Friday, February 25, 2011

London town

Unknown 7:55 AM No comments

After five months of living here Glenn and I finally made it to London. We had a great weekend away. Here are a few photos of our trip:

This is at Buckingham Palace. I wonder how heavy those hats are…

Here she is in all her glory!

One of my favorite things about London are its parks. I always judge a city by its parks and London has some beautiful ones.

In a bunker underneath this building is where Winston Churchill and his cabinet met during WWII. At the time, they believed that the bunker was indestructible, and so remained here throughout the war. After the war they found out that had the building been hit by the bomb it would have been completely destroyed.

Here’s the cavalry guard.

Hey Ben! and behind it is the London Eye.

Parliament

Westminster Abbey: where William and Kate are getting married in April (it’s kinda a big deal around here)

So here’s a interesting story: In the mid 1600s England went through a big civil war. Oliver Cromwell helped win the war and dispose of the the King, Charles I (he was executed in 1649). After the war, Cromwell was given the title of Lord Protector (kinda like a President). He eventually died in 1658 of what historians believe to be a form of malaria, and was given a hero’s burial at Westminster’s Abbey. The new government began to crumble after his death, and two years later Charles II was invited to return to the throne as England’s monarch. Apparently Charles was a little vengeful, because less than a year later (the 12 year anniversary of the execution of Charles I) he had Cromwell exhumed, put on trial for treason and convicted. They then hung his skeleton, chopped his head off, and then stuck his head on a stake and displayed it outside of Westminster Hall. It hung there for 20 years until someone stole the head. Rumor has it that the person who stole it would take it out and show it to his guests after dinner. Bon Appetite.