The Events of Friday, June 3, 2011

                Thinking back on our first day in London, a flood of emotions comes back. The glee of being the first up, the excitement on the Tower Bridge, the spooks of the Tower of London, the thrill of seeing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the tiredness of walking down Whitehall, the heat of the huge bronze lions in Trafalgar Square, the chill of the night bus tour, and the absolutely exhausted feeling of going to sleep at midnight, all these things made our first day in London definitely memorable. But let’s start at the beginning. My room, on the third story our house has no darkening shades, resulting in me waking up at 6:20. Knowing that Caitlin had a lot planned for our first day in London, I decided to shower, making my way down the stairs as quietly as I could. Mom later said that she was sure an elephant was walking down the stairs, and I woke her up with my loud stomping, but I personally think she is exaggerating a bit. Following a quick breakfast we packed up and headed out to see the sights of London.

                The early morning breeze swirled around us, giving us a short break from the heat as we walked to Tower Bridge. Just a few days ago, we wore our jackets and scarves as we explored the Yorkshire-Dales, and now we were wearing shorts and T-shirts. Soon the bridge came into view, but there was a strange amount of traffic around. Soon Ben spotted the problem – the drawbridge was up! Since it only goes up six or seven times a week, we were pretty lucky to see the spectacle. Tower Bridge is the one that you might see in pictures with the two towers and the blue ironwork along the edge. Right across the bridge is the famous Tower of London.

                Anybody who thinks the Tower of London is just one tower is actually wrong. It is a huge complex, with twenty towers. Since Caitlin cleverly planned for us to visit the Tower just as it opened, there were practically no crowds, and we walked right up to view the Crown Jewels. In contrast to the Scottish Honours, or crown jewel collection, that consisted of only three items, this Crown Jewel collection boasted dozens of items. It included everything from scepters and orbs to plates and punch bowls to crowns used from all of the coronations. Starting with the items used in processions and then moving on to the crowns and dinner equipment, the exhibit was very well done. I was especially impressed with a huge pure silver punch bowl that could hold 144 bottles of wine and came with a beautiful ladle, with a ivory handle and golden conch-shell shaped scooper. Hurrying through the gift shop, we joined the crowd for the Beefeaters’ Tour. Our guide, a funny man dressed up like a guard of the Tower, had a huge voice that really made me jump when I stood too close. He took us to the Water Gate, a secret entrance that connected to the river so the prisoners could arrive safely; the Bloody Tower, where the executions took place once they were safely inside; and the chapel, a private church for the guards that is still used today.

                Although the tour was supposed to last an hour, it only lasted 25 minutes and soon we were on our way to the Torture Tower. This exhibit displayed the three main instruments of torture of the day. One of the instruments used iron strips to crunch a body into a small ball, while another one tied a weight to the feet of the prisoner and hung him by his wrists. The rack, the last one displayed, was meant to stretch a prisoner’s body apart. Forever grateful that we were not prisoners in the Tower of London, we headed to the Animal Exhibition by way of the Wall Walk, a stroll along the castle ramparts. It seems that many years ago, occupants of the Tower of London collected a menagerie of wild beasts from lions to tigers to monkeys. This display was mostly aimed at children, but we did learn a couple of interesting facts, such as this one: “King Henry III’s polar bear was tied to a long rope so it could go fishing in the River Thames.”

                Saying good-bye to the Tower of London, we walked down to the pier and boarded our boat for our tour of the Thames. We climbed up to the top level and started on our lunch as we began to move. A young sailor told us about London from the river view and about all the sights we passed as we went down to the Westminster neighborhood; home of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Winston Churchill’s war rooms, and many other tourist attractions. Strolling off the ship, we surged through the crowds to the Westminster Bridge.

                We pulled out our iPods and began a Rick Steves’ audio tour of the Westminster area, taking us to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Then we came to Whitehall, a street that is the main street of political London. This street led all the way to Trafalgar Square. On the way, we stopped at Number 10 Downing Street, the heavily guarded house of the British Prime Minister. Further down, we ventured underground and visited the Cabinet war rooms and the Winston Churchill Museum. Here during World War II, Winston Churchill, his staff, and his war cabinet worked and sometimes stayed the night during bombings. The shelter was underground, so their important work was not interrupted. Farther down the street was the Horse Guard building, guarded by the Queen’s own horse guards, dressed up in traditional dress and everything. Coming just in time for the fancy “dismounting” ceremony, we eagerly watched the soldiers go through the ritual and then finally dismount.

                The walk ended in Trafalgar Square, with a huge monument with Lord Nelson on top and four huge bronze lions surrounding it. Carefully climbing up the sheer granite rock face, we took some pictures with the lion. It was very big and rather hot because of the sun. Also on the square was the National Gallery, a huge art museum. Heading inside, we rented some audio guides and headed on a highlight tour. Every single work of art in the museum had a commentary, and we didn’t have time to see everything, so it was essential just to see the most famous ones. When we were finished, we took a double-decker bus to Victoria Station and then walked a few blocks to Seafresh Fish and Chips. We quickly decided what we wanted and ordered our meals to go. With our steaming flavorful fish and chips packed up in paper cones, we headed back to Victoria Station to take our night bus tour, planning on eating our meal on the bus.

                Just as we started to board, the bus driver said, “No chips on the bus, please.” He also explained that the audio on this bus wasn’t very good, but we decided to take our chances. He allowed our chips on the open second storey, so we climbed up and enjoyed our meal. There was a ton of yummy fish, but even more chips, stored in a cone that seemed bottomless. I never did find the bottom! Soon we found out the commentary was completely inaudible, so we got off the bus at Piccadilly Circus to wait for another bus with a better audio system.

                Since we had a while to wait we decided to kill a couple of birds with one stone. First need: the restrooms. We headed into the nearby Rainforest Café and went all the way through to the very back, past waterfalls and tropical birds to the restrooms. Exiting again we went to Piccadilly Circus, London’s version of Times Square, with video advertisements on all corners and took pictures. Heading back to the bus station we caught a bus with a good audio system and went the full circle tour and a little more to go back to the stop nearest to our home, the London Dungeon. By this time it was no longer twilight, but truly dark and we were able to see the beauty of London in lights. Walking home, we sleepily headed to bed just as the bells from the local church, St. James, struck midnight.