Kings Cross Station

Our next stop was Kings Cross Station--made famous by Harry Potter.  The shop was so busy that there was no room to even move.  I walked in and right back out.  I don't know how anyone could see anything to buy in that shop because it was nothing but people.  The line to get your picture taken at Platform 9 3/4 was absolutely ridiculous.  I thought about standing in the line for about 5 seconds until we figured out it would most likely take a good hour or more to get through the line.  No thank you.  I got a couple good shots though.

Kings Cross Station is a functional station, and pretty cool inside. 

I really should have taken a picture of the ridiculously long line

221b Baker St

Some fun sights along London's streets:

Scotland isn't the only place you can find bagpipes being played

Cute little police car

If I recall right, this was right around St. James's Park.  We stopped in to relieve our bladders in the port-o-potties, which were the nicest port-o-potties I have ever seen.  They even had running water and sinks to wash your hands in them.  From the outside they look like ordinary port-o-potties.

There was a large crowd watching this tennis game.  We didn't pay attention to who was playing, but if was fun to see such a large crowd surrounding such a tiny screen--reminiscent of days in the past.

The ice cream truck had a play on the famous slogan of the Underground; Mind the Gap. 

The famous Sherlock Holmes.  We went to the museum and while it wasn't nearly as crowded (that day anyway) as Kings Cross, it was still plenty busy.  We braved the crowd and went in.

The London Bridge

The London Bridge was (thankfully) not falling down, and we enjoyed a nice stroll across it. 

 River Thames:

View of the London Tower:

 The London Bridge and London Tower panorama

Tower of London

We rose early the next day--not having slept well, the fan in our room was noisy, and even with the window open and the fan on, it was stifling.  Our plan for the day was to catch a tour to Stonehenge.  It would have taken up the majority of the day, but we would still have time to explore London a bit more when we were done.  When we got to the station to get our tickets, however, we discovered that the price was a little steeper than we were willing to spend (I bet we could have found a coupon online had we thought about it--hindsight is 20/20, right?), so we ended up just exploring London instead.  They had a Jack the Ripper tour which started after dark that we seriously contemplated, but we were both exhausted by the end of the day.  My flight home was the next day, and Emily was staying in England for another week with a family that she has known since she was a teenager. 

Our first real adventure of the day was to the Tower of London, but as we were walking there, we found a few interesting sights along the way:

Interesting tidbit.  Needless to say, ravens are still in the Tower to this day--superstition or not

They put on plays and reenactments of events.  It was quite entertaining and educational to watch

Interesting juxtaposition: the very old castle with the very modern/futuristic technology right next to it

 The London Bridge--our next stop!