Day 9 - Monday, December 1

Monday morning Ben and I, with Emma, took the train into London. It is about a 45 minute ride on the train from the London temple into Victoria Station. My mom was nice enough to keep Ady for us so we wouldn't have to haul around two kids all day.

We decided to first take a bus tour around the down town area. We saw all the sights (or at least a lot - I don't think that it would be possible to see everything - there is just so much)! It was fun to hear about some of the history around the area and about the many different sights that we drove past.

Our first stop was the Tower of London. This place has been around for hundreds of years. Parts of it were built back in the 11th century. It was originally built by William the Conqueror! It is so mind boggling to be at just how old things are in this country.

We started off with a walk around the top of the wall of the castle. In each of the buildings it had information about the history of the castle. We got to see the crown jewels, the royal armories, the changing of the guards, the torture chambers, and lots more. There were a lot of famous imprisonments and executions that have taken place at this sight over the past 1000 years.
As you can tell from our pictures it is very cold in England in November/December. The one bonus about going this time of year is the lack of tourists. There were people at the Tower of London but nothing (not even close) to the number of people that visit in the summers. It felt like we had the place to ourselves! Every where we went was the same - it was pretty nice. The other bad thing at this time of year though is that it gets dark so early and everything closes early.

Ben in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
After spending the day at the Tower of London we took a boat ride up the Thames to Westminster Pier. It was dark by then but it was so pretty at night. We just walked around the area and took some fun pictures.

On the other side of the river from Big Ben is the London Eye. It is an enormous ferris wheel. Each of the capsules can fit about 30 people. Now those of you that know me well know that I absolutely HATE ferris wheels. They scare me more than anything else! This one however isn't that bad. It is extremely high but it moves so slow that you don't really realize that you are on a ferris wheel. Ben and I decided to skip the adventure this time because it is so expensive but it is amazing to see and very beautiful.