Day 2 - A few days late

Well, after such an exciting day we decided to take things a little bit slower on day two. We took the train from Horsham to London a little bit later. We got off at London Victoria station and headed to Buckingham Palace. There was quite a crowd there. A few minutes later, the horse guards came marching through. They look so cool in there red and black get ups. I did not get a good picture of this because I refuse to push and shove to get to the front like everyone else seems to do. I got pictures of the guards (sans big furry hats!). Apart from them, there were policemen with machine guns. Those were actually in a lot of places, just walking the roads, etc. I don't believe that I have ever been that close to such a scary weapon before. The fountain was beautiful and so large. I am constantly amazed at the architecture and attention to detail. It is amazing.

After we looked at the palace, we walked through the gardens running beside it to Wellington Arch. It is a gigantic structure and really beautiful. As soon as you enter London you realize that they like their statues and monuments. They are on every corner and in every garden and lawn. In this park there were monuments dedicated to a lot of the countries that helped fight in World War II. These pictures are just of the Wellington Arch, by far the most prominent in this section of town.

After the Wellington Arch, we jumped on the Underground. We got out at Picadilly Circus and I got my first look at some of the cool shops and the stores that you have always heard of. It was exciting and very busy... you know, Londoners are not very friendly or polite. At this point, I miss Southern hospitality!!

We walked from Picadilly Circus to the National Gallery. In case you do not know, the National Gallery is an art gallery, home to some of the most famous paintings in the world. We saw Van Gogh, Suerat, Monet, Manet, Leonardo da Vinci, and more. It was amazing. There is something so incredible about seeing those paintings right there in front of you. I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to do that again. It was thrilling, but so large that there was no way that we could get through the whole thing. Obviously, since the paintings are so well-known and brilliant, you couldn't take pictures... sorry guys. However, the National Gallery is situated right in front of Trafalgar Square. Home to the large lions and amazing fountains. It was cool to be there, just because I've heard about it so many times! Scotty, of course, had to get his picture on one of the famous lions (something he has never done in all the times he has been to England).

After Trafalgar Square, we went to a little tourist shop and picked up a couple postcards to send to our parents (that's right guys, they should be there before we get home :) !!). We walked to the Underground and made our way back home ( a lot earlier). We managed to go out the right exit and find our way back to Muriel's house all before 6:00. It was a wonderful day that I will never forget.