In which we Walk, but Keep Our Heads

Jane's Journal Page Notes:
./\./\./\./\. Individuality ./\./\./\./\.
Who ever I am, let me be
For I was born for individuality
Every judgement put upon me
disrupts my creativity.
And if all I choose to do
Does no harm then
every judgement put
upon me is someone
else's caged individuality
True power cannot
crush it, and power
that unleashes
suffering will
eventually
destroy
itself!

Journal entry:
We are back on the English breakfast plan, which they serve here from 7:30 to 9:00. I woke Beast up around 8:15 so we could get down there in time. It’s the usual round, along with serve-yourself fruit--two kinds!--yoghurt and cereals, and juices, served by Filipino women. Yes, they were speaking Tagalog to each other.

We filled up and returned to our room to get ourselves situated for our day at the Tower. We got there around 10:30--decided to buy tickets at the Tower rather than at the tube station. That was a mistake. Long lines at the ticket booths, but it was a nice day, so it wasn‘t that bad. It would be bad in rain, or wind. But the whole thing is much more organized that it was in 1984. There was a bunch of construction going on then, so then it was a mess from the tube station all the way to the ticket booth area. I just remember lots of booths hawking tourist junk and people piled on top of more people. This was much more civilized! No tourist junk in sight. Lots of people but not piled up.

Once we got our tickets (a twenty-minute wait, at most), the crowding subsided. We bought a guide, then headed for the gates where my purse was searched and walked into the Tower. We went directly into Thomas Tower (imagine that!), which shows what kinds of changes have been made over the centuries to the buildings. We followed that with the Wall Walk.

Since there was no apparent line to see the Jewels, we headed over there. Amazingly, we had NO WAIT. None at all, and in fact we were able to ride the people mover past the Jewels twice. Meanwhile, the guards chatted and explained to the kids how to stand just so to make it look--in the reflection in the glass of the display case--as if she or he was wearing the crown. The jewels are spectacular, and they have done everything possible to keep tourists from dropping dead out of boredom in the incredible lines inside the building. They show Elizabeth’s coronation in one part of the lines, and the history of all the jewels in another section.

After looking at the sparklies, we walked through the enire White Tower, which is all about armaments. Interesting to Beast and Sparky, not so much for me. I pretty much spent the last half of our time in there trying to figure out where the loos are. It was very crowded and, as I finally figured out, there are no loos. The armor was kind of cool, though, and the cannon were neat too. Good equestrian exhibit with models of kings’ horses with each king’s armor next to "his" horse. These guys weren’t very tall...except Henry VIII.

Found the women’s loo, outside, although there were sure a lot of pretty 'old' boys using it too (like 12ish) because the nearest men’s loo is on the other side of the grounds.

Luckily, this is next to the entrance to Beauchamp Tower, our next stop. Beauchamp is where many prisoners were kept just before they were put to death. The famous chopping block is right outside in plain view of the windows. The walls inside are covered with graffiti, which is now covered in plastic to protect it from tourists. There are notebooks you can carry around that explain each bit. Some of it is quite elaborate. Not everyone kept prisoner in here died, but many did. It’s a sad room. Not quite so bad as the prison in Lincoln, but only because there were a lot more tourists around charging the atmosphere with 21st century-ness.

We ate at the Tower cafe for lunch: £30 for what would have cost £15 outside the Tower. Decent food -- SLOW SERVICE. I could have eaten my sandwich in the time it took the guy to carve the turkey and place it perfectly in alignment on the bread. I could have eaten TWO, in fact.

After eating, we examined the ravens, looked over some of the ruins from the earliest version of the Tower, and gleefully nudged each other at the sight of the line to see the Crown Jewels which now extended about fifty feet outside the building. Like Lenin’s Tomb. We took a few more pictures and then exited the Tower so we could cross Tower Bridge and take pictures of ourselves there. We proceeded to walk along the Thames across from the Tower to Southwark. The Cathedral there is beautiful outside; we didn’t go in. Next time...

Eventually found the Globe where we shopped, used the bathrooms and took a couple of photos. It would be fun to see a play here, but it was pricey.

OK, everything in London is pricey. Ouch.

We crossed the Millennium Bridge (ped only) to get to the Mansion House tube stop. This is the bridge they had to close because they were afraid it would flip. It's been fixed (so they say). Amazingly, I was fine on it, and Beast didn't seem to be too freaked out, but Sparky "didn't like this" because there are holes in it. All for the sake of aerodynamics or something...? Nice views, if you aren't looking at your feet and worrying!

The view toward which we were walking is St. Paul's Cathedral, but we just couldn't face it at that point. Mostly, it was me: my feet hurt. Bad shoe choice again. We tubed home, rested for an hour, Beast showered and I caught up my journal, and then we went to Mable’s Pub on Mabledon near Euston Rd. Nice place, decent pub food. Friendly staff. Right across Euston is a Novotel. Hmmm.

Sparky was asleep by 8:30 or so; we are watching some TV, but we are probably going to be checked out by 10 at the latest.