Day 18 Historical Quests

I started the day by river Thames at the Tower of London.  The tower is the home to the royal jewels, history for the last 1000 year including the beheading of Henry the VIII's wives and the bloody tower.  I spent more time there than I expected to, almost three hours.  There are two wall protecting the inside structures along with a drained moat.  The moat was drained in the 1800s because it was built at a lower level than the river Thames so water could come in but became stagnant because it could not flow out.  

Today it is just grass.  I was able to walk the majority of outside wall from the entrance about 3/4 the way around stopping in various towers that had sorted histories.  Some of the towers were the homes to the kings prisoners.  Some of the carvings that they did in the wall still remain.  Some where messages to God, some where astrological drawings and others were messages to those who they loved.  There was also the bloody tower where 2 princes mysteriously disappeared while they where being protected by the King.  

The best part of going to the Tower of London was the tour guides called the Yeoman Warders.  They are all a part of the military and were given this position for years of good service.  The tour guide I had had a great sense of humor.  There were about 100 people who chose to go around with the Yeoman but he did a great job talking loud enough for everyone to hear.  I got a lot more information about the past than I could walking around by myself.  He told more history about the killings done at the Tower and the prisoners that were held there. 

 We concluded the tour inside the chapel which I had not visited on my own.  This is where the bones of all the traitors that where executed.  They dug up many of he final resting places and found 400 sets of bones including those from King Henry VIII reign.  Some of the bones where relocated whole those of the likes of Anne Boleyn remain inside.  The tour with the Yeoman was the best part by far and worth price of entry by itself.

 I found the displays around the Tower to be aimed towards the casual tourist and not the history enthusiast.  There is even more history there than they presented and I really wanted to know more.  It was good to visit once but I don't think that I would go back again.  

From the Tower of London I walked down the river Thames to the Tower bridge.  The Tower Bridge is the most iconic bridge in London.  It's not the London Bridge like the song but another bridge at the end of London city.  I went into the bridge up to the pedestrian bridge above the driving bridge.  There was a short video describing the need for another bridge for transportation around the turn of the 1900s, a competition that was held and a winner was chosen and the bridge was built.  They say that the bridge raises and lowers seven times in one day.  

Up on the viewing platform you got a fantastic view of the River Thames but not much to write home about, even though that is what I'm doing right now.  I walked across both viewing platforms and took the elevator back down to the engine room.  The bridge operates with multiple power systems to raise and lower the street.  Also when I was visiting there was the Paralympic logo right below the pedestrian bridge that also raised and lowered along with the bridge.  

Once I stopped in shop and bought some post cards and stamps it was time to head down the river into the city of Westminster.  My London pass included unlimited journeys on the River Thames via City Cruises.  I was told that the boat was just about to depart so I huffed down to the loading area only to find out that it had probably just left.  So I sat down on the ground to write out some of my post cards before I struck up a conversation with a couple next to me.  About 30 minutes later the boat finally arrived.  There was an open deck on the top and since it was a beautiful day outside I sat up top.  

One of the crew members on board narrated our journey down the river, even though his job description did not include narration so he asked for tips on the way out.  It was a smooth ride down the river which took about 20 minutes until we arrived just across from the London Eye.

Just across the river from the London Eye sits the Parliament building and Big Ben.  Now Big Ben is not the nickname for the whole bell tower but only the bell itself.  So if anyone asks you if you saw Big Ben tell them no because it is only the bell.  Well it was beautiful outside that day with fluffy white clouds passing though a bright blue sky.  I took about 25 or so so at least one had to turn out.  Thank goodness for digital cameras and practically unlimited photo taking.

My next stop is literally right across the street from the Parliament which is Westminster abbey.  This is probably the most famous church in the English speaking world as it the wedding place for William and Kate and where the Queen was crowned.  Did I mention before that they love the Queen there.  I mean, they LOVE her.  60 years on the throne and they wish she would live for another 60 years.  Well anyways into the abbey I went with my London pass.  It was so nice not to keep bringing out my credit card for all this stuff plus I did a lot more things than I would have without it.

