Today we were never further than a mile from the flat and we still walked over 16,000 steps. And that was with taking the bus across Tower Bridge towards our first stop of Tower of London. Had we walked we would have added at least another 2,000 steps.
Anyway, we were first in line at the Tower but of course by the time we got in lots of people got ahead of us (we don’t walk very quickly) at the Crown Jewels exhibition. It wasn’t a problem, though, as the exhibit holds a lot of people so there was no wait to get in. A couple of hours later there was a massive “snake” line outside the building.
The Jewels are amazing but, unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures. To follow up on yesterday’s post about the weight of the Coronation Dress and Robe, when adding the State Imperial Crown, the Orb and Staff, Elizabeth had an extra 30 pounds on her. The Beefeater at the exhibit told us that the Queen doesn’t usually wear the Crown for longer than 15 minutes because of its weight.
After the Crown Jewels we visited the Fusilier Museum.
After the museum we wandered the grounds. We skipped the Bloody Tower as it has a very narrow, spiral staircase without a handrail. Not having a handrail to drag ourselves up the stairs is a deal-breaker so we took a pass. We also skipped the White Tower and its 206 stairs. But, we saw the rest of the complex plus the pretty Chapel Royal of St. Peter and Vincula.
In several of the Towers we saw carvings done by the prisoners.
In addition to the prison, we saw the medieval palace built by Henry III his son Edward I. The Palace is made up of three towers – St. Thomas, Wakefield and Lanthorn.
Finally, we learned about the Ravens of the Tower. Their presence is said to protect the monarchy. At one time, the King ordered their destruction only to be told that if the ravens left the Tower, the White Tower would fall and a great disaster befall the Kingdom. Sensibly the King changed his mind and decreed that at least six ravens should be kept at the Tower at all times to prevent disaster. The Beefeater who told us the story said, there are currently 8 ravens. They like to have a spare just in case.
After finishing at the Tower, we headed to Tower Bridge. It was still fairly early (about noon) so the line wasn’t too long. Once again, we skipped the 206 stairs and took the lift to the top.
When we got back down the other side, we discovered that the bridge was going up in just a few minutes so we hung out to watch. It was very cool…up and down in less than 3 minutes.
We decided to head to the HMS Belfast, a WWII light cruiser that’s docked in the Thames. I thought it was part of our London Pass but it turns out it’s not. It would have cost about $60 to tour, which we didn’t mind, but we weren’t sure if Peter would be able to make it up and down the ladders, so we decided to skip it. We’ve seen the aircraft carrier, USS Midway, in San Diego as well as the Battleship Missouri in Hawaii, so didn’t feel we were missing too much.
For lunch we went to Borough Market, which is a gigantic open air-market filled with street food stalls. We’d never seen that many ethnic foods in one spot before. But it was crazy crowded and even if we had found something we wanted to eat, we would have had no place to sit so we decided to find a restaurant instead.
After lunch we walked a few blocks to Southward Cathedral but found it was closed until late afternoon due to a graduation that was taking place in the church. Since it was only about 2:30 we skipped that too, and headed for our last stop of the day…the Shard.
Our tickets for top weren’t until 4pm but since there was nowhere for us to sit while we waited the guards let us go up early. While not the Sears Tower, the view was still quite impressive. Today was the first day we’d had sun all day so it was a perfect day to visit the top.
By the time we left the Shard our feet were tired, and we were ready for a relaxing evening. It was only a 15-minute walk home, but it seemed like forever before we were in our flat.
Tomorrow we’ve got a full day at Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster. We’re really looking forward to it. Have a great evening.
Love all the pictures and information. Brings back great memories. Terry
London is great. This is my third time visit but I enjoyed it just as much this time as the other two. It was especially fun to see it with Peter. I’m looking forward to seeing some new places now that we’re out of London. Thanks Terry.
OMG! I’ve been wondering about you two! After I got the “test” email, I hadn’t heard a thing! And I always think about checking your site when I’m not in a place to do anything about it! 🤣 So, today was the day! I’m SOOOOOOOOOOO far behind! I’ve figured out how to get to the previous posts, so I’m starting here, where I left off, and will be trying my best to catch up with you! I’ve seen you’ve been in my old stomping grounds (Hampton Court Palace; all of London; Warwick Castle; and Stratford). Can’t wait to catch up! So glad you’re having a great time (and missing the monsoons!!). Love and hugs from the 3 of us!
Not sure what the problem is with the notification emails. They work for test but then nothing when I do a real post. I’m tired of trying to figure it out though. I post pretty much every evening unless like 2 days ago when the internet connection was so slow I had trouble uploading pics. You’ve got a long way to go to catch up!! Happy reading. Hugs back to your boys.