pip pip, Joolz Guides here.
Now one of the best things about london is that a lot of the galleries and museums are
free but if you want to see some of the popular places like tower of London and Tower Bridge
then you can end up spending a lot of money.
So our friends at The London Pass have sent us two days worth of free entry.
So we're going to see how many attractions we can see in 48 hours.
The London Pass will get you into over 70 London Attractions free of charge and it will
even give you some discounts on travel and also discounts in some of the gift shops.
Now it varies depending on your age but to get a general idea a one day adult pass is
about 62 pounds and for two days it's 85 pounds so you're definitely going to save money and
time.
So the first attraction on our list is Westminster Abbey which is the biggest church in England.
This was built in 1050 by Edward the Confessor.
A minster means a big important church so this is West minster Abbey because it's west
of the main city of London.
Excuse me one moment.
Let's head in.
Carry that mate.
Cheers Julian, say a prayer for me won't you?
This is excellent, they've got the tombs of Edward the Confessor, Queen Elizabeth the
first...it's amazing.
John Dryden, Chaucer, Charles Dickens as well.
So many famous people.
This is the coronation chair where every monarch has been crowned since the 1300s!
So many people in there who had their heads chopped off by other people who are also buried
inside.
It's amazing all these poets and famous people.
I mean that really is a very good place to visit.
This is basically where Churchill and his cabinet conducted the war from.
These rooms were in use non stop for the whole of the war so the lights stayed on down here
for like six years.
Churchill's cabinet met here a hundred and fifteen times between 1939 and 1945.
I just love seeing all the films and the old footage of the times and these funny uniforms,
they're excellent.
There's even a pair of what looks like Churchill's pyjamas in here.
Just so that you know, that queue there constitutes about half an hour's waiting.
Useful to know.
The Tower of London built in something like 1070 by William the Bastard.
That was his name, I didn't make it up.
His parents weren't married and he was called William the Bastard or William the Conqueror.
Now you see that fellow over there, he's called a yeoman warder but some people call them
beefeaters.
I think it's from the French, they used to call us Les Rosbif, something to do with us
easting roast beef or something like that.
Anyway it's their job to look after prisoners in the tower and also to make sure the ravens
don't fly away.
If the ravens fly away apparently the tower falls.
Will this tower ever fall?
No!
It's also their job to look after the crown jewels which includes the largest clean cut
diamond in the world and a stone worn my Henry V at the battle of Agincourt.
They were small in those days.
I think just over there is where Anne Boleyn was executed.
Chop.
So you see those two walkways at the top those used to be open to the public but they had
to close them in 1911 because too many pickpockets and prostitutes were walking along there and
frequenting the area.
I'm not quite sure why anyone would go all the way up there just to cross the bridge.
I suppose there's a nice view but yeah it's much easier just to walk across the bottom
bit.
It was opened in 1894 but in the 1950s there was this incident where a packed double decker
bus was half way across when the bridge opened up and he actually had to jump the gap.
He was regarded as quite a hero actually.
As you can imagine it's one of London's most popular bridges, but with the London Pass
you can fast track straight to the front of the queue.
So we're going to do here, tower of London, then we're going to hop on the bus and check
out all the hot spots.
100 feet above street level.
I'm scared.
Are you not scared?
Are you not getting on?
No, my grand daughter did but not me.
I can't believe I've never done this.
I've never been up hre before.
Lived here all my life.
Excellent, there's another place I've never been in.
I mean Idid a film about this, this is the banqueting house which is the only part of
the old palace of Whitehall which is still standing.
The palace of Whitehall burnt down in 1698 or something.
Did you know that?
That's is where King Charles had his head chopped off.
King Charles the first.
You're kidding!
No, they weren't either.
He stepped out of a first floor window there onto a scaffold.
Look you can see his head.
If you look over there actually, the clock up there actually two o'clock there's a black
mark and some people say that's to commemorate the time of day when King Charles had his
head chopped off.
He was supposed to have it chopped of in the morning but there was some sort of delay,
it was cold he wanted a new shirt.
Admittedly there's not a great deal to see inside except for an amazing ceiling by painted
by Rubens but you might as well pop in.
It was actually commissioned by King Charles i to celebrate the wisdom of Stewart Kings
but getting your head chopped off doesn't seem very wise to me.
Come on Simon.
Chop chop.
Now this will only actually get you into the Queens Gallery which is round the side which
is like an art gallery and it's the perfect place if you like Canaletto because Inotice
there's a lot of canaletto in there.
Now you see on top of the palace there's the union flag flying.
That means that the queen is not at home because if she was at home it would have the royal
standard flying.
But one day she was at home in 1982 when a fellow by the name of Michael Fagan broke
in and she called security but she had to sit there for about half an hour whilst the
police arrived sat there on the bed having a chat with him.
but there are other ways to get into royal palaces so I'm off to Kensington Palace where
Prince William lives.
Hopefully he won't call the police on me.
