England - Day 1

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity at work to take a training class....in the United Kingdom!!  I was nervous at first (considering I had never traveled outside the country before...Canada when I was little didn't really count), but after I got to London I actually enjoyed myself.  Since the trip was for work, I didn't have a lot of time for sight-seeing.  I was traveling with 3 other people from work, so at least that made it a little easier.

We arrived in London (after a WAY TOO LONG flight) Monday morning at 11am their time.  I didn't get a lot of sleep on the plane, but I was able to get a few hours of sleep.  We stored our luggage for the afternoon and did about 4 hours of sight-seeing before we had to catch a train north to Durham.  The course we were taking was held at Durham University.  Durham is only about a 30 minute train ride from Glasgow, Scotland, so we were pretty far north.

Here are some pictures from Day 1 of the trip:

Everywhere you went on a train or a subway (the Underground) the announcement said "Mind the gap".  Most times they really meant it as there could be a 12" or 18" gap between the train and the platforms!

Paddington Station

Clock Tower outside St. Pancreas/King's Cross

Tower of London - yes, its not just a tower, but a full castle

Trebuchet! ;-)

London Tower Bridge

This was some modern building right next to all the old castles.  It was weird to see something so new next to buildings that were made in the 12th century.

The Belfast - one of the British Navy ships

Hey, kids!  Its Big Ben!....

Parliament!!

And Big Ben!....

And Parliament!... ;-)

And Big Ben again!

Westminster Abbey

Couldn't leave England without a photo of a red telephone booth!  And to add to it, I have Big Ben in the background.

And of course...the Sherlock Holmes Restaurant. 

We didn't really go into any of the places we saw...not enough time, but we did get to see some pretty neat things.

More to come on what we saw in Durham.