Jan. 4
Our hotel is 2 minutes south of the Kings Cross / Saint Pancras train station. We are a 25 minute walk from the river Thames putting us in a great location for the underground and International travel. The Bloomsbury neighborhood where we are staying is quiet and has many stores a street away. There are no large markets like in Paris with fresh everything, just little Indian run operations like mini 7-11's. Of course people drive on the "wrong side of the road," but there are many other things to get used to with the traffic. People walk on the righthand side of the sidewalks, mostly. And up the escalators, they stay to the right religiously, and passing is on the left. Surely, I thought this would be different in a country with driving reversed, but it's not. They have painted on the ground at intersections, "look left" or "look right." I found that quite comical thinking that it is there for tourists crossing the roads. Or do the locals need help as well?
Our hotel, called Hotel Montana, has a nice British breakfast from 7-9am. You feel like you are getting up very early, since the sun doesn't brighten the place up until 8:30am or so. All three mornings we were down in the basement for a "full fry up." This included: cereal, coffee, tea, orange juice, eggs, bacon, toast, baked beans, sausages, and cooked tomatoes. It's a lot different than the small, bread only breakfast in France, yet only across the Channel. How weird.
Our mission of the morning was to get an early start at the Tower Of London. This place has so much history dating back to the year 900! It was very impressive to see the many enhancements and changes that different kings implemented. We started right off with a tour of the Crown Jewels. Sorry to say, I was not allowed to capture any pictures. We entered right through the door, bypassing the corrals for when it gets crowded later in the day, and went right to the vault. We entered through a door 4x the size of any bank door I had ever seen, and there we were, right in front of us were the Crown Jewels from the year 1600 and on. Unbelievable! Priceless. I'm not one for jewelry, but if you a going to do it, this is the way to go! I think there were 4-6 crowns, orbs, scepters, gold serving platters, and chalices. They were displayed with excellent lighting and impeccably clean. No dust, prints, or smudges. The crowns had a moving floor to cruise the crowds past them in an organized fashion. I could only imaging what this might be like in the summer with large crowds. We took our time passing by a few times to get a second and third look.
After the Jewels, we went to the artillery museum in the white tower. This is where the armor and swords of the years past are kept. I liked the horse armor the best, knowing the horse would have to carry his armor, and the weight of the king with armor as well, into battle or tournament. The displays were first class and even had some History Channel clips accompanying them. From there, we toured the corner towers and perimeter walk. Outside were some large canons, including a ceremonial 25 pounder from WW2 that was used until recently.
After 4 hours at the Tower of London, we walked east through the financial district and decided it was lunch time. Young men in suits flocked the streets in search of food. I found it funny that there were not many women, at all! Also, they looked very young, as if just out of college. Is this who is running London as a financial Capitol of the world? We met a dive master in training on Koh Tao that took some time off from working here, and now it all makes sense. After living in a cold, dark city, I would want to shoot off to the islands too. The dive master in training loved the island work, but decided he was going back to the City even though he said he hated his other job. He said the money was just too good. It was nice of him to slum it with the rest of us commoners for a couple months. Maybe the old guys around here eventually just take all their money and move out to the islands. Everyone knows, England sure has enough of them! Anyway, we got some sandwiches, chicken parts, hummus, and drinks and found a bench where we could sit to eat. It was chilly, but we were out of the wind and had a peaceful lunch in front of one of the many really old churches.
After eating, we walked around St. Paul's cathedral, crossed the Millennium Bridge, and headed east.
Tonight, we had tickets to see Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The play was in the West End theatre district, not far from Trafalgar Square, north of the National Gallery, and south of the British Museum. We had some time to kill and saw a few more sights on the way. Dinner was in a small pub on Kingsley Street. I found it strange having to order everything from the bar and not get any service except for bussing the table afterwards, and yet the guide book said to still leave a tip? No way. The Brits don't leave tips, so I'm not leaving a tip. Hahahha. Below, is not the Apollo Theater, but I thought it was a cool pic.
The play was in the Apollo theater, and when we entered, the actors were on the stage getting ready, putting on makeup, and getting dressed. The first thing that drew my attention were the musicians up above the stage warming up. There was a lute player, 4 recorder players, a drummer, and 2 SACKBUTS! For real, SACKBUTS! A sackbut is a smaller bore, smaller bell precursor to the trombone. I have never played one or seen one live, but in front of us I would hear them in a play. How cool! They sounded nasally, and slightly out of tune, but the entire ensemble was playing on period instruments. It really made me appreciate what we have today, but also gives me an appreciation of the past. I was just thinking, I will probably never see this again. The play was entertaining, but all the British humor, I must say, did not make me laugh out loud. The British people, on the other hand, were dying of laughter.....snorting, cackling, giggling. I was amazed at what the audience found funny. Hey, they didn't even have to fake their accents! No photography during the performance, but I did get this one below.
It was another long day. When the play was finished, we got on the Underground and headed back to King's Cross. It was an endurance day of walking and our feet needed a rest. Tomorrow will be a another grueling day of walking. Rest up!
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