Ireland 2011: London Bridge is Falling down...

Rewind....

Back to our third and final day in London. Once again we purchased the tube/bus pass allowing us access to city transportation. By this time we had mastered the tube, I must admit this was a great feeling. Knowing we could get virtually anywhere we wanted. Thursdays plan centering around more rest, less sights and good food brought us to the Borough Market. Both a photographers paradise and foodies dream the market features cultures from around the world, individuals of all ages, colorful fresh food as far as the eye can see.

WARNING: Absurd amount of food photos to follow...don't continue reading if hungry.

Little did we know we would walk into food paradise.

A French gentleman sold meringue as he wore a scarf and called me
mademoiselle in his wonderful french accent.
And how was I supposed to resist buying desserts from him?

They looked like little birds nests,
but I don't remember what they actually are.

The glass roof allowed the natural sunlight to poor in
illuminating the market making the fresh fruits & veg all the more appealing.

Abby C. thoroughly enjoying her fresh sandwich.

Apple streuddle

So fresh!

Two or three markets combined to form
one giant arena of delicious goods!

I could hardly contain my excitement to eat my chocolate cake.
Moist, rich and delicious.

Ewww! But it made for a neat photo

On our way back towards the city centre we came across chocolate pasta. Yes indeed you can have your cocoa and penne too.

Traflagar Square is a public space and tourist attraction with Nelson’s Column in it’s center.

The column is guarded by four lion statues at it’s base.

London’s National Gallery overlooks the square, offering free admission. Taking advantage of this Abby C. and I went in to view famous pieces such as Picaso’s Sunflowers.

I thought biking in Ireland was crazy....wow. It's a whole different story in London. You have to be incredibly alert and a bit of a daredevil to bike the streets of London. Many road these very small bikes like pictured below. The concept is their portability, as they can breakdown, folding up into a small size, enabling them to be easily transported throughout the city.

Such a small size allows bicyclists the option to bring them on the tube or bus.

Sounds like a great idea to me. The bikes are quite small, so much would this set me back? Oh you know only a good £650-700. Oh my goodness!! Mind you that's only $1,084...no big deal. Great concept, but I'm going to have to wait until the bikes come down in price.....way down.

The classic red telephone booth picture of course was necessary.

St. Paul's Cathedral was our next stop for the day.

Both Abby C. and I wanted to go inside, however with prices like this....not a happening thing. However we did get to look inside the front entrance and see a glimpse of the grand building.

I may or may not have had some pent up energy I needed to get out. Leap frog anyone?

Next, off to the Tower of London. It was neat to see this in person as I've learned quite a bit about it throughout the semester in my castles course.

The Castle is a bit unusual as you can see the different colors of stone. The sections don't seem to fit together into one cohesive building. However, the Tower was controlled by many different leaders throughout history meaning additions, restorations and destruction to the castle have taken place numerous times. It was besieged several times and controlling it has been important to country the country. The Tower has served as an armory, a treasury, menagerie, home to the Royal Mint, public records office, and home to the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

bahah I couldn't help,
but take a picture of this guy.

How many times have you sung "London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down..." cool we found the London Bridge!!....or so we thought.

Turns out it's actually the Tower Bridge....okay it makes sense, since it's located next to the Tower of London.

The bridge was beautiful, but I wanted to see the London Bridge. If the Tower Bridge is this cool, obviously the London Bridge has got to be quite spectacular as it's famous enough to have a song written after it....FALSE. Epic let down.

London Bridge has got to be one of the most boring bridges I've seen. So much for an adventure to find an grandiose London Bridge. Construction workers nearby looked at us in sympathetic yet apathetic way. As if to say why the heck are you coming to look at the stupid bridge?...Oh right you didn't know better that the London Bridge is nothing special to see...poor tourists.

At the very least I had to be corny and pretend the bridge was falling, so I'd help hold it up : )

Our less than thrilling London Bridge lead us to our next adventure, crossing Southwark Bridge to find Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company and was destroyed by fire on June 29th 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and close in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe" opened in 1997. Sadly there was yet again a fee included to take a tour, so Abby C and opted for photos outside.