So here I am in London. This city is quite simply amazing; I drained the batteries on my camera so fast taking snapshots of all of the various historic buildings and incredible views. It is so strange coming from North America where anything from the 1700's is considered old. Here in London, I saw the remnants of a building built in 1131...now that is old.

When I got here and met up with my friends from my last visit, we started walking in order to take in some sights and catch up on our goings on. I got to see an amazing amount of the city, covering from Parliament (with Big Ben) down the south bank of the Thames to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, where we crossed to make the trek back on the north bank. The history this river has seen is unbelievable. To think that one of the worlds most powerful empires was ruled from this city is wild. We stopped in at the Clink Prison on the south bank to see the museum there. I was intrigued to find out that 22 of the brothels that lined the streets of the south shore were owned and operated by the local Bishop!!! No joke...and most of the prisoners in the Clink were women (prostitutes who didnt follow the Bishop's rules) as well as their clients (who also didnt follow the laws....or just didnt pay up) and the not so odd child that accompanied his or her "working" mother. The instruments of bondage, torture and execution that they had on display went beyond anything that should possibly be conceived by any human being. Disgusting.

So just one of the many, many things that I learned today wandering the streets of this city. I am just blown away by the density of historical buildings and places this city holds all within zone 1 (of 6) of its metropolitan transport services...wild.

Right, so I am here, I am safe, and I am with friends. I am ready to continue on this journey of mine. Tomorrow I hope to hit up at least the Natural History and Imperial War museums, and I might be able to get in the National Gallery as well...who knows. But Saturday it is off to Fiji...but as that will be over 26 hours of travel...it might be some time before I can publish again. I would have more pictures...but the one at the top isnt even mine. As I feared, I couldnt hook my camera up here so I just found that picture online as it was somehting I did indeed see today and the conditions were very similar to how it was when I saw it. It is the Tower Bridge with a British Navy ship by the by... ok, til next post!