London Sightseeing
With my archival work completed, we had all day Wednesday to sightsee. Since it was Alicia's first trip to England, I opted to skip Hampton Court in favor of the Tower of London. While Hampton Court better fits with the era of history I enjoy most, the Tower offers a lengthier pedigree. But first, Alicia wanted to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.
I've seen the palace, but I've not been there for the famous ceremony. So we got there about 45 minutes early and secured a good spot next to the wrought iron fencing that surrounds the palace. The first disappointment for Alicia was that the guards were not the usual palace guard in the red coats and furry black hats. These blokes wore more common-place military jackets and berets. Four of them stood in front of four little guard houses - stock still. Every few minutes, a pair of them would begin a choreographed routine where they would turn, walk away from each other, turn back, walk toward each other, and then resume their guard position. I'm sure it would have been more impressive if they were in sync. But one always lagged the other by about a second.
Shortly before the ceremony began, a regiment of about a dozen more guards marched out. Their commanding officer, who wore a metal stick at his waist that was supposed to be a sword (Its squared-off end rather ruined the illusion), came out and inspected each officer. I heard a woman in the crowd (apparently a local) comment that they were military cadets - I suppose that would explain the uniform. Apparently satisfied after the inspection, the commander marched the men toward the front of the palace.
The men stood in formation perpendicular to the the guards who remained standing in front of their guard houses, and the commanding officer began pacing back and forth in front of the assembled regiment. He'd walk to within a foot of the palace wall, step back as if surprised the wall was there, turn on his heel, and walk in the opposite direction. He repeated the maneuver when he reached the palace gate. He did this repeatedly. Then two more officer blokes came out. One joined the first officer in the pacing, the other went in the opposite direction. Back and forth. Back and forth. We watched the pacing for another five minutes or so and then I heard the local lady say to her antsy young daughter - "It's almost over now."
What?! I stood against a fence for 45 minutes, being bumped and prodded by strangers, for this?! In disgust, and already mourning those 45 minutes of my life I would never see again, I made my way through the throng of people and away. Changing of the guards my backside . . . more like boring of the crowd.
By the time we finally reached the Tower, it was approaching noon. We lucked into a 2-for-1 offer with our train tickets, so it cost just £8.50 each instead of the normal £17. We walked through the old medieval section of the Tower dating to Edward I that was extensively upgraded for the coronation of Anne Boleyn, then took a look at the Traitor's Gate. It was through this gate that the then Princess Elizabeth (Anne's daughter) was escorted when her sister, Mary I, accused her of treason.
It was now nearing 1 p.m. and my blood sugar needed a boost. So we paused to have lunch at the Tower's New Armouries Cafe. It was a cafeteria-style eating place, where you had a selection of sandwiches, hot meals, soups, and a carvery. I opted for a bowl of Georgian Spring Soup with a thick chunk of wholegrain bread. Alicia got a BLT. Condiments consisted of salt, pepper, and sugar. This proved a big problem for Alicia, because her sandwich was very dry. The salt helped me, though, because my soup was tasteless. It smelled lovely, but tasted like water! Only by adding copious amounts of salt did it show a glimmer of flavor. This meal did nothing to diminish the stereotype of bland English food, let me tell you!
After our unsatisfying meal (which cost me about $12), we looked at the exhibition of Henry VIII's armor and then the crown jewels. Outside of the Jewel House, Alicia spied a traditionally garbed guard and happily snapped a photo. We should've just come straight to the Tower and skipped Buckingham. *shrug*
Another point within the Tower I wanted to show Alicia was the plaque marking the spot where Anne Boleyn was beheaded. But the plaque is gone. Now an elaborate glass sculpture of a velvet pillow marks the spot where Anne, and many others (such as Katherine Howard) lost their heads to Henry's axe man. The area has been marked since Queen Victoria, moved by the story of Anne Boleyn, commanded the point where she was beheaded be commemorated. I guess this year's 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's coronation spurred the upgrade from wooden plaque to glass sculpture.
