Today we had a busy last day in London. We started off heading back to the Science Museum in hopes of seeing the Apollo 4D Experience that they have there (it was closed at the end of the day when we got there on Saturday), unfortunately it was closed for maintenance today, rather disappointing… But we carried on and went over to the Natural History Museum next door (also free admission, we love all of the free museums it’s awesome!). There I got to drool over all of the rocks and exhibits on geologic processes. We especially enjoyed the earthquake simulator. After our quick tour there we headed off to try and catch the changing of the guard.
We caught the Tube to Green Park station which is supposed to be the best for getting to Buckingham Palace, unfortunately for us though with the Olympic parade on for all of the Great Brittan athletes today much of the park and area around Buckingham was closed off. We ended up walking almost the entire way around the Palace and Palace Gardens, but were unable to see the changing of the guard or much of the Palace. From there we walked over to check out Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Although we didn’t go in the Abbey it was beautiful, and SO big! We did go into Saint Margaret’s Church which was lovely.
Next we were off to the Imperial War Museum (another great free museum) where we got to experience what being in the London Blitz might have been like. There was also a great Holocaust exhibit that we thought was very well done.
After the war museum we hopped back on the Tube to go check out the Tower of London. We didn’t know much about it before going other than it was supposed to be great and include the Crown Jewels and the Beefeaters. Turns out it is not just a Tower… It’s a fort with a ton of towers, over 20 I think. We managed to go on the last guided tour of the day which was great! Our tour guide was one of the Beefeaters, Shady, who was great too! Learned lots about the Tower, beheadings, and history, saw the Crown Jewels, suits of armour, and cannons!
Wow going over it all now it was a very busy day!!! Next we walked across Tower Bridge and found some supper at Pizza Express (not the same as in Canada). Then we finally caught one of the iconic double decker buses over to the Novello Theater where we were meeting up with our tour group to see Mamma Mia. The show was awesome! Then capped off our night with a pint at the hotel bar to use up our British change.
Tomorrow we’re off to Paris, and looking forward to continuing on our trip!
Alix