"The sun never sets on the British Empire we were magnificent - then we got bored so we started giving parts of it away." ~ Guide Liz
(This is out of order chronologically as this was the first thing we did his morning but hard to blog on the go!)
We started in the historical and cultural center of London. Many of the museums in this area were a result of Prince Albert in the 19th century. During the time of Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist education was a privilege not a right, only the rich sent their children to school. Prince Albert wanted to bring formal education to the masses - so how do you do that? Through museums, where there are no social class differences and to this day national museums are absolutely free of charge. You pay for the churches but not the museums in England!
Hyde Park is the largest of the Royal Parks. You can even ride horses there at a price of 80 pounds per hour. Londoners enjoy the park as an escape from the city bustle. Near Hyde Park Corner is Wellingtons Arch which celebrates the defeat of Napoleon (a great contrast to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris that celebrates his victories!)
Driving down Picadilly lane, we heard an alternate variation of how Picadilly got its name. Rather than for the collars, Liz says it is because in the old days a street walker was called a dilly - so it was the area where gents could come to pick a dilly. A circus is a traffic circle a place where streets meet. Often they have large billboards advertising things. 
This area borders the Royal palaces. It is filled with posh stops, the most exclusive grocery store in London where the queen gets her groceries, and the Royal Academy which has a great art museum.
The geographic center of London is Trafalagar Square where yesterday we saw the statue commemorating Lord Admiral Nelson. His body was pickled in a barrel of brandy to transport his body back from the battlefield after he died in the battle of Trafalgar. We saw the National Gallery again and noticed a statue of George Washington - who swore he wouldn't step foot in England - so under his statue is a layer of soil imported from Boston!
Next we crossed into Aldwych (wych and wick are the olde English words for village) into the Old Town. We passed by a Harry Potter location called Gringotts Bank. Across the street is the Royal courts of Justice - the highest civil court in England. "You know you're a celebrity if you're suing the paparazzi at the Royal Court of Justice!" says Liz.
Dragon statues mean we are entering or leaving the original London created nearly 2000 years ago when it was invaded by the Roman Empire. England became the northwest frontier for The Roman Empire and they called it Londinium, eventually shortened to London. Original Roman London is just one square mile in size so the dragons mark the original layout on each of the four corners. This is now the business and banking center.
We stopped by Fleet Street and heard the story of Sweeney Todd and passed by the original pie shop - which is actually now a McDonalds!! "The tradition of mystery meat continues!" Known as the street of poison pen and ink when it was once home to all of the British newspapers. "Fleet Street" is still the generic name of the London press although they have all moved out of the area now.
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