Once I was inside I grabbed an audio guide and off I went.  The layout of the interior is very similar to other churches in the area.  There is the seating area in the front, the choir section and then the alter.  Because of the shape of the gallery, usually in the shape of a cross, many people seated in the gallery could not see the alter or even the preacher.  And unlike American churches there is not a ton of audio visual camera and screens all around.  But I wouldn't mind because there is so much to look at.  If I haven't said it already I would go to church again if I had had much to look at around me.  I walked round the alter area around the top of the hour when they do a small prayer and a moment of thought.  It was a nice reminder where you truly where.  Once the moment passed I walked behind the alter into where most of he crypts lay.  Different from St. Paul's many of England's monarchs where buried here.  In fact there is a section that was added on the back that they call the women's section because it had the crypts of Elizabeth I, Bloody Mary and Mary Queen of Scots.  The details of each tomb was incredible with a likeness of many of them laying on top.  And the ceilings where truly out of this world as they were outlying white with incredibly intricate carvings.  One thing to remember if I ever get a chance to visit Europe again is to always look up because most of the time there is something to look at.  I passed through the other crypts from monarchs to authors and politicians.  

On my way out there was a display for the Queen's diamond jubilee about her history with the church.  From when she was a child to her coronation, the marriages of her children, the death of Diana and the wedding of Willamette and Kate.  It is quite a history which had been detailed through photographs over her entire lifetime.  Truly the first British monarch who has really had their whole life seen through photographs.

I was just about to go out the exit door when I noticed something to my left.  I almost missed the coronation chair!  The chair is clearly very old, hundreds of years.  The style and wood are nothing from this century.  This is the chair that at least the last 600 ignore more where all monarchs where crowned.  And this is the chair that sits on top of the Scottish Stone of Destiny that was returned to Scotland 15 years ago.  I'm glad I was trained not to follow the crowds around because I might have missed if I did.

Ruhr next to the Abbey is the remains of an old castle called the Jewel tower.  It is very small building three stories tall that gave the history of the building.  It was mostly used as a place of standards including weights and measures.  They also explained the history and the practices of the parliament as it sits right across the street.  It was a quick visit that also included a door that was built in 1621 and is still in use today.  Very cool.

Once I left the Royal area around the Abbey I took the tube over to Hyde park.  I went to a different station that I had not used before which was in a shopping area of the city.  I would have stopped in the TK Maxx, no that is not a typo even though I know I have made many of those.  Yes TK Maxx.   I needed to make to over to Kensington palace before they closed their entries for the day.  This was the favorite palace of Diana and still to this day there is a memorial fence one one side that people lay flowers for her.  I saw a couple people lay some flowers down some 15 years after her death.  And inside the palace one of the exhibits had 5 of her dresses and style that she was so famous for.   

Two of the other exhibits were celebrating the only other monarch to reach their Diamond Jubilee which was Victoria in 1937.  The first one showed the celebrations all around the city bad the reactions from everyday people.  The interesting thing about these exhibits was that they seemed more like an art installation rather than a history exhibit.  The other Victoria exhibit was about her life.  She was such a small woman.  From the dress that they had inside a case I don't think that she was any taller than 4 foot 8 inches.  She had such a loving relationship with her husband Albert and was just totally destroyed when he died.  She never wore anything but black again.  

The final display was from the beginning of Kensington palace and the tumultuous time with a king and queen coming from abroad after the previous king left his throne.  The new queen had only one of 18 pregnancies live to be 10 years old.  The king then died, the queen died and her only surviving son died.  He throne was passed 32 spots to the next monarch.  Talk about a lot of drama.

After exploring everything that I could inside the palace I breezed through the shop.  I had another non buyers remorse issue with a ruler that had all the kings and queens on it.  A ruler ruler, get it?!  Oh well.  So I ventured northward in the park towards my hotel to find the Peter Pan statue.  I asked a couple different phere it was and I fianlly got an answer after about the fifth person.  The statue has Peter on the top with his pipe flute and all the mermaids around him.  Very cool.  Plus there were some other people around the statue so I asked them to take my photo with Peter.  I don't have a lot of proof that I exist in front of the camera.

I bade farewell to Hyde Park and walked back up to my hotel.  Another really exhausting day that did some great work on my legs.  Only one more day in London left and then off to Paris!