Travelogue 3: London in Three Days

Three days of sight-seeing has come and gone and we almost have too much to show for it! We’ve tried to find a balance between seeing as much as we can while also thoroughly enjoying each sight, but I will say it has been difficult at times. Add to this the intense desire to take time with my old roommate whom I haven’t seen in years and you can only guess how packed our time has been. Here’s a simple summary of our tour so far:

1. We made the mandatory stop at Buckingham palace where we witnessed the changing of the guard along with every other tourist in London and had a nice picnic lunch in St. James park. I am convinced, however, that this changing of the guard is just a genius way for the British government to get every tourist of London in the same place at once so they can find out just how many there are that day. It was packed!
2. Of course you have to see Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye when you visit…so we did. We “ooh”-ed and “ahhh”-ed at all the right places and took the pictures which you can see below. It truly is amazing how many important locations they can pack into a small space and still make you feel like there is a lot of open space. China could learn from this. They badly need to learn from this.
3. On our second day in London we first began with a tour of the Sherlock Holmes Museum to enjoy recreations of the most memorable scenes from Doyle's stories along Baker Street. We then made our way to the east side of London where we toured the Tower of London, including the White Tower, the Crown Jewels, and the Tower Bridge.
4. Fulfilling a desire I, Josh, have had since visiting London about 10 years ago with my family, I finally got to enter into the Globe Theatre and watch a play! We sat in the upper gallery to watch King Lear and enjoyed the atmosphere of this incredible building even though we weren't particularly fond of the play (has anybody read King Lear?). The play itself wasn't bad, but if we had had a choice in the matter we would have chosen something much different - something where not every character died in the end!
5. To finish off our first three days in England, we took a short train up to Oxford to check out a few sights. Besides being home to quite a few Universities, we were also able to visit the Eagle and Child - a pub well known as the place where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and others gathered - eat fish and chips (a must-do for Tiff!), and also explore the Christchurch College where scenes from Harry Potter were filmed (the picture you see is the main hall you'll probably recognize). Oxford, was absolutely gorgeous even though it was a tad bit busy and thankfully small enough to handle all on foot.

Believe it or not, we're not done with London. This is just the first few days! Thursday we took off to just relax and recoup from all the sightseeing we've been doing and it was much enjoyed. We walked all around Chorleywood, which is pretty much the most quaint, beautiful town we've ever stayed in. It's been such a blessing to have friends who live here, not only for the free boarding (for which we are SO THANKFUL), but also for friends to hang out with and eat out with on occasion. We can't wait for our last few days here in London and we'll tell you all about it when we have a chance!