Day 23

When we arrived at Central Station we made our way towards UK customs, where we joined a long line of other people.  Once we got through customs we grabbed a snack and drinks, as we had a little time before the train was due to leave.  We didn't take any photos until we arrived in England as we were 'resting our eyes'.  

As we crossed the Thames River we saw the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in the distance.  Coming into the St Pancras Station we passed the Gasholder apartments, which are apartments built within restored cast iron gasholder guide frames from the 1850's.  Nikita and Peter, who had come down by train from Glasgow that day, met us at the station, which is straight across the road from King's Cross Station.  We then caught the underground train to Aldgate and walked to Motel One, where we were staying for the next 3 nights.  On our walk to the Hotel we saw 'The Gherkin', named because of it's shape and colour.  After we dropped our bags off at the hotel we went for a walk around Tower Hill area.  We saw 'The Shard' (from a distance), walked through Tower Hill Gardens and saw a Statue of 'The Building Worker', which commemorates all the building workers who have lost their lives at work and celebrates the thousands of building workers who are still building and rebuilding across the UK.  We also walked through the Trinity Square Gardens where we saw the Memorial for Merchant Seafarers who gave their lives to secure the freedom of the Falkland Islands.  

By this time we were getting hungry as we hadn't eaten since we were in Amsterdam.  We crossed the road to Weatherspoons, a popular pub chain with over 800 locations throughout UK.  The food was good and so much cheaper than in Europe.  After dinner we carried on our walk around Tower Hill.   We saw the old London City Hall from across the river and The Tower of London.  We walked across the Tower Bridge and took a photo of each side of the Thames from the bridge.  We also saw some well-known London icons, including the red letter boxes and double-decker buses and, of course, the Shard again.  We got to London Bridge, which wasn't falling down, and turned around and went back the way we came, as I felt like an ice-cream and had seen an ice-cream truck back further.  After my ice-cream we headed back to the hotel for the night.