Ploughing through the snow in London - COMPLETED 3/15! About This Page:

[Tink and co.]

Thank you! I your trip reports and all the great pictures! My son was just amazed about your company (Dave and Jennifer are celebrities around here!). He wanted to know how you got to see them, forget touring London!

[stretch2864]

Great trip report! I'm really enjoying your photos of London as we are still hoping to make it over there sometime this coming summer.

[chezp]

Sorry for taking so long to update this, but I've now got hold of the photos I took with Jennifer's camera - and I'm glad I waited, as they came out [/b]so[/b] well - her camera is so neat! Now I can share the photos with you as well as the rest of my report... on with the show!

Ploughing through the snow in London – part four: the Crown Jewels, award winning toilets and a visit back to the Middle Ages

We walked up to the Jewel House to see the Crown Jewels, a must-do for any visitor to the Tower, snapping some photos on the way – using Jennifer’s camera


The Jewel House

The White Tower

One of the Beefeaters showing a party of tourists around

Jennifer and Dave with Tower Bridge behind them

I will admit that I was expecting to have to wait a long time to see these, as the last time we were here was November 2003 with Maureen and Kevan. On that occasion, we went in by about 9.30, so there was no wait at all. Well, today wasn’t much more of a wait, surprisingly enough. We must have waited about 10 minutes to get in there and even that wasn’t too bad, as there were lots of interesting films to watch on the way about the history of the Crown Jewels. You see, Disney aren’t the only ones who know how to make a queue interesting!

I don’t think I could ever tire of seeing the Crown Jewels. It really is an incredible collection and I couldn’t help but notice how Alexander’s eyes were popped out of his head at the sparkling goodies in front of him. Eventually, we dragged ourselves away from admiring them and wondering what it would be like to wear one of those crowns and headed back outside.

At this point, I nearly died of shock. There appeared to be a yellow thing in the sky and, for a moment, I couldn’t figure out what it was – not having seen it for so long, but then it came back to me. That’s right – the sun! Jennifer went off to use the baby change facilities and came back, reporting on all the awards that this place has for good toilets and baby changing facilities. This then became something of a running joke throughout the rest of the day, although to be honest, that is quite common over here, particularly at major tourist attractions and shops.

It was at this point that I started to worry that we hadn’t seen any of the world famous ravens so far today. Legend states that should they ever leave the Tower, then the monarchy will fall but they were safe and sound – in a cage, believe it or not. Well, I guess that’s one sure fire way to stop them flying off…


Jennifer, Dave and Alexander in front of the White Tower

By now, I had realised that, due to its age, the Tower of London wasn’t exactly stroller friendly, so I doubtfully suggested taking a walk along one of the walls of the building, half expecting Jennifer and Dave to say “no”, but they were game and folded up the stroller, while Jennifer set off with Alexander. She has such a neat contraption for carrying him in front of her. I’ve never seen anything like it before and Alexander certainly seemed to love it.

As we headed up the stairs of the first tower, we heard voices and I assumed that it was just other visitors, but no, it was three actors, who appeared to be acting out scenes from the Middle Ages. From what I could gather, the guy was playing a Scottish King, who’d been banished to the Tower of London and, from memory, I think reference was made to Edward I, which would put the scene somewhere between 1272 and 1307.

They all did a great job of staying in character, particularly when Mark got involved with the argument they were having over whether a Scottish King should obey an English King. You should’ve heard the comments he made about the Scots How those actors managed to keep straight faces, I do not know. I was expecting them to lapse out of character at any second, but they kept it going beautifully. I guess they get used to light hearted banter like that.

In the end, I made a move to leave the room. Much as I was enjoying it, I had visions of us ending up there all day, as Mark carried on trying to bait them. Then it was up on to the walls, with some beautiful views of Tower Bridge.



The views from the walls

I had noticed as we entered the original tower that the signs said something about not disturbing the residents and as we walked round, sure enough, I could see what looked very much like homes alongside one of the walls. I’d never noticed that before. How it must be to live there – but I dread to think how much it costs to buy a place at the Tower of London!

Next: “Japanese food?” and “I’m sure it was snowing earlier…”

[LizardCop]

Wonderful Pictures, that's a great camera... And another great update!!!

[GoofyMom]

Great update, Cheryl! Those photos were definitely worth waiting for.

[crystalloubear]

Wow - sounds like so much fun!! I was worried when you said about the ravens - I thought maybe they heard of Charles and Camila's wedding and flew the coup!!

