A Walk Through London

Just a few pics taken during my walk from Westminster to the Globe Theater!

Tower Bridge!

Below Tower Bridge

I don't know what this place is, but I found it across from the Themes, and I like it. 

And it has a cool fountain.

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A recreation of the ship formerly belonging to Sir Francis Drake.

Bonus Mini Post: Moorgate Station

As a hardcore fan of the American McGee's Alice video game series, I spent plenty of time scouring London maps in search of locales from the games. What I found was Moorgate Station, the setting for the climax of Alice: Madness Returns. A geek's dream come true!

Camden Market Fashion!

Once again, sorry for the long post gap. I've got a new computer, since returning from England, so I had to set things up, transfer pictures, and so forth. Camden market is a neighborhood in Soho, London, which is basically full of random market stalls, selling clothing, souvenirs, and just about everything else ever. I was only able to explore a small bit of the region, but what I did see was and alt fashion extravaganza!!

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While I was there, I bought this dress! Isn't it pretty?

Ok, I cheated. This one's from Glastonbury, but I thought I'd put it in while we were talking about fashion.

Epic Rap Battle: Tesla vs. Edison

Go Tesla! <3

The Tower of London

ROYALTY! MURDER! TORTURE! EXECUTION! AND SHINY THINGS!!! This is the Tower of London. Once a palace, then a prison, now a museum, this impressive compound is now open to the public and dripping with history!

Back in its day, the Tower of London was a prison for fancy convicts, not ordinary street criminals. Traitors, royalty, royal traitors, and so forth. Of course, it was still a prison. Rank doesn't mean much if your head's just been chopped off.

This is the gate through which new prisoners would be taken by boat. 

Inside the walls was a sort of citadel, which multiple buildings and even more tourists. 

The inside of the Traitor's Gate.

And of course, no tour of the Tower of London would be complete without those fancy hat guys!

This was in the armory exhibition. A robotic dragon made almost entirely out of Medieval weaponry. I don't know why it was there or where it came from, but I want one as a pet. Please, Mom? 

This is Perkin's Steam Gun. A steam-powered gun. Let that sink in for a minute. Epic, no?
It never caught on because of the whole little waiting-for-the-boiler thing, but it would make a pretty epic addition to a steampunky story, 

If I remember correctly, this is where the crown jewels are kept. I think. But then, that had a longer line. 

I totally thought this guy was a statue. And then he blinked.

Sights Along the Thames River

So, just how did I get from Westminster to the Tower of London? By a boat ride down the Thames! *epic geek out* Without further ado, here are some of the sights I saw along the river.

The Globe Theater. I'll get up a post of my full tour of that later on. 

Tower Bridge! *squee* So pretty!

Here was a fun bit of goings-on: since it was the Queen's birthday, there was a  gun salute (below) going on right where the boat normally docked. Therefore, we ended up on a tour boat in the middle of the Themes, by the Tower of London, while a gun salute was going on shore, air flyovers were going on overhead, and general pomp and circumstance abounded. Incredible!

Up next, my tour of the Tower itself!

My First Day in London!!!

London--Capital of England, setting of 97% of steampunk novels, stories, games and films, and city with the highest per capita rate of awesome in the world.*

To begin with, look what I saw right when I popped out of the tube station at Westminster:

Ta da! I stood there gawping like a fish for a good ten minutes. 

You have no idea what lengths my father went to in order to get this picture...

*Statistics on this blog are mostly bull crap. Sorta, kinda. London is pretty damn awesome, though.

Oxford!

England, it seems, is the magical world of literature. I approve. The town of Oxford in particular is the birthplace of such fantastic works of literature as Alice in Wonderland, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many more, as well as the setting for The Golden Compass, and inspiration for some of the set designs in the Harry Potter films. This place is a geek's paradise.

This here is the Eagle and Child Pub, where early fantasy writers such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien often met to discuss their writing. *geek out*

The dining hall at Christchurch College.
Inspiration for the dining hall of Hogwarts, though sadly lacking in actual magic.