We Still Have Our Heads

Tower Bridge

Traitor's Gate Tower of London

Set out this morning on the bus to the ferry stop for a cruise up the river to the Tower of London. Had a close up view of the London Eye which they say makes £250,000 per day. Locals have dubbed it the “Wheel of Fortune”.  Had a different view of the Houses of Parliament and the Clock of Westminster aka Big Ben. We went under some of the many bridges (Westminster, Waterloo, Blackfriars) and had a lovely view of the Tower Bridge. The cruise was part of our Hop on Hop Off Deal (which lasts 24 hrs from when you start). We were fortunate as there was informal commentary by the boat crew.

We spent two and a half hours at the Tower of London.  A Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) gave us a tour and shared a lot of the history of the Tower. We think of it only as a dungeon where in reality it was once the home of Kings and Queens. We visited the chapel where Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey are buried. We also saw the Crown Jewels which is really only the ceremonial regalia such as crowns, orbs and swords. Mind you there were a lot of lovely gemstones - diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires that I would have loved. There were also a couple of seriously impressive diamonds attached to the crowns.  I particularly admired the Kooh i Noor diamond which is on the crown of the Queen Consort. Caught the tube back to Westminster (4 stops) and were charged £4 each for the privilege. Buses are much cheaper however they are often slow because of traffic congestion. We walked back to our hotel via Westminster Abbey. The sun finally came out during this walk and we were hot by the time we got back.

Decided to do some washing at the local laundrette and had a lovely time there chatting to the manager and some of the patrons. Have found most people friendly and helpful. The scariest part of London so far is crossing the road as pedestrians seem to have no rights.

By the time we got back to the hotel Jill and Dave had arrived from Australia. Gave them time to freshen up and then ventured out in the rain to try another pub. This time the Westminster where the beer was cold, the pizza good and the hot and spicy chicken wings were really hot!!!