May 18, 2018
Today was our third full day in London. The day we arrived doesn’t count because it was midday before we got here and I could not stay awake.
We met James (who is amazing and we will give anyone who wants it his number) early and went to Westminster Abbey. That could easily be a two-day trip by itself, but he warned us that we had a schedule, so we saw all the important parts. In the floor, right as you enter, is the English tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is rimmed in red silk poppies and is the one thing that no one steps on. Every royal bride who is married at Westminster leaves her bouquet on it as tribute as she leaves the church. At the top of every hour there is a moment of silence for prayer. The architecture is spectacular, especially considering when and how it was built. The monuments throughout are inspiring and beautiful. Queen Elizabeth I is buried over her sister Queen Mary with a beautiful effigy of Elizabeth. There is a mention of “we two sisters….” but no mention of Mary’s name. I guess we know who got the last word there. No pictures were allowed inside Westminster Abbey.
From there we walked to Buckingham Palace where we saw the changing of the guard and also two marching bands. There are any number of regiments who guard the palace, both horse guards and foot soldiers. The foot soldiers, at least, are all very young. I expect the horse guards are a little older. The poor police on bicycles were working very hard to clear the road of pedestrians. I think they would have rather been chasing murderers than wrangling tourists. I am guessing this is not a favorite duty. When we first saw Buckingham Palace on the day we arrived, the Queen was in residence as her standard was flying over the Palace. But now she has obviously gone to Windsor for the wedding. The Union Jack was in place.
James told us that the queen is awakened promptly at 9:30 each morning by bagpipers outside her window. He has heard them as he rides his bike. (I suppose they awaken her whenever she needs to be awake, but at 93 years old I think 9:30 sounds fine.) He also told us yesterday that the main tower clock at Windsor is stopped at 10 PM every night and started again the next morning because it awakens the queen.
Just down the mall (pronounced ‘mal’ and by that they mean road) is Clarence House where the Queen Mother lived and where Prince Charles and Camilla now live. James told us that they like to have outside dinner parties and you can hear them when they are entertaining at Clarence House.
From there we walked through St. James Park which, as front yards go, is pretty great. We walked to Whitehall through the Horse Guard Parade Grounds and then to the River Thames. We grabbed lunch in a pub.
We took a ferry to the Tower of London. The short ride gave us a great view of The Eye of London, the Ferriswheel like thing that was supposed to be a temporary installation for the Millennium. Each car holds 25 people and one full rotation takes a half-hour. It does not stop but goes slowly enough to load and unload passengers. We went under London Bridge, which was pretty unimpressive, and under The Ladies’ Bridge, which was paid for and built by women during the Second World War. It is the only municipal project to have ever come in on time and under budget because, of course it did.
We finally came up to the Tower Bridge and it was as impressive as you would expect. It looks like two great mansions on each end of the huge drawbridge. I was certain something amazing took place there or someone important lived there. Nope. It’s just pretty.
I have no idea what I had envisioned for the Tower of London. After decades of reading historical fiction that often featured bad things happening in the Tower, you would think I would have an idea what to expect. I think I expected it to be a big tower. It is a medieval castle with lots of towers and walls and is ancient and imposing. The reality makes a lot more sense that whatever I had in mind, but it was still a bit of a surprise.
The first thing we saw when we got through the gate was the Ravens. James was telling us something important. I saw the Ravens, yelled RAVENS! and ran to take pictures of the Ravens. Again, I had forgotten about the Ravens until I saw them. There are six who always live at the Tower and one extra in case something happens to one of the six. They are spoiled rotten, eat raw meat and bird biscuits soaked in blood, and show off for the tourists. One, named Merlin, does not get along with the others and refuses to live in the raven house. He has a ladder leading to a window in a residence across the way from the others. It is an ancient legend that if the ravens ever leave the tower, England will fall.
The Tower of London is considered a Royal Residence, although Queen Elizabeth II has never lived there, (unlike her namesake. See what happens when you put your sister in the Tower of London. She buries you under her casket and doesn’t let them print your name in the Abbey.). It is guarded by changing regiments of young men who live in the barracks onsite. The Yeoman Warders are more mature military men who basically run the Tower. They, and their families, also live onsite but in homes or apartments, not barracks. It is it’s own community within the gates of the tower.
The gate to the Tower complex closes and locks promptly at 5 pm. If I had realized what was happening I would have videos. The Yeoman Warder yelled that the gate was closing. Of course, no one listened. Then he and a policeman CLOSED THE GATE. And I do mean, closed the gate, with people freaking out and trying to run either inside or outside because they were separated from their group. They had to go around to a different entrance to get back inside. Then the Yeoman Warder barred and locked it with a big key. They do not play at the Tower of London.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s death and someone has left red roses at the site of her execution every year anonymously. The roses were there today.
We bid a sad farewell to James at the Tower. He offered to walk us to the Underground, but, frankly, we were too tired. We sat and enjoyed the afternoon, did some people watching, then tried to find a bar nearby to have a cocktail. The Tower is in London proper which is a business center. It was Friday afternoon. Every bar within blocks was so crowded they had huge crowds of people spilling down the sidewalk and into the streets. We caught a cab and headed back to our hotel.
Evans’ favorite waiter, Alexandru, brought him fancy off-menu scotch which they discussed at length. Alexandru also convinced me to try a Japanese Whisky cocktail that was as pretty as it was good. We then crashed, because we are old and we are not used to walking miles and miles and miles, even if it is through beautiful parkland and ancient castles. We had dinner at our hotel and it was as amazing as our breakfast has been each morning. I highly recommend the Kensington to anyone coming to London. It has been like a fairytale.
Tomorrow we are off to Canterbury on our own. It has been quite a week.
I am so loving your blog, Pamela. Interesting and witty, just like you.