But now I Think About the Good Times
This morning I got to ride part of the Circle line (I’ll have to go another time and just ride the Circle Line in a circle) on our way to Tower Hill to go to the Tower of London. It was pretty sweet getting a tour from a Yeoman guard. Especially since he had a lovely sense of humour. We got a tour of the Trader’s Gate (which evolved into the “Traitor’s Gate”). The Yeoman also told us about how much he hates Mel Gibson, and how he doubted that the last word on William’s mind was ‘Freedom!’ It probably would have been something more like ‘Bugger!’
I got to see the ravens, too. There’s a story behind the ravens that King Charles II was once told that, should the ravens ever leave the tower, England and the monarchy would fall. So there’s apparently some ravens there that have their wings clipped, and others that don’t, and there’s a personal bird keeper kept on the grounds to care for them. After that, we walked up the Tower Green (that’s a lawn, you know) and then into the Chapel where we got to see where many a king and queen have worshipped over time.
Next on the itinerary was a trip through the King Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill exhibit. It was pretty amazing to see King Henry VIII’s suits of armour, and how he got heavier (aka he got fat) in his old age. We had also been told that Henry probably had diabetes in his old age, hence the sores on his legs when he died.
Hillar also bought us lunch, so I had a traditional English burger, chips, and tomato soup with a loaf of bread to go with it. Once we left lunch, we went as a small group to go through the crown jewel exhibit. Can we say, I was definitely impressed. The main entrance had all the reigning monarchs in a timeline (with which family they belonged to), and then the next two rooms showed video of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation (to show how the crown jewels are used in the coronation), and then the last few rooms were the vaults with the crown jewels in them.
Later this even, once I had returned home from the Tower, I took a nap, followed by making myself some dinner, and then tried watching The Devil Wears Prada, only to be interrupted half way through by the other girls in the apartment being loud and rude by talking over top of my movie. Honestly, they couldn’t bloody go upstairs? I subtly pressed them out of the room by turning the TV up louder than them in hopes they would get the point.
Then of course, I got to talk to Tess, and decided to go spend the night with her tomorrow evening, and then tour around her town on most of Sunday. I can’t wait for it!
