We checked out of our hotel this morning and took the bus to Victoria Station where we left our suitcases as the Left Baggage place so we could explore more of London w/o the encumbrance of bags. We finally got smart and asked at the information station about the best way to get to the Tower of London. Thankfully he didn't say the buses. We took the Underground, which is much more direct and much less confusing. We took it again when we left the Tower to go to Westminster Abbey.
The Tower of London was incredible....well worth the 3+ hours we spent there. I can't possibly describe here everything we saw. I'll upload a video that shows a little bit.
I find British history very interesting, especially as it relates to the line of kings. Knowing this helps immensely in reading and teaching Shakespeare!! It was amazing to me that I was walking the same places that people like Anne Boleyn and Sir Walter Raleigh and King Richard III walked. I had always thought the Tower to be a place of executions, but it has been used as a palace, a place to hold the royal armour and the Crown Jewels, and of course a place of torture and execution. I also learned today that the Yeoman Guards (aka Beefeaters) actually live w/ their families in the Tower of London. At five minutes of ten, they have a Key ceremony where the main doors to the towers are locked, and all the children and grandchildren are allowed to roam about the streets w/ their scooters and bikes. How cool it must be to say that you got to ride your scooter in front of the Jewel House or the Chapel where Lady Jany Grey's remains are buried and live in the Devereaux Tower.
After having some fish and chips we hopped on the Underground to return to Westminster Abbey. We arrived too late for a tour, but the Evensong Service would be starting at 5:00 p.m. Now, I hope I won't be damned for doing this, but we went to the service inside Westminster Abbey. We didn't get to see all of the cathedral, but we sat in gold trimmed seats in an area that would've had an amazing view of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation or the wedding of Lady Diana and Prince Charles. The service consisted mostly of singing by a visiting boy's choir who sounded amazingly angelic despite some of the smaller boys appearing to be slightly distracted while singing. We weren't allowed to go to all parts of the abbey that the tours probably went, but it didn't cost us fifteen pounds either, and we can say that we've worshipped in Westminster Abbey.
Taking another train from Victoria Station to Gatwick Airport in southern London is where I'm writing this. We're staying in another Yotel just like the one we stayed at in Heathrow Airport 15th or 16th..........dates are getting really confusing w/ the time change. I'm writing this at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday 21 July while it's still 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday 20 July back in the States. I need to get some sleep.....we have a very early flight to Toulouse, France, to visit my nephew, Cory, and his family.
Hey, thanks for the view of Devereaux Tower. Now I know it's really there and my brother didn't make it up. :)
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