TAKING IN THE LONDON SIGHTS PART 2

Earlier in the week I shared a quick look at the first part of our trip now it's time to take a look at the second part. 

We headed to Trafalgar Square. The roundabout across the street from the square was a bit crazy. We probably should have waited but we're Chicagoans so we know how to cross a street ... haha it's a whole other ballgame over there.

Visit the National Gallery was on my check it off list this time around but we didn't end up actually going in. Really enjoyed wandering around the square though. Darn I guess we'll just have to go back to London on another trip.

I think Kevin's favorite thing was listening to the speaker on the Tube. He loved it when it said "Mind the Gap"

We found this ginormous horse head statue by Marble Arch. I couldn't find a plaque describing what it was or who the artist was so I have absolutely no idea why there is a huge horse head in the middle of London.

I was really excited for the opportunity to see London from above. Most people pay to go on the London Eye or to the top of the Shard, the only thing I didn't like about either of those options was the fact that you had to pay.

I found another option ... Sky Garden! This 155 meter sky deck has several bars, a beautiful garden and the best part was it was totally free.

You did need to book a time for you to go up starting about three weeks out but other than that there were no restrictions.

I loved this view where you can see both the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

We decided to make the most out of the beautiful view and enjoy some of the drinks. Nothing like feeling fabulous 36 floors up with some prosecco.

We had seen the little oval building on the ground but didn't realize that it was the city hall building. I'm not sure why but I really liked it. Probably because it was so skyscraper looking in it's style but yet so small and cute.

After enjoying our drinks we headed back to the ground for our Jack the Ripper Tour. Our tour guide is telling us how that church on the line between the City of London and Whitechapel. The prostitutes used to peddle their wares just over the line and would rush back to the other side of the church if the police came by.

The Ripper tour was a lot of fun. He had this thing called Ripper-vision where he would project historical photos on the walls to enhance the stories. I was slightly worried that it would be played up as a scary story as opposed to a historical one but it was the perfect tour for both of us, very historical and about a gruesome topic that Kevin was excited to learn about.

During one of our rides on the Tube a lovely yellow moth joined us. It was just fluttering around the car and went on down the line. I'm not sure where it got off but I'm sure it was on the way to Hyde Park since it was lovely out that day.

This photo and the one below totally rock my socks off. I can't believe what good shots I was able to get. It makes me want to see that view every day.

We saw these crazy characters in several different areas. I love them. They're so vibrant and full of life. I'm sure the is someway to find the artist but I have no idea.

Kevin and I did a quick tour of some parts of the British Museum. I made sure he saw a couple of the cool favorites like the Rosetta Stone. 

In 2003 when I took my first trip to London one of my close friends Rachel took a photo giving this artifact a fist bump. I can remember freaking out that she was going to touch it haha. Thought it would be perfect to send her a photo recreating that moment.

One thing Kevin and I realized was during this trip is that we're definitely not European trendy. We had fun doing some shopping. This was one of the tops I came home with and the best part was got up to the register and it was 3 pounds on sale!

Visiting the Tower of London was the top of my list for this trip. Unfortunately I planned it for the coldest day of our trip! We splurged and got the audio tours, which was totally worth it, but I was highly amused by our little running between buildings to try and get out of the wind.

Kevin was super excited to see the ravens. It was interesting to see them just bopping around the Tower. When you think of a raven you think of a more sinister animal but these seemed almost comical.

The views from the Tower were fantastic. The skyscraper on the left is the one that houses the Sky Garden.

I really thought the monument created to honor those who were executed was really neat. It almost had a Cinderella feel to it because of the clear look. Cinderella with a dark side.

As you can see at this point my selfie game was definitely on point for this trip. Next time I want to walk across the Tower Bridge.

I was attempting some sort of cool instagrammer photo here. Kevin didn't realize I was taking the photo like this. Yeah .... haha.

This is the monument to the Great Fire of 1666. You can walk all the way to the top. We debated it for about two minutes until we already realized we were at about 16k steps already. Nope!

This was a kick ass kids area in the airport. How fantastic is that!? I wish there was an adult version. 

At this point Kevin was a little selfied out!

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