Yesterday we did London on foot, over 10 miles, wandering between St. Pauls, The Tower of London, and over to an evening play on the Strand. The Tower of London is a combination of vast historical significance, and modern Disney inspired tourism. Obviously a well attended destination so crowds somewhat boorish and overwhelming, especially seeing the Crown Jewels but we were part of it so no complaining here:) I think the highlight for me was the guided tour hosted by the Tower Guards, or Yoeman, who have been the Queen or Kings guards since 1485. They are active military and quite a select few and if you check out the weaponry they carry, while on duty, its not a toy but modern assault rifle. We were able to go into the chapel, at the end of our tour and the tales those floors could tell. The three Queens of Henry the 8th, who displeased his royal expectations are buried, headless under the alter. In fact a number of poor souls who were executed were found under the floor during a renovation, as they unceremoniously tossed them under the floor and placed their heads on London Bridge, as a example. Such public spectacles led to good behavior by the majority of the citizens. We were able to take in the Even Song at St. Pauls, a 5 PM service open to the public and near to my Scottish heart, as it is free versus paying the usual admission fee. All is not dollars and cents however the service was quite impressive with the organ and choir filling this great cathedral with spiritual harmony for all in attendance. Due to the heightened terror alert, there was to be an enhanced presence of military and police but it was very discreet and I believe many were in civilian clothing so as to be better positioned to seek out any troublesome characters, without being identified as authorities. I did see one soldier outside the Tower Of London. Decent weather yesterday so got some good pictures below. Today its a quick visit of the Tate Modern Museum and then on to the EuroStar train to Paris. A couple of mentions for the pictures, we came upon Candy Heaven near the theatre where we saw the Play about Queen Ann and her livelong tension with the Duchess of Marborough, a good historical and entertaining, well acted play. The English love there sweets and so does Amy! The statues of what looks like soldiers is actually a memorial for all the firefighters who sacrificed their lives fighting the fires brought on by the Nazi Blitz of England. Interesting fact about the blitz the Germans agreed not to bomb Oxford and the English also agreed not to bomb Heidelberg, due to intellectual and artistic heritage of course Hitlers deluded vision saw Oxford as where the Nazi’s would set up a administrative headquarters once they had won. Also below, one of the gruesome exhibits of medieval enhanced interviewing techniques in the Tower, the rack and the crusher. Also pictures of the Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, St Paul and London Bridge. I tried to catch combination shots of old and new architecture, see if you can guess which building is nick named the Walkie Talkie. Oh one additional observation on the pictures. The gate on the Thames is how prisoners were rowed from their trial at Parliament to the Tower. It’s referred to as Watergate, a name that our guide thought quite humorous based on our own political scandal.
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