Stork

I was out doing a tour with my class and saw this on a building. I had to take a picture of it because it's pretty amazing.

Regent Park

We all decided to go to Regent Park last Saturday. We decided to walk to the park because it's not too far from where we live, but the park itself was huge, so we walked for quite a bit. This was a cute little cafe in the middle of our walk in the park. 

See, I am here.

We were going to eat at Primrose Hill, but we all got hungry and whipped out the Subway at the halfway point.

This is a drinking fountain! So cool.

Primrose Hill claims some of the best views of the city. You can see the Shard in the distance. We stayed here for a good hour.

Zack (not a roomie, but part of the study abroad group,) Maddie (reading her smutty book,) Brooke and Kyle.

It was a really nice day... I got a sunburn. Which, by the way, a week later did not translate into a tan! Lame.

The Jack the Ripper Tour

The phamplet!

Our guide for the tour is this cute little old guy at the left of the picture. I think his name was Antonio... but I can't remember. Oops. He said he was 76, I think, and even though he has a cane he often out walked us. One of the men on the tour with us even mentioned it, making a joke out of it.  

 The Tour starts at the bottom of the steps when you get off of Tower Hill Station, in a little shop. From there you walk up the steps and to Trinity square, which you can see more clearly in the picture above.

Antonio told us that London is broken into four quadrants which are listed on all the signs. They are EC1, EC2, EC3, and EC4 us to remember. Get it? Cute huh?

Antonio also frequently asked me where I was from. Every time I told him Utah, but he kept forgetting. Which is funny, because the first time he asked and I told him Utah, he said "Are you a ten percenter?" Ha! It actually took me a moment to figure that one out. Then when he asked me the second time I said, "A ten percenter, remember."

After the third time he asked me, if he looked at me I just assumed he was going to ask me where I was from and would beat him to the punch by saying "Utah."

There were two couples there, a British couple and a Canadian couple, that were so amused by the fact that he kept forgetting. They kept telling me to be prepared for the next time he asked me.

There was also a younger couple. The two really tall ones in the pictures, from Germany. They were pretty funny too. Everyone was really nice.

First stop on the tour was at the Roman Wall. It was one of the coolest things I've seen yet. Antonio said that this was a wall constructed originally by the Romans and then others added to it later on. It's called the Roman Wall... what? I remembered that.

He told us that this section is the best preserved part of the wall in the city. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, off to the left of the wall was a passage through the wall and off to the area where one of the Jack the Ripper murders took place.

 The Angel pub is one of the oldest buildings in London and wasn't destroyed during the Great fires of 1666. It's in the American Square. Antonio asked me again where I was from then gave me a shout out for it being American Square. I told him that it didn't look the way I remembered it... He didn't get it. 

Anyway, round here somewhere is where one of the murders happened. He told us that when Jack the Ripper was killing, they didn't have the term "serial killer," so he was called a "mad man!" (With umph.) I think that's a pretty accurate description.

 This was another location that he took us too. I had been standing between the tall guy in the white and the guy in the purple shirt. I stepped away to take a picture of the group while Antonio told the story about one of the women that was murdered right where I had been standing!

By the way, the man on the bench to the far right, wasn't part of the tour. He just happend to be there, and we sort of surrounded him. He ended up participating in the story and asked questions. It was amusing.

  While Antonio was telling the story he pointed at me and said that Jack's victim had been "Rrrrripped up her middle, right where you are standing." So of course I had to take a picture of it.

This was actually quite interesting because this was the night when he killed two women. By this point he had already killed two women and I believe that he had sent notes to the police dubbing himself Jack the Ripper by this point as well. So of course they had increased police in the area. Apparently there were cops going around every corner of the area about every 15 minutes or so. Meaning that Jack had to slit the women's throats, cut them up the center, remove organs, and get away all within a space of about fifteen minutes.

On the night he killed the two women, he had just slit the throat of one of the women when someone came out of no where, interrupting him and he had to run away. He must have been desperate to finish what he'd started so he killed a second victim not too long after the first. Creepy!

This is another street close to where a victim was found. If you'll notice, the shops that are closed all have letters of the alphabet on them.

 Near this area, Jack the Ripper after one of the murders, had taken the apron of the woman he had just killed and left it in a different area of the city with a message written on the wall that said something about how Jews would never be suspected of the crime.

