London Adventures, Day 2

Trafalgar Square

Today started with a decision...we had to choose between the changing of the guards and the London Dungeon. It took us a good ten minutes to decide, but we went for the London Dungeon.

Lion at Trafalgar Square

I am that girl that holds her drink to Big Ben...

And of course, the London Dungeon wasn't until 1 and we arrived way before then just in case we wanted to see the guards change. So we wandered. Stopped inside a few churches, found ourselves in a few pubs, and accidentally roamed our way into Trafalgar Square! And still, after blindly walking around and then relocating ourselves, we still managed to be 20 minutes early...so we got a drink!

I wasn't in the mood to have a beer so I got this really incredible Swedish cider called Kopparberg. It was juice. I swear it felt like it had no alcohol. Sara and I agreed it tasted like a strawberry go-gurt (which is a product Birts don't know about) and it smelled like juicy fruit gum. 

Aaaaand that was sort of a mistake to drink before the London Dungeon and sort of the greatest decision because the London Dungeon is a historical spook house. 

Skip this section if you don't want the ride to be spoiled for when you go:

You start out going on this water ride, sort of like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World. There are some turns, things on the walls to up the intensity, and, oh, don't let me forget, a sudden backwards drop into Hell! Sara and I nearly peed our pants, we were so startled! So after that, you stop and listen to this actor that sounds nuts, like the stereotypical English people from Sweeney Todd, kinda dirty, kinda crazy, kinda laughing at odd things and she told us about King Henry. Which Henry? Can't remember. I was still trying to get over that sudden drop. After the lady was done talking, we walked through eerie passage ways where things would rattle, pop out, and startle you only to arrive to another speaker and go down another hallway. 

There were so many stops! We learned about Guy Fawkes, the Bubonic Plague (which we thought was pretty scary), torture mechanisms, Sweeney Todd (which we discovered was scarier), the court system, and Jack the Ripper (which was the scariest). Naturally, Sara and I got freaking separated at Jack the Ripper chamber and it was the spookiest. This girl was also separated from her friends so we basically held onto each other and screamed. But the best part was, when the room strobe-lighted for half a second (trying to recreate lighting) Jack was right in front of Sara with a giant knife! So I have a dead travel buddy now...just kidding :)

And the most unexpected part of the attraction was the ride at the end. There was a literal rollercoasters inside. We got hooked into these seats and suddenly dropped a good hundred feet incredibly fast!! Oh my god!! Sara thought we'd just be swinging cause they set the scene up to look like we were being hung. I thought it was going to be an interactive movie-ride like the Disney ride, Soarin' haaaa it was more like the Tower of Terror!

So we got off, bought a souvenir photo cause it brought us so much joy that we were crying, and got lunch. We anticipated going to the Tower of London today but the London Dungeon was nearly 2 hours long! It was 3:30 by the time we finished lunch and getting to the Tower of London was a good 20 minutes and it closed at 5:30...so we got a drink! 

Sara and I found this cozy little place called the Sherlock Holmes Bar (seen above). Literally it was packed. And I only heard 2 or 3 groups of people that spoke American English, so it felt legit. The bar said they were a traditional English pub and even if they weren't, they sure felt it. Sara got a Jameson and coke and I got another cider, that is supposedly a traditional English cider. I believe the name was Aspall. It was delicious. I almost downed the whole pint cause it was just like apple juice. 

After eating some French fries and after finishing our conversation with a worker who say at our table for her break, we wandered our way back to Victoria station and walked right into Buckingham Palace. We took some pictures, we looked around, we enjoyed ourselves, then we left. 

We didn't do necessarily as much today as we did yesterday, but the stuff we did do we enjoyed greatly. Another splendid day!