Baden-Powell Council BSA
at the
2016 Blair Atholl Patrol Jamborette
Day 2 - July 13th - London, England
| Our second day in the UK dawned bright
and dry, thank goodness. We caught a 9:00AM train into London,
grabbed breakfast at Victoria Station, jumped on the Underground -
and by 10:30 we were at the Tower of London.
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 We started out with a guided tour of the Tower. As always, our Beefeater tour guide was knowledgeable and very entertaining. After the tour, the Scouts broke up into small groups and wandered around the Tower for an hour or so. |
 I like the way the guard's uniform is color-matched to the flowers. |
 Selfie with Tower Guard |
 Tower Bridge |
 We rode the Dockland Light Rail (DLR) train from Tower Gateway to Island Garden on the Isle of Dogs, then walked through a Victorian Foot Tunnel under the Thames to Greenwich. The tunnel was built to let dock workers in the Docklands walk to their jobs from their homes in Greenwich. |
 Lunch in Greenwich - some really great burgers and shakes, with all the free peanuts you can eat. What's not to like? |
 The view of London from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich |
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 The Royal Observatory at Greenwich, with the usual crowd of tourists standing on the Zero Meridian. We had less time at the Observatory than we'd planned, but the Scouts were able to see much of what they wanted. One of our Scouts had done a Science project on Longitude, so being able to see Harrison's chronometer in person had special meaning for him. |
 Riding the DLR back to Bank station. |
 It's a long escalator up to the street at Bank, but it wouldn't have been too long a walk to St. Paul's... if we weren't lost as soon as we got into the winding streets of the City. |
 We finally made it to St. Pauls, just a little late for the Evensong Service. One of the volunteers there was nice enough to let us in anyway, and led us around the side so that we wound up sitting just outside the dome area with a perfect view. It turned out to be a special extra-long Evensong for the Cathedral Society, so in the end we didn't miss anything. |
 From St. Paul's we walked to Kings Cross Station to meet the van with our gear and take the train to York. Once again, we got lost, but serendipity was in effect, so the walk was well worth the effort... We went through Smithfields Market, past Charterhouse where Baden-Powell went to school, and passed by St. Bartholomew's Church (above). |
Just before we reached Kings Cross we discovered
this memorial - it turns out this is the spot where William Wallace
(a/k/a "Braveheart") was hanged, drawn and quartered in
1305.
We made it to Kings Cross before the van did, in the end. We grabbed the bags from the van and ran to catch our train. Two hours later, we were in York. The Scout Leader of the Lord Mayor's Own Scout Group met us at the railway station and walked with us over to their Scout Hall. It's just a few blocks from Bootham Bar, and a perfect spot to stay for our visit to York the next day. "Thanks" to the LMOSG, and we will be back again someday! |