One of the cops on duty asked the man in charge if they should take pictures of the message Jack had left or if the should get someone out to make an exact copy of it. The man in charge said no because he was afraid that the message would upset the Jews in the area. So he took something to the message right then and there and destroyed it.

Lots of evidence went missing or was destroyed, and interestingly enough, right after the last murder they closed the case and stopped trying to find Jack the Ripper... As if they knew it was his last murder? They also had hundreds of hours worth of interviews and evidence. Not too long ago the case file was brought out again and they were going to try and solve it, but the file was nearly empty. Spooky. A conspiracy, perhaps?

This was a street that wasn't destroyed by the Great Fires. Antonio told us that this street has been practically untouched since then. It too was around the area where the murders happened. 

This is a post that was set up back when wagons were the main form of transportation, to protect the sides of buildings from the wagons. Antonio told us that wagons would make turns going around buildings and would go too fast and crash into the corners, which is why they put up the posts. What's extra especially cool about this one is that first it's an original, and second is that it's made out of a canon and a ball, and then painted. The canons were no longer needed after the war and were obviously durable so the were placed up all over the city as barriers. Talk about recycling. 

 What you see here is a building with a wall about five feet away from the actual wall of the building. This is how they conserved the old buildings that were falling apart. They still wanted to use the space, but needed a new building so they did this to avoid taring the old building down completely. Interesting.

 This is another one of the few buildings that wasn't destroyed by the The Great Fires. It's a temple, but I can't remember what for. It's significant on this tour for two reasons. First, because across the street from here is where one of Jack the Ripper's victims was murdered, and second, because across the street in another direction is where she had her last drink before she was murdered.

This is the Pub were the victim mentioned above, had her last drink before she was murdered. The temple is just across the street to right of this picture. Across the street to the left of the picture is where the tour ends. It was really interesting and Antonio was so cute. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Tower Dungeon

Okay, so this was awesome, even if somewhat unexpected. It's a haunted house. It really didn't even occur to me that it would be, because it's, you know, the middle of summer.

Now when I look at the phamplet it's obvious, but it wasn't when I bought the ticket. I just thought it was a historical, themed tour.

When you go in they'll search your bags for weapons, then put you through a line. There was something like 60 people there when I went and at least 25 in my group.

My ticket was 20 pounds, but that included the Jack the Ripper tour that I went on later in the day. I believe I got a discount for paying for the two together, and I also got 3 pounds off for having a student ID card.

So the tour was pretty great. When you first get inside you stand in a line and wait to be let into the first part of the tour. When you get in a woman ushers you through a door and down a ways. Then she goes and stands on a podium and beckons you to get closer and closer to her. She doesn't speak the entire time, then finally when you're all close she yells, and pounds her staff on the floor. I knew it was coming, but it still got me.

From there you go through a mirror maze and finally to another guide. They take you from one room to another, guide to guide. The actors were all great, and the decorations were fun.

Even though it is a haunted house they still talk about a lot of historical things that happened in London during different points in history. The plague, The Great Fire of London, Jack the Ripper. It was definitely interesting.

The only part that I can think of that was not historical in nature was Sweeney Todd, but how could they leave him out? That part was pretty fun. They put you in a room with chairs that move like a barber chair, and blow air at the back of your head so it feels like you're getting a haircut. Plus they keep the room dark the entire time.

The final part of the tour they give you the option of "hanging" or "freedom." It reminds me of the "cake or death," joke by Eddie Izzard:

"Cake or death?"
"Eh, cake please."
"Very well! Give him cake!"
"Oh, thanks very much. It's very nice."
"You! Cake or death?"
"Uh, cake for me, too, please."
"Very well! Give him cake, too! We're gonna run out of cake at this rate. You! Cake or death?"
"Uh, death, please. No, cake! Cake! Cake, sorry. Sorry..."
"You said death first, uh-uh, death first!"
"Well, I meant cake!"
"Oh, all right. You're lucky I'm the Church of England!" Cake or death?"”

 Really, which would you choose? All they do really is take you on one of those rides were they belt you in then take you up really high and drop you. Most everyone chose hanging. I chose freedom for two reasons. First, I don't like being dropped. No thank you! Second, I had my backpack with me and it can't go on the ride. So if you plan on doing this keep that in mind. I just didn't feel comfortable leaving my backpack behind.

