We decided to travel to London at the last minute. Although I have been to London, it was over 7 years ago, and I spent only a day there. William had never been, so we decided to add it on as a quick stop. We had one day left on our Eurail pass, so we booked a train from Edinburgh to London. We were also able to get $40 flights for a one-way ticket from London to Dublin. We cancelled one of our two nights in Dublin and booked a hotel in London on Picadilly. After the four-hour train ride and checking into our hotel, we set off on foot to explore London. Our first stop was Buckingham palace, where we joined the crowds peering through the bars like a strange zoo exhibit.
Next, we walked to Westminster Abbey and bought tickets to go inside. We've toured a fair number of cathedrals and churches this trip, but I am glad we agreed to do one more at Westminster.
The history here is staggering. Over 3000 people are buried at Westminster, marked by statues or engraved stones. Many of these people are royals, and I got completely lost trying to keep up with the different families and lineages. One of my favorite tombs (is that weird to say I had favorite tombs?) was William Wilberforce, a British politician who devoted his life to abolishing the slave trade in England. I highly recommend the movie 'Amazing Grace', released in 2006, which shares his story (and also has a young Benedict Cumberbatch in the cast). Wilberforce helped to pass legislature ending the slave trade in 1802, but freedom was not granted to those who were already enslaved. He worked tirelessly until the act to free all slaves in the British empire was passed in 1833. After seeing his lifelong struggle finished, he died only several months later. Wilberforce also helped to improve conditions in factories, promoted children's literacy, and supported the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In my eyes, a life well lived.
Another favorite of mine was CS Lewis' tomb. Lewis is most famously known for authoring 'The Chronicles of Narnia', but he has so many other phenomenal books. My favorite is 'The Screwtape Letters'. He also has some excellent quotes, including the one on his tomb: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else."
The church itself was quite beautiful as well.
This is the roof of one of the chapels- the intricate stone detail is amazing.
After Westminster, we continued on to the Parliament and Big Ben.
We walked across the bridge for an even better view.
We walked back through Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus to our hotel. We clocked in at 10 miles for the day.
The next morning, we walked the two miles to the Tower of London. This was originally a fortress built on the river Thames in the 1100's by William the Conqueror. Through the years, it became a royal residence, a prison, and military garrison among many things. Today it serves as a museum and home to the Crown Jewels. We toured the grounds and then walked over the nearby Tower Bridge.
We walked back to our hotel and took the Underground to Heathrow, where we caught our cheap (and short) flight to Dublin. We got to our hotel in Dublin at about 8pm. Although we were both tired, it was Friday night, and we decided to go to a pub and get some dinner. We walked down the street from our hotel, which was more in a residential area than downtown, and found a place that looked authentic. We walked in and realized we were the youngest by about 30 years. We sat down at the bar and ordered a pint of Guinness. We looked around for the food menus, but didn't see any. I turned to the lady next to me and asked, "Do you come here often?" She smiled and said, "Yes, it's me local." I remembered that 'local' in this context means 'regular bar'. I asked her about food, and she told me the kitchen closes at 8pm. She added, "Don't worry dear, you can just have another Guinness."
My stomach already bloated from only one Guinness, we headed back to the hotel and slept soundly. The next morning, we walked around Dublin, seeing the normal touristy things.
We started at Christ Church Cathedral, where I saw this beautiful sculpture in memory of the Armenian genocide victims.
Next, we walked down to Temple Bar. It was 8am on Saturday morning, so it was deserted. I actually preferred it this way.
We walked by the river.
And we saw some cool doors.
We made a brief stop at Dublin Castle, then returned to our hotel to pack up our things.
We headed to the airport one last time, where we boarded our flight (business class, amazing) to LAX.
After almost nine months of living internationally, we were so excited to come back to the US. I'll post some of my thoughts and conclusions in another post- but here is our last video from the trip!
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