Day one;

Within the first hour of leaving the airport I discovered that "the tube" is just like BART and the subway (only far far better) I soon arrived at St.Paul's Youth Hostel. As soon as we checked in and dropped off our bags I was out for a walk. What I never realized about London is that it is jam packed with everything you hear is "in England". Within a short two hour walk I crossed the Mellinnium bridge and immediatley saw the Old Globe Theater, a skip away from that is the Rose (or so the signs said, I never actually saw the Rose)...

...we walked past one of the oldest Gothic churches in England and the footprint of the original Globe theater.


.. Sir Francis Drake's ship is docked there (a trashy tourist museum but it's there) just shortly before the London Bridge and then a short jaunt away from the London Tower Bridge...

we crossed the tower bridge...

to the left is the Tower of London (not just a tower, it's a whole castle with a tower).

This is a remnant of the original wall surrounding London (I forget which part at the moment)

Then we walked a few blocks of office buildings, but right next to the Thames river looking out onto the sparkle of "old London" across the way.