Weary Travelers (Wednesday)

The morning began quickly as we wanted to be at the Tower of London early this morning. We depart each morning from the Edgware Underground (“Tube”) Station and sure enough, as soon as we alighted, some foreign man was asking Paul about how to get to a certain station (no English). We took the tube to Tower Hill—very full trains again. I thought I must remember to take a paper with me tomorrow so I can better blend in with the locals. Everyone is reading papers or books while riding. If they are not reading, they can usually be seen with ipod or mp3 players (well, all you can really see is the wire up to their ear). There is absolutely no conversation amongst strangers, much less aimless tourists. One can’t help but think of what sorts of things would happen if these people would talk to one another; you know, trade ideas, life experiences, reach out to others. Instead, everyone is lulled into muteness by the swaying of the train car. Also, everyone is dressed smartly as they are probably off to the office (suckers…). If one could stand to the side by the stairs to a tube station (without being run-over), one would observe a sea of black slacks, mighty uncomfortable black heels (how do they run about these tube stations without getting massive blisters?), black trench and pea-coats, and black briefcases. The black is only broken up by splashes of color on scarves (everyone wears one it seems). Oh, yes: each tube station has it’s own “theme” almost. Some are ultra modern with steele and glass; some are still very Victorian in their décor/structure. Sloane station, which we pass often, is very green. A few on the way into London were quite scary.

Anyway, once we arrived at the Tower, we took a little time to eat breakfast (more pesky Americans there…noisy, rude, and disorganized). I can honestly say the Tower was overwhelming. There’s so many different parts of the whole fortress—the white tower, various surrounding towers (Beauchamp, Salt, Cradle just to name a few), the Queen’s Jewel’s were on display in another building—VERY impressive! Even Paul said he probably liked that display the best. My favorite crown was Victoria’s little diamond one…I’ll see if I can find pictures online to post here later.

The white tower, was surprisingly disappointing. Too much modernizing with lights, radiators, etc. The displays focused on the Tower’s function as an armory and gunpowder storage facility. Very little focus on it as a palace. We both agree the outside views were far more interesting than almost anything inside the buildings. Nontheless, it was well worth it. It took 3 hours to tour the whole place! My feet are killing me. Thank goodness we went early, though, as the schoolkids were running amuck by noon and the places was nearly swarming by 1!

Once finished at the tower, we decided my feet couldn’t handle any more (I believe Paul’s hurt too but he didn’t admit to it). So we paid for a hop-on/hop-off bus tour of London. It was a blast—a bit chilly though. We passed tons of landmarks (passengers get headphones to hear about what they are seeing along the way)—some we’d already seen and some we haven’t. As we were close to the hotel, we jumped off, took the tube to the hotel, grabbed warmer clothes and a new camera battery pack, rode the tube back to the bus stop and hopped back on. We saw Picadilly Circus, So-ho, the West End, Oxford Circus, Knightsbridge, some quaint pubs I’d like to revisit (such as the one on the corner of Buckingham Gate and Victoria and one called Hanged, Drawn and Quartered). We started getting hungry, so we jumped off by St. Pauls’ Cathedral (still want to tour that) to eat at a pub called “Ye Olde London.” I definitely recommend their fish and chips and I can’t wait to go back (the downstairs has a book lined motif…very library like and fun). We then realized the bus tour probably stopped running (it was about 6:30) and sure enough, it had. So we took the tube back to the hotel. In one tube station, we saw an ad for a move called Hot Fuzz which stars the two actors (and is produced by the same folks) who were in Shaun of the Dead, a British comedy take on the Dawn of the Dead type movies. We may take tomorrow off from history and the hustle and bustle of the city and take in that film instead; it looks hilarious.

Hope to take in still:

St. Pauls’ Cathedral
Parts of the British Museum
Want to go to Hyde Park to get picture of Byron statue.
Hampton Court
Decided to give up Kensington Palace as of now…
Perhaps Tate Modern if Paul insists