Tower of London and V&A Museum: London Part 2

Saturday morning we decided to go to the Tower of London first. We thought it would only take a couple of hours, but there is so much to see there! We ended up staying for over 4 hours and could have easily spent a few more. I recommend saving a whole day to see this if you decide to go while in London. Also, if you travel by train they have 2for1 offers which make the ticket prices a lot easier to swallow (normally 21 pounds per person, but evens out to about 10.50 per person with the 2for1). I loved seeing the Crown Jewels. You can't take any pictures from the exhibit, but they had one diamond in there that was over 500 carats, that is insane! Queen Victoria's crown was my favorite. It was small and she wore it after Albert died. It was very sparkly. I found these pictures of it and her online through a Google image search:

Queen Victoria's crown

Queen Victoria

Here are some other pictures from our time at the tower:

One of my favorite shots from the day, courtesy of Simon

Her majesty the Queen

Mom and Dad before going inside

Simon by the tower sign

Before going inside

Middle Tower

Dad and Mom by the King's throne

In the King's chamber

Simon and I with the Tower Bridge

The Tower Bridge

Mom in the armory

Simon and his suit of armor

The actual Tower of London

Crown Jewels

Tower the jewels are housed in

Guarding the jewels

I love elephants

Tree ornaments of Henry VIII and his wives

Acting in the courtyard

Tarts with the crown

The bloody tower (my dad's favorite)

All 4 of us just after the Tower of London

After the Tower of London we started making our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I love the Victoria and Albert love story and "The Young Victoria" is probably my favorite movie about British monarchs, so I had to go. Plus it was free.

Eating some candied peanuts on the way

My dad fell asleep in the underground, classic

Simon by the underground sign

The famous English phone box

Dad pretending to make a call

Me and Simon

Mom and Dad next to a police box- I have never seen Dr. Who, but I guess it is a big deal

The V&A Museum

Dad, Mom, and Simon in front of the museum

Front of museum

Simon and I inside by a red tree with hearts

This was in the middle of the main entry foyer

In a courtyard in the middle of the museum

Bernini

They had a fashion through the ages exhibit, Mom and I really enjoyed it- Simon and Dad did not

London was awesome. I am so glad I got to experience it for the first time with my parents. We didn't get to do any of the Harry Potter stuff, but when Rachael comes in January we plan on going to Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio and to the 9 3/4 platform at King's Cross.

I forgot to add my pedometer stats from the 2 days in London. Total: 43,470 steps, 32.602 km (about 20 miles), 1660 calories, 8 hours 30 minutes 41 seconds logged.