Tower of London & Hamilton

Sunny skies and gentle breezes today.

Left our apartment just past 9am to cross the Tower Bridge to the London Tower, which - surprise! - is NOT a tower but a fort and castle. When William the Conqueror set up shop in London in 1066, this is the place he had built.

Yeoman Warder (aka Beefeater) Scott Kelly led us on an informative but humorous tour outside the White Tower, then we explored on our own. Armor (for horses as well) and weapons, all in a magnificent stone castle fort.

After lunch at the café, where we saw a HUGE stone bas relief of the royal icon of lion and unicorn, I did some sketching of this ceramic red poppy installation while J, A & E toured the torture chamber. Then we all went to gawk at the Crown Jewels. It's so interesting to see what folks do with concentrated wealth. The exhibits included the gold communion patens, banquet platters, trays, goblets, etc.

Headed towards the West End on the Underground for HAMILTON at the Victoria Palace Theatre. About a 5 min walk from the station, we caught a nice dinner of poke (salmon!) before returning to the theatre. We're in the top row, several stairs up. This theatre is GORGEOUS.

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