sculptures of the building while Greece retains a small percent.

So it seems gross but this is sort of fascinating. This is the Lindow Man. He died roughly between in 2 AD and 119 AD and was in his 20's. They found him in a peat bog in northwest England in the 80's. He's mostly intact and retains his hair and teeth. They're not sure if he was murdered or used as sacrifice. Really shows how wild life was then...

One of my favorite things we saw at the museum - The Lewis Chessmen. Scotland has half while England retains the other half. They were found in a Scottish cave by two boys in the 1800s in a small carved box. When they opened it they discovered intricately carved chessmen made from walrus ivory. They're fantastic.

My sweet traveling partner required real Chinese food. I'm not a huge fan but I said I would as long as it was in Chinatown. We had the best I've ever had in my life!

Big Ben - note the ugly fence? Yeah, protesters are dumb.

We ended our walk for the day by wandering past Westminster Abbey.

The Highlands

We're typically skeptical of tours but we took a chance and went on The Hairy Coo Tour. Just so you're aware, a coo is Gallic for cow. They took us north into the Highlands for hiking and our amazing tour guide did the best job of not taking us to touristy places. So worth the whole day.

The William Wallace Monument in Stirling. Another national hero, depending on who you talk too, however the Scots in general are NOT a huge fans of Braveheart. Spare yourself the agony and don't mention it.

Stirling Castle

We ate in the tiny town of Aberfoyle - wonderful little deli with great sandwiches!

Owl from a bird sanctuary in Aberfoyle

The Highlands - Queen Elizabeth National Park.
We learned that Scotland is the only place aside from parts of Scandinavia that is mostly uninhabited. Our tour guide, Russell, that people mainly live in the big cities and those who live in the Highlands and outlaying islands are still clans whose families refused to leave when England invaded (like 900 times).