Day Two in London

Our second day of this adventure began quite early. Everyone was awake well before any alarms went off, which meant we were set to start our day's activities. Knowing that the Tower of London would not be open until 10am, we took our leisurely time getting there. Sadly, the weather was quite uncooperative. Very grey with rain off and on and at times quite heavy. We dodged the drops to get some light breakfast before taking the tube to London Bridge station so that we could walk our way across Tower Bridge (I know, bridge confusion is difficult, but the fancy one is NOT London Bridge). Anyway, even with a little digital work, it is tough to get any contrast between grey stones and grey skies.

Once across the bridge we headed to the Tower of London. Still early, but some time in queue is always a good thing, right? Denise went to visit a few Shawn the Sheep statues (more on those later) and eventually at 10am we headed in. Still dodging raindrops and a few downpours, we got in quickly to see the crown jewels. Sorry no pictures there - it is not allowed. But the display was very well done and we went through the main line twice plus a third time to read the descriptions of everything. They have moving walkways so you can't just stand and gawk. I think this is something that perhaps the Smithsonian might want to look at doing...
We then visited a few of the different towers and enjoyed the tales of prisoners and residents and some very nice reproductions. Of particular note to us was the WWI display which had some very nice photos of soldiers who had been stationed at the Tower and died in the war. We also enjoyed meeting with a couple of re-enactors who were portraying Sir Walter Raleigh (imprisoned for going against the king and after earning his freedom with a promise of El Dorado, ended up back out of the king's favor) and Anne Boleyn (getting ready for her wedding and excited about her pregnancy - a young boy, of course....).


Following the Tower, we caught the Thames Clipper commuter boat service back across (and up) the river to Bankside, right next to the Millenium Bridge and one of our top destinations, Shakespeare's Globe. While this isn't the original (burnt down) or the replacement (burnt down) or even in the right location (3 blocks away from a sad little plaque on a wall), it IS really amazing. Recreated quite faithfully and beautifully, the outdoor theatre is quite the spectacle. We were lucky enough to be there as final rehearsals were going on for a performance by local college drama students of scenes from numerous Shakespeare plays. No photos were allowed during the rehearsal, but it was quite good after they finished we got some pictures. Denise's panoramic shot of the stage and theatre takes the cake.

Upon departing the Globe, it was time to get some food (finally) as it was going on 2pm. We headed to the Mad Hatter (a Fuller's Pub) just a block away from the Globe. Margaret's first fish and chips of the visit, my first ever smoked fish pie, and Denise's long awaited Sunday Roast were all really enjoyable - as was the impromptu game of Jenga. And there might have been a couple of pints enjoyed by Denise and I as well (more on that later as well). Since it was late afternoon, we needed to pick up our luggage and head for the Tube back to Heathrow to get our rental car for the rest of the trip. Much to our dismay, the rain had finally decided to really get things going at this point and the 6 blocks back to the hotel were in a complete and utter downpour with strong winds. We all ended up quite soaked as we walked across Westminster Bridge back to the Tube station to say farewell to London.

Luckily once we had our bags, the rain did let up a bit as you can see at left. The ride back to Heathrow was uneventful, but quite crowded and I got to stand the whole way with each of the girls standing with me for some time. Back at Heathrow, we caught the bus to our rental car - an Ibiza (somewhere between a Ford Fiesta and Honda Civic) which had obviously had a horrible factory life as the drive controls were all backwards and on the wrong side of the car. Luckily, I am somewhat flexible and adapted to the situation quickly. Now, if I could just get the darn people here to drive on the right side of the road. We drove to our hotel for the night and after arrival, wished we had gotten there sooner (and in better weather) as the hotel and grounds were beautiful. As it was, we did a quick walk around followed by some late dinner and then to bed.

We had to get to sleep at least a little early as the morning of day 3 is going to start very early. See you soon.