Day 3 – Thursday, September 22, 2005
The sun is shining beautifully on our first full day in London. When I get up to shower, I realize that the window in the bathroom is open and that, like the big window in the bedroom, there is no screen. Joy had said yesterday that there was no need to worry about bugs, that this is London not Georgia. I say that we must have gotten London’s share of bugs. “Georgia got everybody’s share of bugs,” says Joy. I still think it’s weird that there are no screens, but I also note that not one bug has flown into the room even though both windows were open all night. Hell, I can open the door in Georgia for a few seconds just to let the dog out and three flies will come in. I’ve been in Georgia for ten years now and I guess I’m just used to it. It never occurred to me that some people don’t live under constant threat of a bug attack.
Joy found out that breakfast is included in the nightly rate. Great! One less meal I have to pay for. The three of us go down to the little dining area and take a seat. In addition to the juices, cereal, fruit and yogurt piled on the side table near the kitchen, you have the option of ordering something hot like a full English breakfast. Joy and I order this and find out that the Brits love their fried foods in the morning. A fried egg, fried bacon (a little too salty), fried sausage (delicious) and even a slice of fried toast come with some regular toast and a choice of either coffee or tea. Joy had ordered tea so I figured, while in Britain, do as the Brits do. I was pleasantly surprised. With a little milk and sugar, the tea was not only drinkable but pretty damn good considering that I never drink the stuff. It was a perfect accompaniment to the very good, though greasy, breakfast. It just felt so British. Of course it was only later that I found out that the full English breakfast is strictly for tourists as most Brits don’t have the time for such a large meal. And then there is the fact that this oh-so-British meal was prepared and served by an Asian family. Hmmmm …
It was an even numbered day and our guidebook said that the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was the place to be. The guard changed everyday but it was only on even numbered days that they performed this whole grand ceremony. But not until 11:30. That gave us time to visit some of those places we saw from the Eye, most notably Westminster Abbey.
We got off the tube in the middle of the business district. Around us were the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and lots of scary traffic. We found the Abbey, ‘queued up’ and got our tickets.
Entering the Abbey, the first thing you note is that you’re surrounded by statues on all sides. Then looking down, you can see writing all over the floor. These are actually graves, some of them several centuries old. Instinct says to avoid stepping on people’s final resting places but this church leaves you no choice. Nearly every inch of free floor is set over someone’s grave. A little creepy but interesting.
We are not part of an official tour so we just tool around on our own. Westminster is not just a historical site or burial place. It is a living church that conducts daily services (we entered the church right before a communion service). Every coronation since the1000’s has taken place here right up to Queen Elizabeth’s ceremony in 1953. This was also the site of Princess Diana’s funeral.
The building has several chapels; smaller walled rooms loaded with paintings, statues and lots and lots of tombs. Despite the presence of death at every turn, the place doesn’t seem depressing. Old and beautiful with a great sense of history, but not depressing.
Since the guidebook says we should get to the palace early to find a good spot, we leave the Abbey and start walking. Joy leads us past an absolutely gorgeous park with a pond and really big birds roaming around.
We can tell when we’re approaching the castle proper not only by the increased number of people milling around but also by the presence of a lot of ornate gold posts and gates. There’s an enormous fountain in front of the main building that already has a bunch of people on and around it.
The gates in front of the castle are starting to gather their own crowd so we pick a spot and park ourselves. There are a couple of guards posted on the wall of the building and every time they move, the whole crowd whips out the cameras. But, we have arrived early. We still have at least an hour to wait for the big show. I do not have the patience to stand in one place staring at nothing. So once I’d made sure Joy and Aletha weren’t going to move, I went on walkabout.
I’d seen pictures of Buckingham before but I was struck again by how ordinary the building is. No neat spires or separate buildings surrounding the structure, no towers or turrets. It just looks like a big building. Other than the gates, guards and barbed wire, it could just be another big house.
There are other monuments around the building and the expanse of park across the street to the right of the palace but other than that, traffic is business as usual. Once you get to the back of the grounds and past the park, there are office buildings and shops like you’d find in the middle of any large city. This is strange to me in that the castle isn’t in its own isolated patch but then I guess the royals have other places like that. The queen was probably in one of them as she was not in residence during the day of our visit.
