Ten Bells Pub!
Crime scene photo projected onto a building wall by our tour guide ("Rippervision")!
Catherine Eddowes' murder site and marker!
Slightly more cheerful pictures... passing Stephen's Tower (that houses the Big Ben bell) en route to the tour
Passing Parliament en route to the tour!
Yep, that's right, yesterday we got ripped! Took the Jack the Ripper tour with "Rippervision", that is. It started at 19:30 in the Whitechapel district of London, and was pretty cool! Our tour guide Megan was really nice, from Ireland, and clearly knew her stuff (as all guides so far have, they've been awesome!). We walked the streets of Whitechapel where JTR would have walked, found his victims, and lived among the masses undetected. As we walked through the tour we saw actual crime scene photos as we stood where the bodies were actually found, and when it got dark enough the photos and crime scene sketches and stuff were projected onto walls for everyone to see at the same time. It was pretty cool! (And morbid... but still cool) Afterwards we headed to the Ten Bells Pub, a place Jack and two of his victims frequented, and those gals had been at the Ten Bells for drinks the nights they were murdered. The sign (in the doorway's structure, not the one hanging down, obviously), tile, and bar are all still the originals dating back at least to 1888 (year of the JTR murders).
Before the tour, we set ourselves a goal of walking from the hotel to the tour, but didn't quite make it. Having stopped for a pint on the way, and wanting to grab a bite, we didn't quite have enough time (even though we allowed almost three hours) -- turns out we hiked about 4.3 miles across the city from Oakley Street in Chelsea to Black Friar's Lane in the City of London, falling just short of the tour. Oh well! Pretty good, nonetheless, and our feet are definitely sore today. :)
Today our organized tour officially starts with hotel check-in and probably a welcome mtg. of some sort. Check in isn't allowed until 2pm at the Novotel London West Hotel so we had some time to kill to walk around, decide on tours for our last two days in London, upload some pictures, etc. The Novotel has internet and... laundry service (!!), thank goodness! It's the little things in life -- we (by we I mean I, Meredith) packed enough clothes to cover a small army, but it's still nice to have clean options, so, whatever. :)
The weather today is AMAZING again -- the only rain we've seen was that bout on Tuesday, and it wasn't a big deal. We were cycling but had ponchos, and who cares? It's just rain, so, eh. Monday was super hot but it was great to cycle around town in the sunshine, get some nice, bright, sunny pictures, etc. The other two days have been SO cool and refreshing, sun peeking out but a light jacket and long shorts or crop pants, sandals: perfect! It's SO nice to feel comfortable when on a trip or vacation, as stupid as that sounds -- so many times we aren't sure what to pack, get there, and realize we need a jacket, or lighter clothing, or whatever, so we have been SO fortunate to have had all the right stuff! Much like Ireland, everything is working out perfectly. What can we say, the United Kingdom loves us! :)
Not to comment on every post, buuuuut: your hair and clothes have been fab in every picture! Looks like you packed perfectly!
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