Next up were the Tower ravens. These huge birds have called the Tower home for centuries. The story goes that the astronomer for Charles II complained that the ravens interfered with his stellar observations and the king ordered the birds destroyed. But when he learned of the prophecy that when the ravens left the Tower, the monarchy would fall, he reversed his ordered and sought to protect the birds. Nowadays, the ravens are either housed in cages or have their wings clipped so they can't fly away. I guess HRH is taking no chances! Whilst we stood looking at the birds, one of them hopped up on to the back of a bench. He reached into the nearby garbage bin and pulled out a discarded carrier bag containing leftover food bits. The bird may not be able to fly, but at least he's fed well!
Our day concluded with a stroll to the Tower Bridge. Our plan had been to take in the Tower Bridge Exhibition, which allows you access to the walkways suspended between the bridge's two towers. Unfortunately, the lift had gotten stuck the day before and the bridge was closed. I was disappointed, because I didn't even realize you could go inside the bridge until this trip and was really looking forward to the view from atop the bridge walkway. By the same token, I'm glad I wasn't subjected to a possible stuck lift, either.
We caught a District Line train at Tower Hill station. Our stop was the western terminus of the line. As we traveled along and listened to the various conversations happening in our car, I realized that every accent was American. It was like a little pocket of home on the London Underground.
For our last night in Ealing, we had a pizza dinner at La Cantina and watched a bit of English television. We only had a few channels available and we ended up watching a medical reality show called Embarrassing Bodies. One poor bloke was suffering from prostatitis and was undergoing a prostate massage procedure under general anaesthetic. Much to our surprise (and Alicia's horror, I might add), we saw the man's penis in all its glory on the tv screen. It was a rather bizarre thing to see at 8:30 p.m. on a general broadcast tv station, let me tell you.
After our last breakfast at the hotel Thursday morning, we schlepped our bags to the tube station and began our trek to London Euston train depot. It took us about 45 minutes to make the journey and we had about an hour to wait before we could board. Signal problems caused some delays for some trains. Our train took off on time, but ended up delayed by ten minutes because of children playing on the track. Clearly, stupidity and lack of common-sense parenting are not exclusively American.
Today, Alicia bade England farewell. As of this writing, she's somewhere over the Atlantic heading home to her hubby and dogs. We enjoyed lovely weather whilst Alicia was here. Despite horrible forecasts for heavy downpours, the rain stayed away. Today, the truce is over and it's been raining for hours. It's as if Alicia has taken the sunshine back to Florida with her.
I've seen the palace, but I've not been there for the famous ceremony. So we got there about 45 minutes early and secured a good spot next to the wrought iron fencing that surrounds the palace. The first disappointment for Alicia was that the guards were not the usual palace guard in the red coats and furry black hats. These blokes wore more common-place military jackets and berets. Four of them stood in front of four little guard houses - stock still. Every few minutes, a pair of them would begin a choreographed routine where they would turn, walk away from each other, turn back, walk toward each other, and then resume their guard position. I'm sure it would have been more impressive if they were in sync. But one always lagged the other by about a second.
Shortly before the ceremony began, a regiment of about a dozen more guards marched out. Their commanding officer, who wore a metal stick at his waist that was supposed to be a sword (Its squared-off end rather ruined the illusion), came out and inspected each officer. I heard a woman in the crowd (apparently a local) comment that they were military cadets - I suppose that would explain the uniform. Apparently satisfied after the inspection, the commander marched the men toward the front of the palace.
The men stood in formation perpendicular to the the guards who remained standing in front of their guard houses, and the commanding officer began pacing back and forth in front of the assembled regiment. He'd walk to within a foot of the palace wall, step back as if surprised the wall was there, turn on his heel, and walk in the opposite direction. He repeated the maneuver when he reached the palace gate. He did this repeatedly. Then two more officer blokes came out. One joined the first officer in the pacing, the other went in the opposite direction. Back and forth. Back and forth. We watched the pacing for another five minutes or so and then I heard the local lady say to her antsy young daughter - "It's almost over now."
What?! I stood against a fence for 45 minutes, being bumped and prodded by strangers, for this?! In disgust, and already mourning those 45 minutes of my life I would never see again, I made my way through the throng of people and away. Changing of the guards my backside . . . more like boring of the crowd.
By the time we finally reached the Tower, it was approaching noon. We lucked into a 2-for-1 offer with our train tickets, so it cost just £8.50 each instead of the normal £17. We walked through the old medieval section of the Tower dating to Edward I that was extensively upgraded for the coronation of Anne Boleyn, then took a look at the Traitor's Gate. It was through this gate that the then Princess Elizabeth (Anne's daughter) was escorted when her sister, Mary I, accused her of treason.
