1/31/12
How am I already loosing track of the days? I feel like I have been here for months and because we have just done so much, it is fantastic! That has become my new most frequently used word, fantastic! Or from time to time it changes to brilliant! :)

So today was another fast paced day even though actual touring didn't start until 2 this afternoon, and so I got to sleep in today. It was lovely!! So I woke up to all my roommates all ready and set to start the day and me still in my pj's, but that is alright, they still waited for me to get ready so that we could go out on the town.

After I finally crawled out of bed a small group of us went out for coffee, or tea as Hannah and I had. We went to a nice little cafe just down our road, and there we found some of the most delicious looking pastries. It was 11 in the morning, a little late for breakfast, but I couldn't help it. I had to get a bacon and cheese wrap, it just looked so it, it was calling to me!! Seriously people I wish you could have seen this thing. Oh wait... haha, you can...

If you look up mouthwatering in the dictionary this is the photo

Now if you all could just have smelled how amazing this thing was, but alas, you all will just have to come to London and check it out yourselves!! So after our coffee break the girls were nice enough to let me go to a local thrift store so I could see if they had anything decent, since smart little me left a bag of shirts at home, haha, oops. No worries though, folks! I was saved when I found some cute little numbers on the shelves, for a bargain price! Yay! So then it was back to the room and time for lunch, which I hardly ate since I had JUST eaten breakfast.

So the time went by pretty quickly and before we knew it, it was time to head to the Tube Station to go to Tower Hill to meet Andrew for another tour. Some of use left a little early and made it before Andrew did and so we took the time to explore a little on our own. Lucky for us there was some beautiful sights to behold.

Tower Hill Memorial commemorating those Navy Merchants who died during the world wars

Tower Hill Sundial with the history of London around it

Me and Hannah with the Tower of London behind us

Me and Jenna with the Tower of London behind us

TOWER OF LONDON!!

Statue at Tower Hill believed to be of Emperor Trajan

Section of the London Wall at Tower Hill

After the wonderful messing around and learning of my own by being a nerd and reading every plaque that I passed Andrew arrived and we only had to wait about 15 minutes for everybody else to arrive and we were off!! The tour we had today doesn't sound too fantastic, since we walked around London following the length where the London wall was built and stopping to look at sections of it, but for history nerds like me and those who appreciate really old stuff, yea it was pretty spectacular!!!

Those windows you see were used for defensive purposes during wars and battles

Planks were put into those smaller holes to be used to floors

A chunk of the wall by the London Museum. Stairs can be seen as well as another window hole

This part of the wall actually goes out pretty far

*WARNING HISTORY LESSON*
Romans moved into London around the year 43 AD. The wall was first constructed by the Romans around 190-200. The reason is not known for sure but it has been put to good in the centuries after its construction, even after the Romans left in 410. You can see where additions were made to the wall after the time of the Romans by finding the area of the wall where tiles were no longer used in the building process. The wall stayed in use until about the 18th century. While the wall is no longer used today, and only fragments are left there is a road in place along the course of the wall.
There is more to the history of the London Wall, and it is all sooo fascinating and worth looking into if you ever have the time!!
*HISTORY LESSON OVER*

The final part of the wall that we saw was right next to the Museum of London.

This was a pretty spiffy place to be, sadly we only spent a couple of hours here, but some some spendiferous stuff!!

I took a picture of every skull I could find

The first coins were imported form France, but eventually British rulers struck their own coins

Roman coins from the 1st-2nd centuries

Reconstruction of an oven and kitchen from the 300's

Some pretty jewelry excavated from Roman London

Ritual objects from the temple of Mithras

A statue of Bacchus from the temple of Mithras

St. Paul's Cathedral reconstructed and finished in the 1320's

A doorway from the late 1400's from St Ethelberga the Virgin Bishopgate

Yea this one just made me think of Dr Who

The Beatles!

After two hours we had to leave the museum because, well it was closing down. Oh well, we will go back another. We all left then and headed back to Earl's Court for dinner, which consisted of tacos with mozzarella cheese, it was interesting :) The night was fantabulous as dinner went for about 2 hours and I got to spend the time talking and laughing with Kelsey, Charlotte, Jack, Hannah, Alyssa, and Jenna. I also was able to use this time to give Hannah and Jenna the group nickname of Henna (a combination of their names) because I keep calling them by each others names! It was a very nice way to wind down from the days events. I thought that would be the end of my day but Hannah started talking about chocolate and then everybody wanted chocolate and so we took another little walk down our road to a little store for some treats.

I decided to pick chocolate I had never had before. I will never eat a Turkish Delight again, yea, not so delightful. Kinda gooey and gross. Oh well, the rest should be better.

That was enough adventures for one day for this kid. Tomorrow shall be grand as well. I will have some nice stories for you all again!! Tata for now!