We are officially done with London now - except for the flight home on Monday. Ian is definitely glad. He's tired of hearing the announcers at some of the Tube stations saying "Mind the gap." At one point, the kids turned it into a joke using the GAP sweatshirt Megan was wearing. We stopped at stations and the kids would say "Mind the..." and point to Megan's sweatshirt. I guess you had to be there.
Lot's of rail repairs were taking place this weekend, but we lucked out and got the express into & out of London instead of a local that had to be redirected on the bus. We also needed the Tube lines that were NOT being worked on. Ian has a special fondness for the sound of the Picadilly line. Every time we stopped at a station that connected to it, he would say it over and over for at least a minute.
We made it through the ticket line for the Tower of London. Ian was a real trooper, and the line only got bigger behind us so it put our short wait into perspective. Many portions were under construction, unlike when Kurt and I had gone two years ago. They also "enhanced" the Medieval Palace display, but Kurt and I liked it better the old way. They took out a beautiful metal chandelier in the room with Henry III's chapel and replaced it with a video projector showing not-quite-relevant historical information. It completely took away from the intimate, sanctuary-like feel that used to be in the room. Some of the other walls have had their ancient stone white washed (except for the tiles that bear 500 year old inscriptions from prisoners). It completely messes with the awesome feeling of antiquity that should be felt in a place that's nearly 1000 years old.
Kurt and Megan braved the "queue" for the crown jewels while Ian and I did the wall walk. We thought the wait was bad...that is until we looked at the wait after a Richard III re-enactment on the green. The line went from the door of the tower, all along the side, turned 90 degrees, went all the way down by the armory/cafe, turned 180 degrees around a central cannon display, and up the length of the green to the sidewalk that enters the White Tower. Unreal!
Navigating the White Tower was an experience as well. They have rerouted the traffic to see the armor & prisoner inscriptions first, then the Norman chapel and the rest of the tower. You couldn't move on the "ground floor", there were so many people. Upstairs it smoothed out a bit until the Guy Fawkes display. Megan wanted to watch the videos, but Ian had had it and it would have taken more than 30 minutes.
We all talked to an employee dressed like Robin Hood (though that wasn't who he was portraying). Ian told him all about Henry VIII while Kurt and I made some history-related-dry-humor jokes. The man asked where Ian lived, then turned to us and said, "But you're not from America, are you?" When we said yes we were, he gave me the biggest compliment in the world: "Oh, I just - you're more well-spoken than most of the Americans that I meet." Quite funny and well appreciated:-)
After the Tower, we walked across Tower Bridge. We followed the Queen's Silver Jubilee walk markers along Southwark, saw the Globe Theatre recreation & London Bridge, and then crossed the Millenium Bridge (Ian nearly went through the wires trying to see when I stopped to take a picture - serves me right!) We took a look at St. Paul's then found the neares Tube station. Megan liked retracing "Daphne's" steps from the movie "What a Girl Wants."
We arrived back to Reading just when all the disappointed fans were returning home from the home match against Liverpool. I had to sniffle because we tried for a very long time to get tickets to that match. They lost, so I guess it's just as well. This was, however, Kurt's first trip to the UK without a soccer/football match. We finished the evening with Pizza Express, a swim in the pool, and Victoria Sponge Cake from Sainsbury's. A great way to wind down from all the urban stress:-)
As we have to leave early tomorrow and the internet cafe closes early for Easter, this will be our last post from this side of the pond. I'll try to fill in the last of the blanks on Tuesday from the comfort of my own chair. Thanks for sticking with us and sending us your well wishes. We miss you all and hope to be seeing you (even our far away friends) very soon.
Cheers,
Jessi
Quote of the Day:
Ian, after noticing some stations were handicapped accessible and some weren't: "Is there such a thing as a cat wheelchair? How about a disabled litter box?"
Megan, once the Tower of London came into view & responding to my "Look, there it is!": "Mmmmm, the ice cream?"
(There was an ice cream van parked next to us on the sidewalk.)
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