It was now nearing 1 p.m. and my blood sugar needed a boost. So we paused to have lunch at the Tower's New Armouries Cafe. It was a cafeteria-style eating place, where you had a selection of sandwiches, hot meals, soups, and a carvery. I opted for a bowl of Georgian Spring Soup with a thick chunk of wholegrain bread. Alicia got a BLT. Condiments consisted of salt, pepper, and sugar. This proved a big problem for Alicia, because her sandwich was very dry. The salt helped me, though, because my soup was tasteless. It smelled lovely, but tasted like water! Only by adding copious amounts of salt did it show a glimmer of flavor. This meal did nothing to diminish the stereotype of bland English food, let me tell you!
After our unsatisfying meal (which cost me about $12), we looked at the exhibition of Henry VIII's armor and then the crown jewels. Outside of the Jewel House, Alicia spied a traditionally garbed guard and happily snapped a photo. We should've just come straight to the Tower and skipped Buckingham. *shrug*
Another point within the Tower I wanted to show Alicia was the plaque marking the spot where Anne Boleyn was beheaded. But the plaque is gone. Now an elaborate glass sculpture of a velvet pillow marks the spot where Anne, and many others (such as Katherine Howard) lost their heads to Henry's axe man. The area has been marked since Queen Victoria, moved by the story of Anne Boleyn, commanded the point where she was beheaded be commemorated. I guess this year's 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's coronation spurred the upgrade from wooden plaque to glass sculpture.
Next up were the Tower ravens. These huge birds have called the Tower home for centuries. The story goes that the astronomer for Charles II complained that the ravens interfered with his stellar observations and the king ordered the birds destroyed. But when he learned of the prophecy that when the ravens left the Tower, the monarchy would fall, he reversed his ordered and sought to protect the birds. Nowadays, the ravens are either housed in cages or have their wings clipped so they can't fly away. I guess HRH is taking no chances! Whilst we stood looking at the birds, one of them hopped up on to the back of a bench. He reached into the nearby garbage bin and pulled out a discarded carrier bag containing leftover food bits. The bird may not be able to fly, but at least he's fed well!
Our day concluded with a stroll to the Tower Bridge. Our plan had been to take in the Tower Bridge Exhibition, which allows you access to the walkways suspended between the bridge's two towers. Unfortunately, the lift had gotten stuck the day before and the bridge was closed. I was disappointed, because I didn't even realize you could go inside the bridge until this trip and was really looking forward to the view from atop the bridge walkway. By the same token, I'm glad I wasn't subjected to a possible stuck lift, either.
We caught a District Line train at Tower Hill station. Our stop was the western terminus of the line. As we traveled along and listened to the various conversations happening in our car, I realized that every accent was American. It was like a little pocket of home on the London Underground.
For our last night in Ealing, we had a pizza dinner at La Cantina and watched a bit of English television. We only had a few channels available and we ended up watching a medical reality show called Embarrassing Bodies. One poor bloke was suffering from prostatitis and was undergoing a prostate massage procedure under general anaesthetic. Much to our surprise (and Alicia's horror, I might add), we saw the man's penis in all its glory on the tv screen. It was a rather bizarre thing to see at 8:30 p.m. on a general broadcast tv station, let me tell you.
After our last breakfast at the hotel Thursday morning, we schlepped our bags to the tube station and began our trek to London Euston train depot. It took us about 45 minutes to make the journey and we had about an hour to wait before we could board. Signal problems caused some delays for some trains. Our train took off on time, but ended up delayed by ten minutes because of children playing on the track. Clearly, stupidity and lack of common-sense parenting are not exclusively American.
Today, Alicia bade England farewell. As of this writing, she's somewhere over the Atlantic heading home to her hubby and dogs. We enjoyed lovely weather whilst Alicia was here. Despite horrible forecasts for heavy downpours, the rain stayed away. Today, the truce is over and it's been raining for hours. It's as if Alicia has taken the sunshine back to Florida with her.
Sounds like you are having a blast. When do you come home?
ReplyDeleteLove,
Sandie
I fly back July 8.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great description of the Tower of London. I want to go there someday!!
ReplyDelete