GHOSTour '07 Day 3

If you have been following the tales of terror from the Ghostour '07, read on.  If you would like to start at the beginning, here is a list of the links for each entry.

GHOSTour '07 Day 8  GHOSTour '07 Day 7  GHOSTour '07 Day 6  GHOSTour '07 Day 5  GHOSTour '07 Day 4  GHOSTour '07 Day 3    GHOSTour '07 Day 2  GHOSTour '07 Day 1 

Day three of the GHOSTour started with an early morning trip across town.  Along the way, we spotted some unusual signs.  Now while I am all in favor of humps for forty yards, I do have to worry about London's pelican population.  If PETA ever sees this, there will be a real stink.

We knew we must be at the sight of some ancient temple deep in the heart of London by the old statues we saw on the building.  These giant and scary works of art, must have been put there to scare off evil spirits and invaders.

just imagine what it must have been like to ride for days to invade a place, only to come across a place covered in such works.  Who would have wanted to disturb it?

Well, we did.  After all this was nothing more than the London Dungeon, a touristy place filled with images and tales of yore and gore.  Enter at your peril, well, really at your wallet's peril.  The London Dungeon is not cheap with prices ranging from 15 pounds and up for an adult.  Right now, thats about $30.  It is fun, and you do hear an overview of the bloody history of London, including Jack the Ripper and other such lovely people.  And you do get a chance to get hung.  And, like Disney, on the way out, you have to walk through the gift shop. 

So before you feel like this poor soul, keep your wallet in check and venture into the dungeon.

After the dungeon, we walked a few feet down the street to the closest pub we could find.  The Cooperage offered a nice selection of bitters and food to keep us going the rest of the afternoon.

We arrived at Tower Bridge, which was close to our next stop.  Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name. It has become an iconic symbol of London and is sometimes mistakenly called London Bridge, though London Bridge is in fact the next bridge upstream.

Our real stop however was "Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of London," more commonly known as the Tower of London is often identified with the White Tower, the original stark square fortress built by William the Conqueror in 1078. However, the Tower as a whole is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.  The Tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners, such as the Princes in the Tower and the future Queen Elizabeth I). This last use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower" (meaning "imprisoned"). It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armoury, a treasury, a zoo, a mint, a public records office, an observatory, and since 1303, the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.  With all the history here it is no wonder that it is supposed to be haunted by numerous ghosts.

After touring the tower, and watching the famous ravens gaurd it from the onslaught of seagulls, we stopped for a moment to chop Charles' head off.  By this point in the tour, I am sure he felt like this anyway.  LOL

After dinner, back onto the subway we went to dash across town again.  It was time to meet one of London's most famous, and yet unknown residents.  Jack the Ripper.  We took a fascinating Jack the Ripper tour, though not for the reasons you might imagine.  Just think of a small man, with an incoprehenisble Cockney accent, who told racist jokes, and did a one man Laurel and Hardey routine with his microphone and you have our tour.  You had to see it to believe it.  I think our much more proper English tour guide, Alan Murdie, was about to melt into the ground with embarrasement for his country.  Despite all this, it was still fun.

Especially when we stopped at some of Jack's favorite pubs for meeting his victims.  This afterall was a seedy part of town, even then.  Along the way, one of our tour group members noticed some guys hanging out around a white car, one with a gun in his hand.  Yes, it is still a seedy part of town.  But that's where the fun is folks.

LATE at night, on our way home from the tour, we stopped off at platform 9 3/4 to pose as we made our way through the wall to the Hogwarts Express. 

Charles, always in a joking mood, had to take the time out to make one more funny.  Hey, 9 and 3/4 ain't bad.

Finally, we grabbed a late night snack of Chinese food and camped out in our room to enjoy it and review the events of the day. 

Little did we know we were in for a couple of surprises sometime early the next day!

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of the GHOSTour '07.

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