Actually it was pretty funny, because as I was walking out a big tough looking guy who had been in my group came out with me. I was a little surprised to see him. Anyway, he looked at me and said, "So you chose freedom too, huh?" I thought that was pretty funny.

It's not that difficult to find at all. If you come out of Tower hill station, you'll need to cross Tower Bridge. From there keep walking straight until you come to Tooley Street. Turn right and stay on Tooley Street until you reach it. If you see the Shard (a glass building that looks like a shard of glass,) you are heading in the right direction. It'll be on the left side of the street.

If you come out of London Bridge Station, you'll turn right on Tooley and keep walking until you see it on the right hand side of the street.

If you come out of Monument Station you'll need to cross the London Bridge. It's the Bridge that runs parallel to the Tower Bridge across the Thames. Once you get across the bridge, keep walking straight until you get to Tooley Street. Turn left. Keep walking down Tooley until you see it on the right hand side of the street.

The Gift shop was pretty rock awesome. They had all sorts of souvenirs. Clothing, mugs, glass skulls, Harry Potter wands (I'm still trying to work that one out, cuz Harry was never mentioned,) postcards, books, magnets, even food, etc. I bought this spiffy magnet there.

Tower Bridge

The world famous Tower Bridge was made in 1894. I thought it was older than that. Still that's pretty cool.

Everyone crossing the bridge on foot wanted to take a picture of this. I was no different. For a minute though I thought that there was going to be some random stranger in it. It's situated well onto the bridge, so if want a picture too, just start walking across the bridge and you'll see it. 

There was a lot of traffic, car and foot. 

So this was pretty exciting. The Bridge, while completely functioning, doesn't open on a schedule. The likelihood of seeing it open is pretty rare. 

In 1993 the Bridge opened to the public, which means you can now go on tours inside it, instead of just walking across it. I didn't take a tour, but it was still fun to walk across. 

There was a security guard on the bridge at a gate toward the middle of the bridge to make sure no one would try and cross it before it went up. People were really excited to see it raise. I even heard a couple of British women say that they'd never seen it open before. That made me feel pretty cool. Here, I'd seen the bridge for about fifteen minutes and it was already raising. Maybe not fair, but pretty sweet awesome.

If you want to see the Bridge for yourself you can take the London Underground (Train,) to the Tower Hill stop on the District and Circle Lines. (This is where a tube map comes in handy.)

There are also Hop on Hop off bus tours that go by the bridge. The bridge is in a popular tourist area. Other nearby attractions include the Tower of London with their famous Beef Eater Tours, the Tour Dungeon, and a Jack the Ripper Tour, amongst other things.

Look Out!

I don't know about you, but I'm intimidated. Nothing quite as scary as a neighborhood watch Meerkat. 

How To Ride The Tube

Welcome to the Underground. Sounds so sinister, but it's actually just the tube, train, trax, six rail, whatever. Marble Arch is the one closest to my house. It's usually pretty busy because it's on Oxford Street which is a very busy shopping district. As with many of the stations in London you walk in and down a flight of stairs.

When I first went in to buy my Oyster Card, or rail card, I went to one of these machines. They must work because people use them all the time, as you can see from the picture. I, however, had no success with them. I tried using both of my cards and it wouldn't take them. I think that it might be for filling up your Oyster once you already have it. I'm just not sure.

I should have just gone here. It was quick and easy and my credit card worked here. They give you the card in a little plastic cover. You can put 20, 40, 60 pound plus on it, or you can buy a season pass, which is a month three months, etc. The month pass is 112 pounds.There are also tube maps just off to the side of the information desk. If you take the tube you'll need to get one of these.

Then you tap on and off. Usually most of them are closed, so make sure you look for the little green arrow that indicates you can walk through. Just tap your oyster card on the yellow pad, the gate will swing open and you can walk through. It's really simple.

When you get down to the trains it'll have a list of stops going north, east, south, or west. Just make sure you are heading toward the stop you want.

Then you ride the rail to where ever you want to go. These are my roommates. From left to right: Brooke, David, Kyle, and Maddie. Brooke usually poses for pictures. I don't know what she was doing here. It was really cute though.