One Heck of a Weekend!

Yeah so we did all of the cliche London stuff, like Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London...etc. But we also experienced a few things that are not normally unique to London. On Saturday, we were walking out of Hyde Park past the French Embassy and started the long walk to the Victoria and Albert Museum. But it was strange, because although were walking alongside one of the main London thoroughfares I started to realize that no pedestrians were on the sidewalks and no cars were on the streets. All I saw were police vehicles and policemen everywhere. There was even a police helicopter above the street. This was an eerily quiet street. And then all of a sudden we turned around the curve and saw swarms of protesters screaming Anti-Zionist and Anti-Israeli chants in the streets. As my luck would have it, we had mindlessly stumbled upon one of the largest Anti-Israel protests in Western Europe. And were going against it, right through the crowd. But since police were everywhere, I didn't just turn around go back into the park. Personally, I believe it's best to witness these types of events. They're history in the making...and to just ignore events like this is to be ignorant. But I had to take videos and pictures of the events, so here:

Cut me some slack...I know they're a bit shaky. In the video below, look past the protestors to the men praying. In addition to the crowd of over 10,000 people (media sources confirmed the size in articles posted later that afternoon) there were hundreds of muslims praying in the streets and chanting "Palestine will be free...Blow Israel into the sea." I am pro-Israel, and I don't care who knows it... so don't get the idea that I'm promoting protests like these. Also, check out the symbolism... lots of people marching and praying in front of the Queen's portrait. Hmmm.

And here's the main video. It's long (4 minutes). I don't expect you to watch it all unless you feel so compelled to do so. But it is here in case you do want to follow me weaving against the crowd of people.

And here is another picture:

And of course we experienced the typical London attractions. We actually were able to get tickets to tour the state rooms of Buckingham Palace, which is generally only open for a couple months each year. That was neat, but no photos allowed. I suppose you could google pictures of it anyways. We saw the throne room though, and that was neat. 

We also toured the Tower of London today, where the crown jewels are kept and where they tortured and killed many people for hundreds of years. That was really cool as well. Overall, London was a great city to be in and to visit. easy to navigate, and lots to do. I'd probably go back later in life. 

Anyways, here are a bunch of pictures of the weekend:

I would love to say that I remember what this monument is, but I don't. :-)

A lot of the following pictures are of the Tower of London.

The red things you see in the next few pictures are individual pieces of metal shaped like poppies. For those of you familiar with World War I and/or the British military, you know that poppies are significant to many Brits. They are important because at the end of the battles of WWI, red poppies were the only living things left on the battlefield. In fact, many wear them each year to remember the Commonwealth soldiers that have died in and since World War I. They are in the process of installing a metal poppy for each serviceman that died fighting in not only the British military, but all Commonwealth forces fighting for the Crown since WWI. We were told that by mid-November the entire place will be covered with those poppies. 

This guy is a Yeoman Warder ("Beefeater") that lives in the Tower of London. They aren't tour guides...they're the ceremonial guard for the Queen and they also protect the Tower of London. Just to be able to apply for the job, they need a minimum of 22 years served in Her Majesty's Armed Forces with perfect conduct. The Yeoman Warder who gave us the tour served for 27 years in the Royal Marines. So no, they aren't tour guides dressed in funny uniforms. They still guard the Queen on high-profile state events.

Henry VIII's armor.

The dude below was beheaded in the English civil war by Oliver Cromwell.

Swords of many of the Kings.

The guy in the middle (below) is my favorite King. America was born under his rule. #America

The below pictures are the tools for executions. The mask the executioner would wear, and the chopping block for beheadings.

Cannons captured during the Napoleonic Wars:

The Tower Bridge is below. That is not the London Bridge.

And below are some pictures from the torture chamber:

The King's chamber in the Tower of London:

Below is what would have been the King's view of London and the river Thames. 

And the picture below makes me happy that we arrived right as the Tower of London opened, because the tour group in the below picture is so much larger than ours was.

Once again, glad I showed up early.

Everywhere I go in Europe, I always take a picture of the worst-looking pigeon I can find. This one below takes the cake for London. 

Below is the line to see the crown jewels. The line is twice as long on the inside of the building. When we went to see the crown jewels earlier in the morning there was no line. We walked right in. As we walked out (only 15 minutes later) this was the line. Just in time, eh?

They still raise ravens at the Tower of London!

The two pictures below are of the Traitor's Gate, where the traitors were brought into the tower from a boat on the river.

This was a funny sign outside of a pub as we walked by:

And we also had fun in Chinatown. We found a really good restaurant that was cheap called Young Cheng. It was kind of sketchy since they only had room for us down in the basement, but I would argue that the sketchiest restaurants usually have the best food. 

And this was the breakfast at the hotel. People on Tripadvisor complained, but I don't see why. It was all-you-can-eat buffet style breakfast. 

On our way to Buckingham Sunday morning, the subway was completely empty. At 9 am. I muttered to my fiance "Well maybe they're all in church...London needs some Jesus."

And this is us leaving King's Cross for Cambridge this evening!