Tower Bridge, shot from our tour boat.
Day Three
Tuesday, March 15:
Our day began with a visit to the London Eye, where, 443 ft above the Thames, we were able to see the differences between the modern swing of northern London, and the southern half, with its medieval glow.
Once the ride was over, we weren’t on solid ground for long. Next on the agenda was a boat tour along the Thames, where we were able to see the historic war vessel HMS Belfast up close. For lunch, we all split up along Petty Wales, a street adjacent to the East wall surrounding the Tower of London. Eddy, Estie, and I decided on London’s equivalent of The Bread Garden in downtown Iowa City, Pret. Lunch varied from pre wrapped baguettes to sushi.
Next was the infamous Tower of London, where we explored torture chambers and caught glimpses of the crown jewels.
From one historic district to another, we switched gears from medieval gore to post 2000’s grunge on Brick Lane.
Past Banglatown, we were offered a very different scene from that of the posh districts of northern London. We mingled with outcasts and women with ripped jeans and 30 piercings while matte black BMWs zoomed past us on our way to legendary record store Rough Trade.
Back in Banglatown, we ate curry with naan, and ate chocolate ice cream with orange sponge cake for dessert at one of the many Bangladeshi restaurants in the area. Our day was far from over, though, as we took the tube to Victoria Palace Theatre to see one of the final 25 showings of Billy Elliot.