London (Day 3)

Bright and early, we took the tube to the Tower. Once again, I could see we hit London at a great time because the place was dead! We got in with practically no wait! We made straight for the Crown Jewels...no obstacles. There are loads of roped lines leading to the Jewels, the kind you see for a popular Disneyland ride, so they clearly usually get quite a crowd.

Now, believe me, before the trip I was like: "The Crown Jewels? It's a bunch of ancient-skool bling. Who cares?" But I was impressed. One sceptre had a diamond the size of a large shot glass, and the crowns are just covered in giants rubies and all sorts of big gems. No pics allowed, sorry! Even so, I question whether I would have felt it worthwhile to stand in some huge line to see them.

Near the jewels are other royal treasures: gold plates, gold dining room implements, and huge cisterns. Part of me sees all this and thinks: how much faster would Europe have advanced if all this wealth had actually been used as capital rather than horded by a bunch of interbreeding dictators? But I suppose one must suspend ones morality to enjoy any of this royal stuff, right?

The Tower also had an exhibition with armor and weapons worn by Henry VIII or those at his court. Plus we had a great view of Tower Bridge, saw Traitor's Gate, examples of torture implements, and of course the famous Tower ravens. All in all, an interesting time.

Then we left for the South Bank. The hurricanes in the mid-Atlantic were sending loads of clouds that flew over London so that we got brief microshowers before quickly reverting back to sun. (So the weather was probably better than we had any right to expect, as well).

London Eye gave us a worthwhile panoramic view of London, with a rainbow over the city, Whitehall, and the Thames. Incidentally, this was the day of our 13th anniversary, so it actually turned out to be a great day for this kind of a ride. More relaxed fun on the South Bank included plenty of street performers, some of whom were very entertaining. We sat on a bench overlooking the Thames and took a load off.

Then we re-crossed the Thames to walk by Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. We thought about going into the Abbey, but it was closed. At this point our feet and backs were aching from standing and walking so much and we went back to the hotel to crash.

Happy Anniversary!