Day 17: June 22, 2014

Ok well, It was just finally starting to hit me that I had less than a week left in London, and I wanted to make it count. Sydney and I decided to spend the day together doing all kinds of things. First we went back to Speaker's' Corner where there was a hue protest going on outside of the Tube station. The people from Nido were very specific about not joining protests because the police often end up corralling the people and boxing them in, and you could be there for hours. We quickly walked through and once we were across the street we got pictures of it.

 

Because of the huge protest going on, most of the speakers discussed religion. We didn't really find any particular speakers are hecklers that we liked, but we did find some very interesting people. There were also signs in the park telling the history of Speakers' Corner. Here are some pictures:

 

There were also signs that people made discussing their feelings and thoughts about Speakers' Corner. These were some of my favorite descriptions, and if I lived in London I would make this apart of my every Sunday ritual.

 

After Speakers' Corner, we went to Abbey Road. It was my second time, but it was Sydney's 1st. Of course I took new pictures. Here are those:

 

 

Sydney got the idea to write our own graffiti on the walls of Abbey Road. All we had was a pen so we had to go over it a few times for it to be visible.  

 

I wasn't exactly sure what to write in the moment, so I decided to write a thank you and follow it with some of my favorite song lyrics, It seemed to fit after all of the yelling, debating, and heckling of Speakers' Corner.

 

After leaving Abbey Road, we got some cash for a walking tour that we were king to do later and so lunch at a deli. After eating, we set out for the Haunted London Walking Tour. We heard a lot of gruesome stories about some of the people that died in London.

 

This monument was built under King Charles I. He had it built to commemorate the Great Fire of London in hopes that he would not be blamed for it. It is said that his fire marshal saw the small bakery that started the fire, burning. He didn't deem it as a big enough for the city to put out. The marshal is remembered to have said, "That fire is so small that a bloody woman could piss it out." King Charles is on the third person on the right side. He's the closest to the middle. His marshal is standing directly to his right. The demon underneath, that looks like he's looking up King Charles' skirt represents the fire itself. The woman to the left that is fainting and exposed represents the people of London. The dragon underneath her is London's protector. The angels above with the falling basket of fruit represent the future fruits and prosperity of London. This is only the base of the monument. The entire thing is 15 flights of stairs to the top. During visiting hours you can pay to climb to the top. Four people have climbed to the top and jumped off. The first was a depressed woman about a year after the monument was built. The other 3 did it on the anniversary of her death. There is now protective wiring to keep that from happening.

 

These are some of the sights over the River Thames. He didn't have a story here. Just thought that we would like to take some nice pictures with the sunset. He was right!

This is the Tower Bridge. I love the way that it looks.

This was a ship in the River.

This s the Tower of London. It's where the Crown Jews are. It's still considered a royal castle, even though Royalty hasn't lived there in over a century, and it's more commonly known for of the executions that took place on the Tower Green.

 

This skull and cross bones with the crown can be found over several old churches, ministries, and even some business building and houses in London. It was put up during the Black plague. It signifies that there are people buried there that died from it. If a building had one of these up in the time period, you would want to avoid it, unless you had dead to bury.

This is one of the several dragons of London. They are everywhere, including in the street when you enter the city. They are there to protect the city.

We saw this in a market place. I thought it was a cool idea. These are books hanging on a string from rafters.

This is where Lady Jane Grey was tried and found guilty of treason at the age of 15 by Queen Mary. When King Henry VIII's son was on his death bed the entire court was in a panic about who would be next to the throne. By right it was suppose to be King Henry's eldest daughter, Mary, but she was a devout Catholic and the council was unsure of who she would marry and the future of the country. The council convinced the child king to make Lady Jane Grey his successor. The poor girl was only 15, but she was a protestant and would be married off to a man who was also a protestant. The girl ruled for only 9 days and had not even had her coronation to be made Queen before Marry had gotten a mob of people together to storm the castle, and Lady Jane Grey was put on trial and executed on Tower Green. There is supposedly a figure of a woman in a black gown, similar to the on e that Lady Jane Grey wore to her trial that walks to the doors and disappears. It is also said that  Princess Diana was suppose to have had a reception in the crypt the week after her accident, but it was cancelled because of her death. The day that the reception was suppose to have taken place a blond woman with short hair was seen walking about the crypt.

At the top of this steeple is a golden grill. It was placed there in remembrance of a man who was filleted to death by Queen Marry. It is rumored that he told the guards, "You can flip me; I think this side is done."

 

After our two hour walking tour, we went back to Nido. I was so sore from walking that I almost fell asleep immediately. That concludes the day.