London in a nutshell

Today has been a crazy day! We got up at 7:30, got ready and headed out to Paddington Station to catch the underground to Piccadilly Circus. By the time the train reached our destination it was 9:55 and our walking tour left at 10, so we had to run to make it as it was about 10 blocks away! Luckily we made it there with a few moments to spare, and we took the opportunity to catch our breath before embarking on the 2 hour tour.

The tour was amazing! We started from Trafalgar Square and headed to Waterloo Place. Here we heard about the battle of Waterloo and George Wellington's late nights at the Gentleman's Club (there were two mounting blocks on the square that he had ordered to be put in place so that he could get on to his horse more easily after his nights out!). From there we went to see the statue of King George and then down onto The Mall - the major street heading down to Buckingham palace where all the processions are held. Our first major stop was St. James' Palace, the former official residence of Prince Charles. It was here that the first official part of the changing of the guard was to occur.

There was no one there when we arrived, other than a couple of police officers - but minutes later the first guard came out. He barked out an order, and the whole band of guards who were going off duty entered the courtyard. They played a couple of tunes and then presented the flag and began their march to the palace. We marched along side them up to the palace gates as the crowd grew larger and larger and then veered off to the left to take in a view across St. James' Park of the horse guards and top at Wellington Barracks. Once again we were one of the first people there to view the second stage, the entry of the the new guards. A similar set up took place - with the band playing a couple of songs and then the flag being brought out and them marching out past us to the palace. This was a guest regiment of the Royal Air Force, so they were not wearing the red uniform or the bearskin headdress - instead they had what looked like a marine corps uniform with the addition of a light blue beret. Again we marched along with them to the palace gates, the crowd was insane! A police officer told us that the crowd had been gathering since before 7:30am (the changing of the guard was at 11:30) and that there were over 5,000 people there. We stayed back on the lawn where we could see the processions, but getting close was futile considering every gate was crammed. From there we walked down to the entrance to the Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews (where the cars and horses are kept), and then we dispersed. It was a great tour, and we got a ton of really close-up photos of the guards!

Next we grabbed some brunch at a little cafe, and then walked back to the palace to take some photos of it, as we hoped it would be less crowded by this time. There were still alot of people hanging around on the grass and side gates, but the worst of the crowd had moved on, so we took some photos and then headed to Westminster Abbey. No camera's were allowed inside which was a bit of a disappointment, but it was enormous and beautiful. We saw the coronation chair - which is still used to this day to crown the King's and Queen's of England, and the tombs of many great King's and Queen's, as well as poet's corner where Geoffrey Chaucer, T.S. Elliot, Shakespeare and a host of others were honoured. It took us about an hour to walk through all the various chapel's and chambers, then we headed back to the underground to make our way to the Tower of London.

The Tower of London was bigger than you can even imagine.. the outer wall ran further than you could see, and inside were a whole host of Tower's and a second perimeter. The moat (though now empty) was wide and very deep, and there is talk of filling it back up as soon as the excavation work is completed. We walked through the original tower - The White Tower - which was built in 1097 and is the center of the complex, also the Beauchamp Tower, where the prisoners were held. Then we went through the Bloody Tower where the two Prince son's of Edward IV disappeared mysteriously after being placed there by their uncle Richard III who was crowned later that year. By far the most impressive tower was the Jewel Tower where the crown's of past King's and Queen's were held as well as the Crown Jewel's and along with them the Sceptre with the cross which now contains the world's biggest diamond. I have never seen so many diamond's or so much gold! The crown's were breath taking in person and we went through several times!! We walked past Tower Green which was the execution site for prisoners such as Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (two of Henry VIII's wives). Traitor's gate was not as visible from the inside as it had been from our cruise the day before, but we did take a look, and managed to be back up on the wall walk just in time to see the Tower Bridge raised for a procession of boats!

Next we went to the London Dungeons for a horror tour through the black plague, London fire (that destroyed over 80% of the city in 1666), jack the ripper (who was renowned for killing and butchering 5 prostitutes in 1888 and never caught) and Sweeney Todd (between him and his wife killed over 160 people people in his 'trap door' barber's chair in 1785), it was basically a very bloody version of a horror house - except that all the stories were true. Geoff even got to experience what it was like to be hung on a free fall ride!

Then it was a quick couple of stops over to the London Eye. It was pretty empty as it was dusky outside, so we went through the line fairly quickly and then took the 30 minute ride. It was pretty cool to see all the places we had been, and aerial views of Buckingham palace and the houses of Parliament gave you a better idea of how big they really were! It was great way to round up the day, and we headed back to the hotel at about 8:30pm ready to sleep!