#WanschurasHopThePond: London Part 5

We toured the Tower Bridge on Friday morning. The view from the bottom is actually more impressive than the view from inside.

Here's the view from the top of the tower bridge.

 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI. To commemorate, there was a single ceramic poppy placed outside of the Tower of London to remember each British soldier that died during the war. 

 In all there were 888, 246 poppies placed.

It was quite a site to behold.

 "In Flanders Field the poppies blow, beneath the crosses row on row. That mark our place; and in the sky the larks still bravely singing fly. Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead, short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow. Loved and were loved, and now we lie in Flanders Field. Take up our quarrel with the foe: to you from failing hands we throw. The torch: be yours to hold it high, if ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders Field."

After the Tower of London, which was by the way, very cool (It is home to the Crown Jewels - the only thing in London we had to wait in line to see); we actually wished we would have had more time there, but we wanted to take the Sherlock Holmes walking tour which was only offered on Friday. We were literally ran through underground stations, hopped on a tube only to find out the exit we needed was closed on that line, ran back took another tube and made it just in time! It was worth the run though, the tour took us past many streets and buildings mentioned in Doyle's writings about the great detective. Covent Garden Market was an especially fun stop because it is mentioned in the "Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", which is the story we adapted into a movie several summers ago.

The tour ended at the Sherlock Holmes restaurant, and while it wasn't dinner time at the end of the tour, we did return and grab a bite to eat here.

Included in our London Pass was a boat ride on the River Thames. It offered a unique view of the city and some nice rest for our feet.

We concluded our day by taking the ride up the London Eye. The 30-minute ferris wheel ride gave us a bird's eye view.

Big Ben is so iconic.