Big Ben

Just like the Eiffel Tower is an iconic image for Paris, Big Ben is iconic for London.  As we came up the steps from the Underground, I could see him....and he is magnificent!!  Big Ben is actually the bell inside the tower.

We walked across Westminster Bridge and on one side is Parliament and the other side the London Eye (which we never did go up in).

 

Westminster Abbey is just across the street.  Another magnificent, historical building. 

Unfortunately you can't take pictures on the inside.  I snuck one before I was asked to put the camera away. 

Over 3000 people are buried in the Abbey.  We saw Charles Darwin, Issac Newton, Noel Coward, Chaucer....I feel like Miss Barbara on Romper Room with her magic mirror.  There were so many plaques and tombs.  The one I went there to see...Queen Elizabeth I.  I've read so much on her.  She was a force that shaped an empire.

I love the gargoyles on the outside...their cute.  Gargoyles aren't suppose to be cute.

 

 

The beautiful vaulted ceiling of the Chapter House.