Hello London!

 August 6 - Southampton to London

Today we had to leave the cruise ship. I’m pleased to report it was a terrific cruise. We saw so many new places and had a wonderful time! We read many complaints about the Norwegian Prima online... but have since concluded that people just like to complain.

After we left the ship this morning we took a taxi to Southampton Central train station to catch our train to London. I didn’t know when we would get off the cruise ship or what customs would be like so I didn’t book a ticket until 11:25 AM. Well it was quick and painless to leave the cruise ship… they didn’t even ask us any questions or stamp our passport for entry to the U.K.! Now they don’t know we’re here! Insert evil laugh!) 

We arrived at the train station at around 9:00 AM. The train station is very small, but conveniently had two coffeeshops right across the street! We went and sat in Starbucks and of course had a “London Fog” to pre-celebrate our arrival in London! (Also I can’t lie… I was very happy to see available free wifi at last!!!!)

Our train ride to London was uneventful. I was hoping to see a lot of the English countryside… but often was just looking at tall trees and bushes up by the edges of the tracks. We did see some countryside though 😀

When we arrived in London we took a taxi to our hotel and got settled.

We found a nice pub close to our hotel and had some lunch and then headed out for a walk. We are down by the Tower Bridge so had a look at that, wandered around the Tower of London and walked along the river a bit.

A few thoughts about what we saw…

The Tower Bridge is beautiful and impressive looking. It is actually much younger than I thought having only been completed in 1894. To us Canadians that does sound old… but in London times that isn’t very old at all. 

If you want to know more about the Tower Bridge (all you knowledge seekers!) I am linking to this website which was VERY informative for me! 

Tower Bridge History 

The Tower of London is also interesting as it isn’t really just a tower. It originally started as a tower in the 1070’s (yes! Almost 1000 years ago!!) but over time was built into more of a palace/fortress). 

Here is another link for those of you who want to learn a little more 😁 :

The Story of the Tower of London

We were impressed with the scope of the buildings and fortifications right on the banks of the Thames and enjoyed reading the signs explaining different interesting historical information and stories. This is a place I’ve often read about in books, so it was pretty cool to actually see it in person!

There were so many beautiful buildings to be seen as we walked. I wanted Steve to take photos of everything! Of particular note was a church first opened in 675 A.D.! So old! It is called Old Hallows Church and when I googled it, I kept finding links to ghost tours… disappointingly, we did not see any ghosts, however the building is stunning. For me, it is mind-blowing to imagine it being built that long ago! Just did another search (I can’t stop wanting to know stuff) and found out that several famous people who were beheaded at the Tower of London were buried at this church.

This one is for my lovely niece Jessica. When we were travelling in Italy together, she was enthralled with touching old things. Now whenever I see something really old (like this church) I touch it and take a photo for her 😀

In the next few days you will probably see me posting many photos of buildings with copious flowers adorning them. It is really beautiful! We're including this photo because it has flowers and the quintessential London Black cabs. 

We did get to ride in one to our hotel today! It is so spacious in the back we had to hold on to our luggage so it wasn't sliding all over the cab.

Side note: Don't even think about driving here! It's a maze of one ways... and did I mention they drive on the other side of the road? Be careful when you are crossing the street. I just look both ways now every time I cross the street!

Okay... one more thing. We kept seeing these dragons on the street in London. 

Apparently, they are relatively new but the origins can be traced back to the great fire of London in 1666 (Which incidentally burned up 13,200 houses and 68 churches! Yikes!). There are about 14 of these dragons to be found around London which are protecting the boundaries from invaders. (They didn't stop us!)

We were thrilled to see such impressive buildings and bridges on our walk tonight. The weather co-operated and everything looked gorgeous in the light of dusk 💖

We’re looking forward to exploring London more in the next four days!