[BritDisFan]

Great update Cheryl, I love the Tower of London but haven't been for years. I'd like to go again one day soon.

Karen

[Annabel]

Great updates, I've really enjoyed reading the report and seeing the photos

Annabel

[Tara O'Hara]

Great update, Cheryl and awesome pictures, as usual!!

[DopeyGirl]

I, too, was wondering about the ravens!!! I guess when they keep them caged, that's just their way of INSURING the monarchy stays put!!!

Great photos!!!

[Luv2plan]

Just catching up with your trip report - oh, I just love London and can't wait to take DD there sometime soon! We went on one of the Beefeater tours at Tower of London and it was a lot of fun.

Looking forward to more!

[Tink and co.]

What great pictures and an excellent addition to the report.

[chezp]

Ploughing through the snow in London – part five: “Japanese food?” and “I’m sure it was snowing earlier…”

We passed through a display of how the Tower would’ve looked in the 14th century and then into what used to be the Jewel Tower. This place makes me laugh every time I see it. There’s no evidence of any security, although I will accept that the jewels were last here about 150 years ago, so they could’ve done away with the security measures in that time, but compared to what you go through today, this little tower offers barely any protection.

Now it houses a display about diamonds and, in particular, the Koh-i-noor diamond, which was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850. The diamond then went on to become a part of the British Crown Jewels. At 186 carats, it was a pretty reasonably sized diamond! There’s also a display in there about the various crowns wore by monarchs through the years and one which caught my eye was the story about Adelaide, who was married to King William IV. She had some very grand ideas about the jewels that she wanted in her coronation crown, but was told in no uncertain terms by Parliament that they would only pay a certain amount towards her crown. Undaunted, she dug into her own personal wealth to create a crown which she thought would be more fitting for her. Ironically, after the coronation, the diamond was taken out of the crown, but she never wore it again. Hardly seems like a bargain to me..

When we came out of there, again the sun was out and my camera had decided to re-charge a little, so I grabbed a quick photo:


The Tower of London

From here, we headed out, having spent a couple of very enjoyable hours at the Tower. It seems to me that there’s more to see here now than there was a couple of years when we were last here and, if you wanted to, you could easily spend the best part of a day here. It should certainly be on any visitor’s “must do” list.

When we came out of the Tower, Jennifer asked what we were doing next and whether lunch could be included in there somewhere. No problem! Well, I say no problem. I’d found information about pubs we could eat in around Westminster, but not around the Tower of London. Never mind, there’s bound to be something somewhere around here.

As we looked for somewhere, we spotted a sign that we know and love whenever we visit London – Wagamama. It’s a chain of Japanese restaurants that serve very good food, quickly and reasonably priced. Both Mark and I just started to laugh, as we weren’t expecting to find one here. Jennifer asked what the joke was and we explained and I could see her eyes light up – “Japanese food?” I think we have a sale here… We walked over to the menu and quickly went inside.

Jennifer and Dave’s knowledge of Japanese food blew us away. Apart from a couple of visits to Wagamama and Teppanyaki at Epcot, that’s it for us. We just know we like the stuff and not much more than that. Mark managed to avoid his usual chilli beef ramen and went for the chicken ramen. OK, so not much difference, but it’s a start to him exploring the menu more! I went for the salmon korroke – Japanese potato cakes and this is probably my favourite dish to date. I have been making my way round their menu gradually. I know Dave went for one of the curry dishes, but I can’t remember what Jennifer had, but I seem to recall she enjoyed it.

During the meal, Alexander developed an affection for the chopsticks near him, trying to grab them and I swear he was watching us eat. Why do I have a feeling that he’s going to grow up loving Japanese food?

On the way out of there, I grabbed a photo of father and son and what a great photo it was too:



From there, we headed down to the Tower Bridge pier to pick up our cruise up to Westminster. By now, the sun was well and truly out and the lighting was perfect for taking photos:




That’s what I love about the British weather – it can change so dramatically in a matter of just a few hours.

Next: Jennifer’s left literally holding the baby, as we hold up a bus!

[LizardCop]

Another great report update and pictures!!!

[BritDisFan]

Mmmm Wagamama our favourite , love the pics Cheryl.

Karen

PS Allan asks if Mark prefers the Chicken or the Chilli Beef Ramen? Allan said the Chilli Beef one is still his number one favourite .