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We still have not managed to get internet working in our apartment this morning. If we only wanted it for entertainment, this would not be a problem but seeing as we need it to book flights and research our travels, it is a major inconvenience.
By the light of day, the area that we are staying in looks ok. There is a bakery across the street and it seems like a busy enough area - a bit different from the way it looked last night.
As we gained an hour in time difference moving to England, we feel fairly well rested. Using our international phone, I gave our family friend, Barbara, a call. Despite a poor connection, we were able to tell her our plans to be there sometime early next week. She suggested that renting a car would be our best option as she is quite a ways out from any town.
We ended up getting a relatively late start to our exploration as it was about noon before we walked to the nearby tube station. Asking at the booth, I found out that our best option was for Evy and I to buy what are called
“Oyster Cards” for a week of travel. With them, Joshua travels free and Benjamin is just 1 pound per day. Certainly this is a better options than paying 10 pounds per trip as we did last night.
We found the tube quite easy to navigate and were quickly at Tower Hill station. Walking to the tower, one of the first things we saw was a large Catapult set up in the moat area. There a group of people in period costumes were loading the huge machine with a water balloon. A little further down the dry moat was a set of targets. Watching all this was a group of school children and their teachers. We all gathered around the fence at the edge of the moat and watched as the water balloon was fired at the target. As we watched, we realized this was part of an educational program for school children.
Being lunch time, we decided to get some fish 'n chips to eat while we watched the action in the moat. Prices here are quite high, though I don't think being in the shadow of the tower was the best place to find a deal. We
will certainly have to watch our spending in the UK.
After lunch we bought a family pass to see the tower and our timing was good as the tour with a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) was about to start. Our tour guide was excellent - very animated as he related the bloody and gory details of various beheadings and treachery associated with the site including a case where it took five ax strokes to sever a head from the neck.
With the tour, we stopped at several places including the Bloody Tower, before ending our tour in the chapel.
After the tour we decided we would try to see the crown jewels first. The set up for seeing the jewels has changed quite a bit. The emphasis seems to be on try to get people though as quickly as possible with a series of winding queues past the exhibits. When you get to the actual crowns, you are on a moving sidewalk that takes you on a conveyor belt past the incredible crowns and sceptres. It was a bit too quick and Joshua complained that he had not seen some of the largest diamonds.
After the crown
jewels, we headed to another building to see an exhibit on Henry the Eighth entitled “Dressed to Kill”. Here there was a huge assortment of armour and implements of war as well as jousting poles and so on. It seemed to capture Joshua's imagination in particular.
After “Dressed to Kill” we took a quick trip to the Bloody Tower, where the two princes were thought to have been killed. Outside the entrance, we could see some of the 12 Ravens that are always kept at the Tower.
After this, we took a quick tour though a gruesome exhibit of some of the torture instruments that were contemporary to the tower. Once again, Benjamin and Joshua's attention perked up.
It was now late in the afternoon, and we were due to my cousin Chris's for dinner, though we were not quite sure how to get there. We walked from the Tower through some of the streets, in search of either a place to get internet or a wifi signal to get the directions. After a short while, we realized my phone had connected and downloaded our mail with a message from Chris telling us how to get there.
Chris lives in the area of Brixton which seemed considerably nicer than where we are staying. Without too much trouble, we found the house he and Sharon own. It is quite nice with good sized rooms and a very large deck out the back. Sharon was just heading out to vote in the European elections so we talked with Chris as he prepared dinner.
Chris told us a bit about life in London and we talked about hockey and home while Joshua and Benjamin played on the Wii. Sharon returned a short time later and we had a delicious BBQ dinner (including some quite tasty vegetarian kabobs). Chris and Sharon kindly lent us a book on London as well as a book on Ireland, our next destination. Well fed and well equipped with travel materials, we said our goodbyes about 10 pm and took the tube home.
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