I head back to Joy and Aletha’s spot and find that the crowd has swelled considerably. I move closer to them and we wait a few minutes more. All around us is this odd collection of accents and people from all over pressing against each other; German, Italian, French, and some speaking languages I couldn’t even place. I couldn’t help but notice that the whole thing felt like an amusement park. Joy said it pretty much is. The royals are the British version of a circus. I had to feel for the folks who were constantly on display even as I prepared my own camera. Hey, I’m a tourist. What can I tell you?
The mounted cops and the ones on foot soon started to part the way in front of the gate’s main entrance as a procession of guards on horseback soon came up the courtyard.
The crowds would alternately press together to look at the street then turn around and stare at the gates. Another group of guards, this set with a full marching band in the front, made its way to the gates. Once inside, they lined up with the other guards as the band set up a little concert area. I moved around, not only to get a better view but to distance myself from the rude people who kept shoving their way in front of me. Joy was feeling the same way as she turned to me and asked if she was invisible. I agreed with her. Did people really think that the distance I was keeping from the people in front of me was just my way of inviting someone to fill that space? Uh, no. I just didn’t want to touch anybody. Difficult to do but I tried. There was a also a guy who kept poking me with his backpack as he tried to take a picture. I’ve had enough. I take a walk for some air and manage to get some more pictures.
When I return to Joy and Aletha the second time, I find that there are as frustrated with the jostling as I am. Even though the ceremony is still going on (the band is playing) we have other things we need to see. Next stop: the Tower of London.
Getting off the tube we take a few shots of the full structure before we head over to it.
By this time, Joy and I are starved so our first target is food. There is a small building housing restaurants and souvenir shops, the British version of a mini mall. I decide to go traditional and scoop up some fish and chips. More greasy food but damn tasty. We queue up again for Tower tickets. Joy is trying to buy hers with a credit card just when the machines decide to go down. There’s some debate as to whether her card will be charged twice (she had already signed the slip when the problem began) that ended with the manager giving her a number to call in case she had any problems. Seeing this, Aletha and I quickly put the plastic away and got out about 11 more of our dwindling pound supply to pay for the tickets. Then it was on to the Tower.
I’ve seen this attraction about a million times on the Travel Channel on Saturday mornings. It’s supposed to be one of the most haunted buildings in the world. Well, I guess the ghosts were busy that day because we didn’t see anything. Instead, I was surprised to note that the Tower is not just one building but several all clumped together behind a stone wall near a finger of the Thames. We toured a few of them, traveled up way too many winding stairs (how any servant loaded with trays managed to get up and down those suckers with no electricity was beyond us), and learned a lot about the Tower’s history. Some rooms had recreations of what they would have looked like in medieval times, some were bare, while others held display cases with actual artifacts.
There were Beefeaters all over the grounds ready to ask questions. Aletha had been sent on a mission to bring a Beefeater home. Well … we were never quite sure what that meant. Beefeater is a brand of alcohol as well as the name of the guards in their red coats. Since there was a huge blowup of a Beefeater in one of the courtyards, she took a picture of that and hoped it would suffice.
As we walked across the top of the stone gate, we noticed that some buildings below us had a laundry line stretched across the top with towels and stuff hung on it. Were there actually people living within the tower walls? Closer inspection told us that there were. Private cars were parked in the street below right next to what looked like regular townhouses. We figured that the Beefeaters probably lived on the grounds although that’s got be weird living so close to the tourist attraction. “How much would those cost per month?” we wondered.
We bypassed the small show being given for a tour group with employees reenacting a scene from the Tower and headed over to the Waterloo Block that houses the crown jewels. This is, understandably, one of only two buildings in the complex that is guarded. Inside are mostly ancient crowns that have had their jewels removed. It seems that it was common practice for newly crowned monarchs to have their crowns redesigned and incorporate the jewels from the previous monarch into the new crown jewels. This is all leading up to the current set still being used by the queen. Before we can see those, though, there are several rooms that have been cordoned off as mini-movie theatres. The tourists can stand and watch the film of the queen’s coronation, a visual record of the jewels or a history tour of where each piece comes from. Then it’s past a display of scepters and on to the vault. A moving walkway guides you past each of the crowns, both past and present, each in their own glass case with a plaque bearing the names. Because we are in an actual vault and these jewels still have all their diamonds and glitter, we couldn’t take pictures. Wouldn’t want any of the guards to think we were casing the place.
