Towers and Bridges

Today started with phone calls - again - but this time they were welcome :)
We had a lovely FaceTime with Laura in Perth, then Beebs and all the kids on their way home from swimming lessons, then finally Darcy (once he had woken up from his nap). And this was all following a call late(ish) last night from Beth (which I promptly fell asleep in the midst thereof).

We had a relatively leisurely start, as our first destination was Tower Bridge which doesn’t open until 9.30am. The walk and tube saw us arriving right at opening time and we entered with no delay. There are many similarities between Tower Bridge and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (all steel construction, rivets, stonework on towers / pylons only for decoration). It only takes 60 seconds to fully open the Bridge which still happens quite regularly to allow for the passing of ships. The engineering is phenomenal.

Next was our first tower for the day - the Tower of London which is very close by. This was a mixed experience. The most popular of the experiences here is to get up close and personal with the Crown Jewels. Although the place was very busy by now, the queue into the Crown Jewels building was very short. On entering we quickly realised why - most of the ‘good’ stuff has been removed to prepare it for use on Saturday at the Coronation. However, there were still two particularly beautiful and famous items on display - the crown that the Queen mother wore; and the small diamond crown that Queen Victoria wore and is most often depicted as wearing in statues, paintings and films and which she wore most often during her long widowhood.
On the bright side of this experience, Loss didn’t have to suffer large, close-packed crowds (see previous entries).

In spite of this, the rest of London Tower was extremely interesting. The details of the imprisonments, tortures and executions that took place here is astonishing.
Also, to be walking around inside a building that William The Conquerer built shortly after invading England in 1066 is mind blowing for someone coming from Oz.

Our next tower was the Monument to the Great Fire of London of 1666. The monument closes for an hour between 1 and 2pm each day and our timing saw us arriving right in this period so we allowed ourselves the luxury of a half hour lunch break before experiencing the Monument - a good thing too - as an energy boost was definitely helpful as we climbed the seemingly-never-ending spiral staircase to the top. (Just checking now, my watch (and legs) registered we climbed 53 flights in total today).
However it was worth the effort as the views were excellent from the viewing platform at the top.

Next (at Loriene’s insistence) was a short visit to the nearby ‘tailor’s district’, specifically to the Charles Tyrwhitt shop. We’ve been ordering online custom business shirts from them for many years but weren’t brave enough to order pants without trying them on.
This I duly did, worked out exact size and fit and will order online ‘when the price is right’ as they often have special discount deals for their overseas customers throughout the year.

It was now mid afternoon so we tubed it back to the British Museum for a second crack at getting through the Biblically relevant displays. By the time we were kicked out again at 5pm we had made significant further progress - but it will need a third visit tomorrow to finish it. We have been photographing every single exhibit (in order) that is described in the guide book we have been using. I expect it will be a valuable resource to use in the future.

A 15 minute walk back to our ‘home’, with yet another grocery stop on the way saw us through the door at a very respectable 6pm. I did offer to head out to Harrods but it seems it is preferred to visit there tomorrow ‘when we will have more time’. Gulp.

Tomorrow is our last day in London. Apart from finishing the British museum, we have covered all our ‘must do’ items (except Harrods 😳). There are a couple of other things we have in mind to do in addition if time permits.Read more