Tower of London

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This was our big touring day of London. We took the train in from Berkhampstead into London and then headed to St. Paul’s cathedral where Princess Di and Charles were married. From there we headed over the Millennium Bridge which was built for the celebration of the turn of the century. Funny enough, they had to close the bridge shortly after they opened it because it swayed too much in the wind. They quickly fixed it and re-opened it.

Just over the bridge is the Tate Modern museum. To my surprise they had a Frida Kahlo exhibit in house. It was really great to see her work especially since I had seen the movie Frida and could relate each of her paintings to different parts of her life.

After the museum we headed over to the Tower of London. I didn’t realize that the tower of London isn’t just a tower. It’s actually where the royal residence use to be. The Tower of London is where they executed many of the famous royal prisoners, including two of Henry VII’s wives. They are buried in the chapel on the grounds. We were also able to go up to one of the towers where the prisoners were held and see some of the graffiti they carved into the wall.

The Crown Jewels are also located at the Tower of London. The largest diamond in the world is located here and was discovered by a distant relative of mine Its called the Cullinan diamond (my mother’s maiden name) and was discovered in South Africa in the early 1900’s. The Crown Jewels are not insured and have never been valued as I doubt any insurance company is willing to cover them.

We headed back to Berkhampstead after the Tower of London for a night out with some of Ian’s friends who were lovely (to use an English term) just like all the rest of his friends I met that week.

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