Tourism =D

Today, I was a complete tourist in London =) I did a sightseeing bus tour, compliments of my study abroad program- CEA (although I paid for it at one point!). It was on the open air double decker buses, so I was freezing my butt off! But it was a really great way to see all the landmarks and learn a little about them.

Trafalgar Square =) The National Gallery is the main building there
off to the left, then there are a bunch of different memorials 
throughout the square.

Hyde Park =) Can't wait to ride a bike through
it once the weather warms up! =)

The Wellington Arch =)

One of my favorite pictures I've taken =)

Love this one too <3

St. Paul's Cathedral =)

This building is called 'The Shard'. It will be finished for
the Olympics and will be the tallest building in Europe =)

Jack the Ripper Tour...

Included in my ticket was a 'Jack the Ripper walking tour'. (yeahh dark tourism!) Now, I didn't take any pictures of the tour, because it was more about the stories- and just a little about the sites. The tour guide was so awesome, passionate, and dramatic! I loved it! I did not really know that much about Jack before, other than him being a famous serial killer.

On the tour we went to 5 sites where the murders took place- somewhat. Some of the locations were pretty far away, and others didn't exist any more- for various reasons. Jack was a sick and twisted yet somehow a disgustingly brilliant man. The way the tour guide described the murders, he knew exactly what he was doing for each of the murders. He may have also sent the police a couple of notes- but it is known to be a hoax. He was 'supposedly' never caught and there is still so much mystery behind him today.

Disclaimer: Too much information coming up.... Each murder he would cut the women's throats from ear to ear then rip their bodies open, throw their intestines over their shoulder, take their uterus as a 'trophy'. Yeah, sick man. One murder he took the woman's kidney, and the last murder he took the girl's heart. 

Alright... enough of that! Also on the tour we learned about how impoverished the east end of London was at the time. Mostly all of the women resorted to prostitution at one point, and most were alcoholics. Gin was thought to be a contraceptive at the time- so many women were constantly drunk. The living conditions of the times were also terrible, overnight accommodations were available to the many people without homes- but they were also in horrid condition. But it was better than the streets.

One of the most interesting thing I learned from the tour was how much the media influenced the murder case. The hoax letter was published in the paper and information about the murders were always in the papers. Therefore, the terrible living conditions improved because of the stories of the murders!

Night Cruise on the River Thames =)

Also included in my ticket was a City Cruise. The sun had set by the time the tour was over, so it was a night cruise for me. =P The boat was long with one story and a glass-roof. It was similar to the river cruise I took in Paris on the Seine... but there was no five course meal or a curly haired Norwegian man giving me plenty of varieties of wine... regardless, it was still nice! =P 

The boat tour was short and sweet, just went from the tower of London to Westminster. My camera pretty much sucks, so I took about 50 pictures and maybe 9 turned out okay! oh well =P Enjoy!....

Tower Bridge =)

London Bridge =)

Hope you enjoyed =P ...Please leave a comment if you read it- this one took me a while! =)

Cheers!

<3Brittney