Freedom in London

Our free day mostly consisted of going to see things we had discussed but not really gotten to see. So first, we went to the Tower of London. The tour guide was great and probably the best one I have ever had. Apparently, all the guides who are dressed up like old guards and give the free tours also have apartments inside the walls of the Tower of London and they live there as long as they work there. We got to see the Crown Jewels (which Armando and I then stole and replaced with fakes), the torture chambers, and the apartment of several high-class prisoners.

After the Tower and taking pictures in front of the Tower Bridge, we went back to the parliament area. We walked around to find some lunch and we somehow found this alley with a ton of cheap food and a bunch of bankers on their lunch break. I actually got a big sandwich in a baguette and a Lucozade for 3 pounds, which is a great deal for London. We ate our sandwiches in this cool park and I fed some of the ducks and pigeons my left over bread.

Next, we went inside Westminster Abbey and wandered around all the very old crypts. I’ve never walked on so many famous people before. I did feel a bit odd walking on graves even in general, but these were royals and they were in the middle of the hall.

This night, we all met back together and made our way to the West End, and I got to see Wicked for the first time. I really enjoyed it, but it was clear that the audience did not understand a lot of the jokes. And obviously since I had only heard the American version, the accents through me off a bit. But, I still loved it and had a fun time. After the show, a couple of us went to dinner because we had lots of pounds and had skipped dinner so we would be on time. We ended up at some random café that had some of the best food I had had in London. The waitress was French and the manager was Middle Eastern, but they had wonderful pizza, chicken nuggets, pasta, pastries, and gelato. It was a very good last night in London.