London two

Up at the crack of 8am for more capital culture. This time we were headed for the Thames. Rather than aim straight for the river (as had been the original plan) we hopped a bus right through the guts of London for the Tower of London.



This old (very old) castle was the home of the Royals for many years, as well as their prison and execution site. We hooked up with a tour led by one of the famous Beefeater Guards – who must have at least 22 years’ military service and have reached the rank of Sergeant-Major, to don the distinctive uniform. Our guide may well have been a distinguished solider, but his calling was clearly the stage – his tour was a ripping combination of the deep history of the Tower and a delivery second to none (and we received more than a few commentaries over the weeks we spent in the UK). So entertained and educated, we set off to explore other parts of the Tower – including touring the Crown Jewels (Bling, off the scale) and the White Tower. The center of the Tower of London castle complex, it was built by William the Conqueror close to 1000 years ago, it now houses may military weapons and armour).

Indi says...

The Tower's history is grusome but it is a very fascinating place none the less. Did you know that Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded within the walls of the castle, on Tower Green? Also one young girl, Lady Jane Grey, was only 16 when she became queen for only nine days before she was beheaded at the Tower. We also saw the actual crown jewels and apparently the question asked most in the jewel room is, "Are these the real ones?" Some are surprised to find the jewels aren't hidden in a vault somewhere, mind you a look at the doorway when you come in proves the whole room is actually a huge vault. There was a massive class D diamond (a perfect diamond). It was very large and beautiful. Those crowns must be heavy with all those diamonds and jewels on them.

From there it was onto a boat for a pootle down the Thames to Greenwich and the Prime Meridian. GMT was born at the observatory about a km back from the river, and in between was the Maritime Museum, which we tasted, and some other places that we didn’t. There was lots of space, time and geometry on display, as well as the famous line on the ground, which we duly straddled for photo – a foot in the east and a foot in the west – before returning to the river for a boat ride back to Westminster.

Past the Tower again, then St Paul’s (not this trip) and under London bridge (which didn’t fall down) before stopping near Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament – opposite the London Eye – our next goal. I’d heard horror stories of the queues that can form here, and there were lots of people around, so I wasn’t optimistic. But as we managed at pretty much every place we visited in what was the weeks immediately after the end of the school holidays and the beginning of shoulder season, we lucked out. Tickets over there, queue here for no more than three minutes and we were on our way up some hundreds of meters over the Thames in what is a massive bicycle-wheel with observation pods attached. If we thought we could see our house from atop the busses, we could see right around the world and back again from the Eye. Spectacular!

Off on another bus to meet cousin Clare on Oxford Street for some late night shopping, Indi got a very London-punk-stylee jacket and we picked up some toys for Sasha – small compensation for the double edged sword up her not coming and us missing her birthday – before wandering through Soho to end up in a small Indonesian restaurant, where Dad had a far better grasp of the language than the wait-staff! Another late night bus trip home and we fell into bed once again exhausted.