London Day 2

With my knee being sore we missed the train once again heading into London. However, the day before I spoke with a train guard and he told us if we headed in the opposite direction we would get to London Waterloo station faster. So we decided to try this today after missing the train. To our luck it worked and we managed to be early. Today’s free tour is focused on Old London and it started off (late) in front of the Tower of London. Our tour guide was the same guy we had yesterday so this time we got his name, Dave and learnt he is from Australia, went to college in Canada and is now living in London. His accent was a mix of all these. We then walked over to a great viewing point along the Thames to see the Tower Bridge. To our luck while Dave tried to give us some history on it, it was opening to let a boat pass. This apparently only happens once or twice a day. He also pointed out that someone should have told Fergie that she was dancing (ridiculously) on the wrong bridge for her song London Bridge. From here we walked under the London Bridge (it actually had the name on it so you wouldn’t be confused). He also pointed out Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre across the River. He then took us to the City of London, dubbed “the city”. In this small area inside London you can find government buildings that handle the currency and welfare of London and is completely separate from London. We also saw the courthouse that recently held McCartney’s divorce, this courthouse only handles high profile cases. From here we went into what he considered another city inside the City of London. The area is set aside for lawyers to study and work. The area was so quiet and peaceful it was hard to believe you were still in London. We then passed by a church that was once of the Knights Templar. More walking and we came across St Paul’s Cathedral before we crossed the famous wobbly bridge (it isn’t wobbly anymore, and its official name is the Millennium Bridge). He finished off the tour outside a church that still had WWII damage on its exterior. From here Julie and I decided to head to Convent Garden to a bar/restaurant Phil had suggested to us, called the Maple Leaf. Julie and I indulged ourselves with poutine and nachos and washed it all down with a pint of Sleeman’s IPA. While Julie had a Belgian waffle covered in Maple Syrup, I had another pint, this time Labatts. I’m not sure which Labatts, but I was told it was similar to Blue and it turns out it wasn’t. Covent Garden is absolutely packed with people and show performers. You could probably hang out in this area all day and not become bored. As it is, we took off for a tour of the Tower Of London and to our dismay we missed the last admission by 30 minutes. So that left only one thing left to do. Visit platform 9 ¾. Julie and I did the photo opt while others waited for their turn. While we were in the station someone was pick pocketed. It was sort of funny, because the guy started yelling after the man that snitched it, a police officer was nearby and walked over to the yelling man, when the man turned he bluntly said, “Get him!”, and the cop took off in an instant. We didn’t stick around to see what would happen. We headed back to the van to rest, as we needed to visit Windsor castle the following morning.