Day 2

Today we had a tour of the Tower of London, went across the Tower Bridge to Coty hall, went to the Shard and the Borough Market! Another full and exciting day for the London Brigade! 

Our first stop was the Tower of London.  This place was crazy.  In here we saw the Crown Jewels, and learned that this place was practically a zoo!  Going through each building within the tower was cool because each room contained something new and interesting.  One room showed, as I mentioned previously, all the animals that were kept on site.  One king had a polar bear on the premises! There was also a room that was filled with monkeys that were not in cages.  Unfortunately that room was shut down after a little boy was attacked.  However, in the end the animals were sent to the London Zoo.  My favorite room through out the tower was a room where prisoners carved works of art into the marble.   

   
This was absolutely insane to see.  I really enjoyed that.  
After the Tower of London we went across Tower Bridge.  The same bridge that many people call the London Bridge, but that one is in Lake Havasu.  

  
It truly is a breathtaking bridge.  It is kind of surreal to walk over it, because it is hard to believe you’re walking over a body of water let alone on this beautiful piece of architecture. Once we passed the bridge we saw City Hall.  A building we had learned about in class.  Definitely a modern building that was designed by Norman Foster who was the same architect for our very own Broome library.  So that was pretty cool! 

We finally made our way to the Shard, and going to the top of this building was something I was truly excited for.  Seeing London in a whole new light. The building measures at just a little over 1,000 feet.  As we all made our way into the express elevators there was a sense of excitement and nervousness in the air.  We finally made it to the top, and the view was absolutely stunning.   

   
My favorite part was probably he too most level that was outside.  It was crazy to be able to feel the wind blowing above you and being up that high.  Truly a memorable experience.

After the shard we made our way to the Borough Market which was so cool!!! A group did their presentation and as their beginning activity they asked us to go try something we have never tried before.  So me and a few other people went and tried oysters.  

 They were so fresh, just like everything at the market. And thy were actually surprisingly good. After that we all reconnected to hear the presentation.  It was a great presentation and we were all eager to go out and explore the space! Once we were free to walk around there was so much to see.  Fresh produce, fresh seafood, cheeses, meats, fruits, wines, teas, chocolates, everything you could think of!  It was a farmers market on steroids.  I thought it was really cool to see that people were just coming here to get their groceries instead of going to a chain grocery store.  Seeing the support the people of London had for their local food was something I really appreciated.  Another thing I loved was seeing how busy it was.  It was packed with people.  And that’s how most of London seemed.  People taking the public transportation, so many people biking, walking, lots of people outside, socializing.  I thought that was really cool, because we don’t see a lot of that in California.  

Overall today was a really great day.  I truly enjoyed it!