Greetings and salutations from London, England - home to the capitol of the United Kingdom, some mighty tasty fish & chips, Westminster Abbey, the Royal Family, the Spice Girls, Monty Python, and Benny Hill. Some day I'm going to go to London - consider that written in stone. In the meantime, check out what the beans got to see...

Here, the beans stop off with Big Ben, or to be technically correct, St. Stephen's Tower Clock. Big Ben is actually the 13th bell within that tower. The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14 feet long, and the figures are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with a stack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big Ben is an excellent timekeeper, and has rarely stopped.

Now, depending on who you check with, the bell was either named after a popular heavyweight boxer Benjamin Caunt, or after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall. Regardless, we do know for sure that the tower also houses Alfred Hitchcock's infamous "Thirty-nine Steps", and the clock hands were a convenient rest stop for Peter Pan, Wendy, John, Michael, and Tinker Bell on their way to Neverland...

But best of all, there are actual prison cells within the clock tower, where Members of Parliament can be locked up for a breach of parliamentary privilege. (Although the last recorded case was in 1880.) A prison for politicians, huh? Wow - how many U.S. leaders are thankful that there isn't one of those inside the Washington monument???

Next to the Thames you'll also find the British Airways London Eye, which is kind of a ferris-wheel-on-steroids. At 450 feet tall, the British Airways London Eye is the world's highest observation wheel, and offers passengers amazing views of London. There are 32 capsules, and one revolution around takes a half hour of your time and £8.5 United Kingdom pounds (just over $12.00 U.S.) out of your pocket. The beans had a jolly time visiting the London Eye, even though they wouldn't accept their "E ticket" coupon for the ride.