Although I wouldn't be at all surprised.
This first became a royal palace when King william iii moved here in the 17th century
and he actually died after breaking his collar bone falling off a horse.
He didn't die of the collar bone fracture, he died of a chill because someone left a
window open whilst he was recovering.
Pretty careless if you ask me.
Then the mad king george iii decided to move to Buckingham House which later became buckingham
palace so he was obviously pretty mad because I'd much rather live in Kensington palace.
Far more beautiful surroundings.
And it was in these very rooms that queen victoria discovered she was to be queen aged
just 18.
Now this is more like it, this feels like a proper palace now.
Wonderful.
This is where king george ii used to entertain his guests.
The state rooms.
I could really imagine giving my masked ball in here i think.
In fact I believe this statue of queen victoria outside was carved by her daughter princess
louise.
Pretty good actually.
You can also take a canal boat cruise and it's rather wonderful because it goes past
London Zoo which you can also get into.
This is the reptile house where harry potter talks to the snake in the film the philosopher's
stone.
I must say even though quite often I can't seem to see some of the animals because they're
always hiding, it's still a really pleasant experience coming around in London Zoo.
Nice and serene and relaxing, except for that police siren.
During the war the camel house was bombed by the luftwaffe.
But no animals were injured.
It did give us the hump though so next I'm off to see a world war ii battleship.
Yes HMS Belfast, this was built in Belfast which is I think where they also built the
Titanic.
This saw active service.
In the second world war this was at D-Day, the D-day landings in Normandy.
So these guns behind me are 6 inch guns and they could deliver shells which weigh about
as much as a bag of coal or something.
And they are aimed at Scratchwood service station on the M1.
Some people say they should shoot them.
It saw it's fair share of action and was actually out of service for a couple of years in the
war when it hit a German mine, but then old Blighty went over to the cupboard and took
out the naughty stick and gave Fritz a damned good thrashing!
So our next stop is St Pauls Cathedral and it's quite exciting because I've lived in
London all my life and yet I've never been up to the top of st pauls cathedral, because
it costs so much!
The Romans built a temple there originally in honour of Diana which is appropriate really
because Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married there in 1981.
I remember it.
I'll see when I get out, Simon.
I'll tell you what I'll feed the birds.
Excellent, over here's Lord Nelson's tomb.
After he died at the battle of trafalgar they had to preserve his body so they pickled him
in rum or brandy or something.
When they were bringing him back some of the sailors were sipping some of the brandy that
he was pickled in on the way back.
that's where we get the expression "Tapping the admiral".
I am boiling.
It's a long way up.
This isn't a good place for someone that's scared of heights.
The important thing to remember is if you want to go to the top try to arrive by 3 o'clock
because it gets really busy and you might not get let in.
I am more tired than a one-legged man in an arse kicking contest.
That was so..don't ask me how many steps that was.
Did you enjoy it Simon?
Oh yeah, I loved it mate, yeah.
And did I mention that you can also use it for a free guided tour of London on Golden tour buses
You can listen to the guided tour on the bus here but if you've got joolz guides you don't
need to of course because it's all on my website.
This is the monument that commemorates the fire of London.
It's exactly the same height as it is the distance from the base to the baker's shop
in Pudding Lane where the great fire of London started in 1666.
Here we go again.
You don't look very tired.
Not at all.
He said it was 311 steps and then another 311 steps.
I'm not even sure if you're half way yet.
Oh I prefer the view from here than from St Pauls, you can actually see stuff.
When it was first built this column was the highest view point in London.
Just after the great fire of 1666.
They had to install this thing, the cage, because too many people were committing suicide.
See, I reckon there's room for an elevator down the middle there.
Here's your certificate Sir.
Oh goodness, a certificate.
Congratulations on 311 stairs.
Thank you very much.
It made the decade worthwhile.
Look at that, a beautiful certificate for having climbed the monument.
It's rather splendid.
Now say you're going to the London Bridge experience using your London pass, as soon
as they scan you in it should trigger something on my app on my phone.
Yeah there we go, London Bridge experience.
It immediately triggers it and gives you all sorts of information which I'm sure will fill
you with joy.
My favourite thing about it is you can use it for a boat tour with City Cruises.
Now London is huge and a lot of the attractions are pretty far apart like Greenwich and Hampton
Court Palace so I didn't manage to make it to all of those in my 48 hours.
But I would say to make it worthwhile make sure you plan your itinerary really well.
or as my friend Ted says, you don't plan to fail, you fail to plan.
I'm exhausted.
If you enjoy my videos please hit the subscribe button and if you're interested in buying
a London Pass I definitely recommend it if you're seeing a lot of attractions in London.
There are links in the text description below, and if you want a private jolly old guided
tour with moi then just contact me on my website joolzguides.com.
Did you enjoy that Simon?
Yeah, I loved waiting outside all the lovely attractions.
Sorry Simon come on I'll buy you a pint come on.
Tally ho.