Brian was able to get online with wi-fi this morning (morning being the midnight side of morning) and we had a lovely but choppy e-mail exchange via Facebook. I'm fairly sure that Mr. Jet Lag is going to catch up with him sometime today...so I'm not really counting on hearing from him tonight.
On Day 3 of my European vacation...we were still in London. Cold, wet London. Yes.
DAY 3
Reality n. 1, state of actual existence 2, fact; truth
Reality set in. Rain. Cold. Buses. We left for the Tower of London and got there fairly easily from Victoria Station. This was our first attempt at the "tube" and it was no problem. We even found the "Mind the Gap" recording fairly charming.
Finding the Tower involved walking, and then all we had to do was wait for the Beefeater to guide us at 11:00. Which would have been really great had someone not done a serious rain dance during our London experience.
Two negatives about Beefeaters: They don't do tours if your umbrella is up for liability reasons and on Sunday, you can't tour the chapel until services are over. The umbrella restriction wasn't really a problem for me because I didn't have one anymore (see Day 2...bus ride). And, if you look at the photos from this day...it is quite obvious that I didn't care. We were left with the decision to stand in the rain and strain to hear the Beefeater over the rain pelting everything around us or come back later and hightail it to the Crown Jewels. We went with Plan B.
After several hours - including lunch at a cafeteria there - the gift shop, and several rooms of weaponry, jewels, pictures, films, and suits of armor, we were ready to leave. Unfortunately, the rain wasn't. The problem was...the next step was the Tower Bridge Experience...and a walk was involved.
A walk across the Thames in freezing rain.
Some members of the party were planning a mutiny. After much discussion (and some words that won't be recorded for posterity here), and a little lifting of the rain...we proceeded. It was actually an interesting tour and wasn't too demanding. Brian loved it, and Jill and The Boyfriend befriended a little boy from India or somewhere at the souvenir coin machine. After this, we were supposed to go shopping...but the weather pretty much ruled that out. In Covent Garden we couldn't find anything to do because the theaters were all "dark" on Sunday, and everything is closed. So we found a bus after asking multiple natives, went to Piccadilly Circus and found solace at the Pizza Hut.
The waitress took pity on us and brought us ice with our drinks. We each got two cubes. What the deal is with the English and the ice aversion...I know not.
Refreshed, we went to the Pepsi Trocadero and found an amazing game room. Mom won two bears in the crane machine and everyone played video games, bought souvenirs or just watched. Fun.
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| Beefeater before the rain started. |
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| This is Jill enjoying the late May weather. |
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| Nice picture...sign for the "Bloody Tower" in the background...not so nice. |
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| Raindrop on lens. Great shot otherwise... |
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| Still having Changing of the Guard envy... |
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| Brian was my photo subject most of the day since Jill was being a pain. |
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| Mom and Jill at lunch. |
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| In the chapel AFTER service... |
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| Henry VIII |
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| One of the weaponry displays...cool, yes? |
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| Brian in the castle... |
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| The first photo of me on the trip. |
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| In the gift shop...but he looks totally realistic, doesn't he? |
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| Mom being Vanna. |
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| Brian in the Tower Bridge. (Told you he was my subject of the day.) |
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| Poppy looking at the model of the bridge in the exhibit. |
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| At Piccadilly Circus |
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| Mom at the crane machine at the Pepsi Trocadero. It's an addiction. |
I've never been out of the country, (except to Hawaii - my family informed me this was in the country). And I'll never get the opportunity. Thanks so much for sharing this trip and the pictures. Love to all...
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