We see the site of the ancient gallows (now just a patch of land) before we make go to the White Tower. This building houses an extensive armory going from spears and knives up to cannons and guns. By the time we get through this tower it’s almost closing time. We stop at the gift shop right outside the main gate before taking a break to plan our next move. There is a bookstore in Picadilly Circus that Joy likes so it’s back on the tube.
The bookstore, Waterstones, is a huge (as in 4 story) building filled with every kind of book you can imagine. Think MediaPlay with just books in it. There were lots of areas to sit and relax with your reading material and even a café and a travel agency on the lowest floor. Oh, yeah. I could live there. We spend some time browsing while Joy researches cheap London eats. We leave there and head to one nearby called Garfinckel’s. Since I’ve been eating British food all day, I chose the odd combo of a ham and cheese omelet with a baked potato. Joy suggests some cider to wash it down with. She doesn’t drink anymore than I do but she said that British cider was a bit different from American beer. I order some Scrumpy Jack and agree with her though it was still a little too beer-tasting for me.
We hit a cheap internet café before going back to the hotel. And here Joy was worried about not having any night activities planned. By the time we finished all that walking we were more than ready to retire with a good book before bedtime. Not exactly the most thrilling thing to do at night but at least all three of us were on the same page. It’s a good thing when like-minded people travel together.
We can tell when we’re approaching the castle proper not only by the increased number of people milling around but also by the presence of a lot of ornate gold posts and gates. There’s an enormous fountain in front of the main building that already has a bunch of people on and around it. 
The gates in front of the castle are starting to gather their own crowd so we pick a spot and park ourselves. There are a couple of guards posted on the wall of the building and every time they move, the whole crowd whips out the cameras. But, we have arrived early. We still have at least an hour to wait for the big show. I do not have the patience to stand in one place staring at nothing. So once I’d made sure Joy and Aletha weren’t going to move, I went on walkabout.
I’d seen pictures of Buckingham before but I was struck again by how ordinary the building is. No neat spires or separate buildings surrounding the structure, no towers or turrets. It just looks like a big building. Other than the gates, guards and barbed wire, it could just be another big house.
There are other monuments around the building and the expanse of park across the street to the right of the palace but other than that, traffic is business as usual. Once you get to the back of the grounds and past the park, there are office buildings and shops like you’d find in the middle of any large city. This is strange to me in that the castle isn’t in its own isolated patch but then I guess the royals have other places like that. The queen was probably in one of them as she was not in residence during the day of our visit.
I head back to Joy and Aletha’s spot and find that the crowd has swelled considerably. I move closer to them and we wait a few minutes more. All around us is this odd collection of accents and people from all over pressing against each other; German, Italian, French, and some speaking languages I couldn’t even place. I couldn’t help but notice that the whole thing felt like an amusement park. Joy said it pretty much is. The royals are the British version of a circus. I had to feel for the folks who were constantly on display even as I prepared my own camera. Hey, I’m a tourist. What can I tell you?
The mounted cops and the ones on foot soon started to part the way in front of the gate’s main entrance as a procession of guards on horseback soon came up the courtyard. 
The crowds would alternately press together to look at the street then turn around and stare at the gates. Another group of guards, this set with a full marching band in the front, made its way to the gates. Once inside, they lined up with the other guards as the band set up a little concert area. I moved around, not only to get a better view but to distance myself from the rude people who kept shoving their way in front of me. Joy was feeling the same way as she turned to me and asked if she was invisible. I agreed with her. Did people really think that the distance I was keeping from the people in front of me was just my way of inviting someone to fill that space? Uh, no. I just didn’t want to touch anybody. Difficult to do but I tried. There was a also a guy who kept poking me with his backpack as he tried to take a picture. I’ve had enough. I take a walk for some air and manage to get some more pictures.
When I return to Joy and Aletha the second time, I find that there are as frustrated with the jostling as I am. Even though the ceremony is still going on (the band is playing) we have other things we need to see. Next stop: the Tower of London.
