We Have Arrived!

We made really good time because of clear weather and a 60mph tailwind, seven hours in flight and about three hours of sleep later we landed at Heathrow about 5am. There was hardly anyone at the airport at this hour so no wait in line at customs so by 5:30 we were at the underground station. The underground starts running around 5am so we got on Piccadilly Line to Holborn where we changed to the Central Line that runs to St. Paul’s. Lara’s father purchased travel cards for us that work on the underground and buses, which have been a wonderful convenience for our traveling! We got off a little before 7am and it was still dark so we did a little wandering around to find our hostel (St. Paul’s) one of many in the Youth Hostel Association found around the world.

The Tower of London was begun after William the Conqueror invaded during the Norman Conquest in 1066, it has since been expanded by Kings and Queens of England as their home and fortress until it occupies the 18 acres that it is today. It opens at 9am and even though we were a little lost in the underground station on our first couple trips, we arrived before the gates opened. It was freezing and raining but we spent about three hours explore the huge ancient compound. It included viewing the crown jewels, ancient crowns from past rulers, multiple towers which housed royalty and prisoners, a place of torture, Traitors Gate, Chapel of St. Peter, a huge museum in the white tower, and an amazing tour by an amusing Beefeater. The Beefeater tour was very interesting and included bit of history and lore about the people would lived or were held captive in the towers while telling stories to scary children and telling them to always look under their beds for good measure.

Then we purchased a ticket for a short ride on the River Thames to Westminster. It had good views and commentary by the pilot about many of the sights along the river, unfortunately it was really cold so we sat inside (glass exterior) for most of the thirty-minute ride. From Westminster, we rode the underground to Covent Garden and wandered around as we looked for the Lyceum Theatre where we had tickets to see Lion King.

 I really am not very good at directions, we have arrived everywhere we needed to be but felt pretty lost so far. After we picked up our tickets we had a few minutes to chill, so we got a snack at a nearby coffee shop and sat for a few minutes, by now we were really exhausted. The Lion King started at 2:30 and we were more than ready for this awesome show. Despite being tired, we really loved the great score, amazing vocals, and colourful costumes! Especially Mufasa, Nala, Rafiki, and Zazu were really great. http://lyceum-theatre.co.uk/