May 31 -- The Tower of London

Slept in 'til just before 9 this morning. I was the last one up. Yeah for me. The day was pretty much layer out when I got downstairs. Going to the Tower of London. Got the tickets online and saved £1.10  on each ticket. Also there are discounts for seniors at most of the venues in London. If you are over 60 you should check on it. Save £4 on each ticket for the four seniors.

We did the one hour tour with one of the Beef Eaters, the queen's guard. Got some lunch. The ladies went in to see the crown jewels, they are really impressive, and Ed and I went into the White Tower. The White Tower was the first structure erected on the site by William I (Conqueror) begun in 1078. This structure and the rest of the buildings and fortifications were the home of the King and Queen of England for almost 500 years. It is no longer a Royal Residence but it is still on the list though no longer maintained as one. The White Tower is now a museum of armor and weaponry from the 11th to 19th centuries. Very interesting exhibits but very crowded. The Crown Jewels are still used for special occasions and coronations so sometimes they are not in the Tower of London. (Also see March 9, 2009 post)

From the Tower we walked along the Thames taking pictures and finally arriving at the Tower Bridge. This bridge is quite famous and is often thought to be London Bridge. London Bridge is the next bridge up river and is pretty nondescript as bridges go.

After we crossed the Tower Bridge we stopped at Draft House for a cool one and some appetizers. Probably spent about 1.5 hours in there and enjoyed ourselves. From there we walked by to the London Bridge Underground station to go back to Mel's. Bonnie, Kay, and Melanie stopped at the market on the way home to pick up stuff for dinner. Melanie prepared a lovely dinner and we all sat and watched her clean up the kitchen at her behest.

Had a great time today. The weather was wonderful. The company was spectacular. The venues we visited we magnificent. Enough superlatives for this day. Pictures will follow.

Saturday in London

After we left our stuff at the hotel, we got directions to Buckingham Palace. We went there after a couple of wrong turns. We were going to watch the "changing of the guard". We got there more than an hour early so we walked around in Green Park. The park is quite beautiful. The daffodils were blooming as well a crocuses here and there. Most of the trees are still leafless though. Bought a 6 oz cup of coffee for 1.5 GBP, it was very good. Took some pics of the palace the fountain out front and misc and sundry other things. When the changing of the guard stated one would hardly know if they were paying attention. It turns out that it's an approximately 45 minute ceremony that is really pretty boring except for when the band played. They were quite good and we enjoyed that. The weather was quite cool and we were both chilled when the ceremony was over. And of course we were tired when it started.

After the changing of the guard we walked or somehow else got down to the area where London Bridge crosses the Thames River. London Bridge has been in the same relative location for over 2000 years. It was first constructed by the Romans for access to the city from the south and east. Not really pretty or anything but has been there for a long time. Took a few pics along the way. We crossed the bridge and ended up at the London Fire Monument. It's a couple of hundred feet tall and costs 9 GBP to walk up, we didn't. We do have some pics though.

From here we went to the Tower of London but decided not to go in because it was late in the day and wanted to have plenty of time there. So we went and did the Tower Bridge tour instead. Most people think the Tower Bridge is London Bridge because of the song London Bridge is Falling Down but that is not the case. It's the last "draw bridge" on the Thames. So talk boats can go no farther up river than London Bridge because it doesn't raise. Tower bridge has been in use for over a century and until 1972 the bridge was raised and lowered by coal fired boilers working the hydraulic systems. In '72 they replaced the boilers with electricity. The bridge is still operational today. The lower section for the roadway is the part that opens. The upper section has two pedestrian walks.

From the tower bridge we made our way back to the hotel. It was about 4:30 PM and we were really tired. We took the tube and had an interesting journey. We went the wrong way on a train at least once and moving from train to train was a challenge until you got a few things figured out. Once we got back to the hotel, checked in, dropped our bags in the room. We went and got something to eat. We were so tired we don't even remember what we had but it filled a void. Got back to the hotel and pretty much crashed. I got up at 1 AM thinking it was morning took a shower and then went back to bed. Slept in on Sunday, 'til about 8 AM.