London: March 17

My legs are so sore! Today was just as busy as yesterday. Luckily I slept well, a little too well, it was hard to get up this morning. Our day was gonna start on time until I got something in my eye after breakfast and spent 20 min trying to get it out:(

We then hoped on the underground to Big Ben, and Westminster Abby. The Abby was cool but the free audio guide made us spend more time than we normally would. We learned about all the royalty buried there and how half of them put each other there. For example, queen Elizabeth I imprisoned her cousin Mary Queen of Scott's for 13ish years only to have her executed for plotting against the crown. (Mary was Elizabeth's rival and closest claim to the throne) after Elizabeth's death, she was succeeded by Mary's grandson I think and he moved his moms tomb to Westminster to be burried adjacent to Queen Elizabeth...bet she didn't see that one coming! But seriously the whole royal line is about one king or queen trying to outdo the other and making sure no cousin, uncle, brother or whoever doesn't try to overthrown him. Oliver Cromwell was buried at the Abby for a short time until rulers were switched, and his remains dug up hanged drawn and quartered.

Overall, it was a very pretty church, but there is a lot of corruption surrounding the people buried there. Our next stop was St. Paul's, and let's just say 2 churches in one day was not a smart move.

When we got there, a wedding was taking place in part of the church so we had to wait for it to be over to explore the high alter. The church was interesting to explore. There were a lot of war memorials including the American roll of honor (or something like that) which has the names of American soldiers who died or received awards in WWII, anyways we got to see the name of my grandmas brother. I can't imagine what it would be like to loose a family member to war. The whispering gallery was cool but the whispering part didn't really happen. The crypt was also neat to wonder around. We spent way too much time wandering around St. Paul's and Nathan reached his limit at looking at churches.

We were then back on the tube to covent garden where we walked up 200 steps from the underground. We explored the shops and had lunch at a cute pub called the globe. I had a delicious beef stew and nathan had fish and chips.

We then went Leicester Square where we bought tickets to The Mousetrap, I love mysteries and Agatha Christie is a favorite. We then got back on the tube to Baker Street where I got a picture in front of 221B Baker Street, the home of Sherlock Holmes. We got there right before closing, so they wouldn't let us in the museum, but all I really wanted was a picture outside so I was happy.

It was then back on the tube to Leicester Square where we walked around the outskirts of SoHo and China Town while trying to find ice cream.

Our night ended with one of London's longest running plays, followed by a double decker bus back to our B&B.

Overall London was fun, crazy, exhausting, and busy. We did a lot in the 2 1/2 days that we were there. Although we missed some cool museums, I am happy with what we accomplished in the little time we had.