The last two days have been a crash course in London sight-seeing. I have never been so sore from walking! I wish I had more to say, but I think pictures can be worth a thousand words (or more). One thing I would like to mention is that I am so amazed by how historical London is. I knew this place was going to be beautiful and rich in history, but to see the things that have made it a key player in so many artistic, political and social developments of society still alive and see people still living among them is another story! I have seen and touched artifacts, sites, and buildings that span almost every period of history I can think of, from London's beginnings as Londonium (when it was ruled by the Romans) all the way up to modern art made just a few years ago. It reminds me that we are living in history every day, and even though we may sometimes feel like a small number in the billions of people that inhabit this planet, we are still a part of something that will never be forgotten. I still haven't seen everything I want to see, but I have two more days here.

Here are the best pictures of what I have seen so far:

Trafalgar Square

The National Gallery

Benjamin Franklin's House (he lived here for 16 years to try and appease conflicts between the colonies and Great Britain while his wife was in the U.S.)

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

Rose window at Westminster Abbey

The crown which Queen Elizabeth II adorned at her coronation (which I was able to see at the Tower of London) weighed almost five pounds!

Another view of Westminster Abbey

St. Paul's Cathedral (above and below)

Churchill's secret bunker during WWII (above and below). Many government officials worked and lived here despite the terrible sanitation and living conditions, but that kind of effort is what helped win the war. We should be forever grateful to that generation.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater 

Inside the Globe (one of my favorite parts of the trip thus far)

The Tate Modern Art Museum

Millennium Bridge

I'm a big architecture fan so I took plenty of cityscape photos

The wall around the Tower of London

All Hallow's Church (there's a stone arch and a crypt underneath which includes artifacts that date back to Roman rule)

Despite not having many tall buildings like the impressive skyscrapers in America, London is full of very impressive modern glass structures. It makes for very distinct contrasts as they sit next to historical stone structures. I believe the egg-shaped one is City Hall

Canons in Tower of London

The Tower Bridge

The Tower of London

John Quincy Adams' marriage certificate at All Hallow's Church. William Penn, founder and governor of Pennsylvania was also baptized here.

Charles Dickens' kitchen

Original manuscript of Oliver Twist