25 Mar

The Tower of London! I dragged myself out of bed and made it to the Tower nearly 30 minutes before I was supposed to get there. It wasn’t a bad wait; I got to people watch, eat some leftover sweets, and sit in the sun for a while. It was still a pretty cold day though, and I was more than happy to see my parents finally come down the hill. We bought our tickets and then had to wait about 20 minutes before the first tour started. We made use of our downtime by taking pictures with some of the Tower Guard who were happy to oblige. Those guys are amazing! It used to be that a person could buy the post of a Yeoman Warder (the official title of the Tower Guard) for 250 guineas (no small sum at the time) but the Duke of Wellington (the same one who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo) abolished that scheme. Instead, these men are chosen from various military branches after having at least attained the rank of Warrant Officer, Staff Sergeant or Flight Sergeant. It remains a highly respected position and one not taken on lightly, since appointments are held until the age of 65 and one becomes a special constable of the Metropolitan Police to boot. These are merry and jolly men who laugh and joke with each other and the tour groups whom they guide around the Tower. Most of them live on the Tower grounds, some in houses centuries old (and frequently renovated).

Our guide did a wonderful job and I was entertained as much as before when Sachi, Saket and I all went. I told him that I was studying at King’s and he wished me best of luck in my studies. Aww. Unfortunately, the famous Tower ravens were not out and about as usual because of the fear of avian flu. There were black birds around and I excitedly took pictures of some before Dad pointed me to the sign telling of their safeguarding. Pity. After our tour we visited the crown jewels and the armoury. My goodness those jewels are magnificent! I didn’t care much for the silver and gold diningware but the jewels were beautiful…I’m a sucker for diamonds and almost anything shiny and sparkly for that matter. So like a barracuda…

The day was surprisingly fair after we left the Tower so we walked over to Tower Bridge (the beautiful bridge on the East End that everyone thinks is London Bridge but it’s not) and crossed it to reach the south bank. We walked a ways heading west to find a bus to Westminster and ran into a surprising symphonic performance on the way. They were under a makeshift tent and performing near the City Hall (a very modern and flashy building). I thought I had heard music on the bridge but did not realize it was live. We stayed for a while to watch and I shot some video of the performance. We slowly but surely made our way to a bus stop where we caught one heading for Westminster that took us on a little tour of the south bank. Unfortunately, Westminster Abbey was closed by the time we reached it. I had forgotten that it closed as early as 13:45. We had just missed it by an hour. The weather also worsened and it began to rain lightly. We spent some time at Trafalgar Square and then the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. There was a big free speech rally going on at Trafalgar and I got to shoot some pictures and video of it before we found a café in a bookstore and hung out there to get some tea and warm up.

We had our show of As You Like It tonight at the Novello on Aldwych and so we decided to go near King’s and buy some tea before eating an early dinner and catching the show. We accidentally took a bus a bit too far and then had to walk back in the rain to find Twinings, a fine tea shop, closed. My school was also closed and it was nearly 5:30. London is so frustrating when it’s raining because it’s hard to find a nice place to go. Mom and dad were getting rather crabby and I just wanted to get out of the rain. I stopped at a Thai restaurant near King’s and waited outside until their doors finally opened for dinner business. Dinner was a miserable affair, especially when Mom said she had decided she really wants to go to Alton (to see the Jane Austen Museum there) whether we wanted to join her or not. Some way to spend Mother’s Day.

I was more than relieved when we finally left the place and got to the theater super early. It wasn’t a terrible wait since the theater was all right if not a little small and a bit stuffy. So stuffy near the back that one poor woman fainted during the show. That’s what a humid rain will do for ya.

As You Like It was an enjoyable experience, though I felt the second half was much better than the first. I think my parents liked it too. It was late when the play ended and so I showed them to their bus station right next to mine on the Strand. They could catch one directly to Victoria while I could catch my 68 back home. I got on mine just moments before their bus arrived and thankfully they got home safely. I looked up train times and prices to Alton before going to bed. Cheers!