Getting off the tube we take a few shots of the full structure before we head over to it. 
By this time, Joy and I are starved so our first target is food. There is a small building housing restaurants and souvenir shops, the British version of a mini mall. I decide to go traditional and scoop up some fish and chips. More greasy food but damn tasty. We queue up again for Tower tickets. Joy is trying to buy hers with a credit card just when the machines decide to go down. There’s some debate as to whether her card will be charged twice (she had already signed the slip when the problem began) that ended with the manager giving her a number to call in case she had any problems. Seeing this, Aletha and I quickly put the plastic away and got out about 11 more of our dwindling pound supply to pay for the tickets. Then it was on to the Tower.
I’ve seen this attraction about a million times on the Travel Channel on Saturday mornings. It’s supposed to be one of the most haunted buildings in the world. Well, I guess the ghosts were busy that day because we didn’t see anything. Instead, I was surprised to note that the Tower is not just one building but several all clumped together behind a stone wall near a finger of the Thames. We toured a few of them, traveled up way too many winding stairs (how any servant loaded with trays managed to get up and down those suckers with no electricity was beyond us), and learned a lot about the Tower’s history. Some rooms had recreations of what they would have looked like in medieval times, some were bare, while others held display cases with actual artifacts.
There were Beefeaters all over the grounds ready to ask questions. Aletha had been sent on a mission to bring a Beefeater home. Well … we were never quite sure what that meant. Beefeater is a brand of alcohol as well as the name of the guards in their red coats. Since there was a huge blowup of a Beefeater in one of the courtyards, she took a picture of that and hoped it would suffice.
As we walked across the top of the stone gate, we noticed that some buildings below us had a laundry line stretched across the top with towels and stuff hung on it. Were there actually people living within the tower walls? Closer inspection told us that there were. Private cars were parked in the street below right next to what looked like regular townhouses. We figured that the Beefeaters probably lived on the grounds although that’s got be weird living so close to the tourist attraction. “How much would those cost per month?” we wondered.
We bypassed the small show being given for a tour group with employees reenacting a scene from the Tower and headed over to the Waterloo Block that houses the crown jewels. This is, understandably, one of only two buildings in the complex that is guarded. Inside are mostly ancient crowns that have had their jewels removed. It seems that it was common practice for newly crowned monarchs to have their crowns redesigned and incorporate the jewels from the previous monarch into the new crown jewels. This is all leading up to the current set still being used by the queen. Before we can see those, though, there are several rooms that have been cordoned off as mini-movie theatres. The tourists can stand and watch the film of the queen’s coronation, a visual record of the jewels or a history tour of where each piece comes from. Then it’s past a display of scepters and on to the vault. A moving walkway guides you past each of the crowns, both past and present, each in their own glass case with a plaque bearing the names. Because we are in an actual vault and these jewels still have all their diamonds and glitter, we couldn’t take pictures. Wouldn’t want any of the guards to think we were casing the place.
We see the site of the ancient gallows (now just a patch of land) before we make go to the White Tower. This building houses an extensive armory going from spears and knives up to cannons and guns. By the time we get through this tower it’s almost closing time. We stop at the gift shop right outside the main gate before taking a break to plan our next move. There is a bookstore in Picadilly Circus that Joy likes so it’s back on the tube.
The bookstore, Waterstones, is a huge (as in 4 story) building filled with every kind of book you can imagine. Think MediaPlay with just books in it. There were lots of areas to sit and relax with your reading material and even a café and a travel agency on the lowest floor. Oh, yeah. I could live there. We spend some time browsing while Joy researches cheap London eats. We leave there and head to one nearby called Garfinckel’s. Since I’ve been eating British food all day, I chose the odd combo of a ham and cheese omelet with a baked potato. Joy suggests some cider to wash it down with. She doesn’t drink anymore than I do but she said that British cider was a bit different from American beer. I order some Scrumpy Jack and agree with her though it was still a little too beer-tasting for me.
We hit a cheap internet café before going back to the hotel. And here Joy was worried about not having any night activities planned. By the time we finished all that walking we were more than ready to retire with a good book before bedtime. Not exactly the most thrilling thing to do at night but at least all three of us were on the same page. It’s a good thing when like-minded people travel together.
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