62 gun salute

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In honor of the queen's birthday today, there were plenty of celebrations throughout London. We happened to be at the Tower of London and was able to witness a 62 gun salute. The basic Royal Salute is 21 rounds, but at the Tower of London, you add an extra 20 because the Tower is a Royal Palace Fortress and another 21 for the City of London. It was neat. Quite loud, but neat to witness the ceremony. No Queen though, but the guns were ablazin! Because our Tower of London experience centered around the salute as well as the desire to climb the steps of St. Paul, the Tower of London was a quick walk by. We walked along the perimeter of the Fortress a little bit. Was hoping to get to see the crown jewels, but the line was wrapped around and then around some more. So we passed.

After the Tower, we did the Tower Bridge experience. Most people think that the ornate bridge, with the blue suspensions is the London Bridge, but in fact, it's called Tower Bridge. London Bridge is a lot less ornate and very very ordinary. The exhibition was very neat. We went up 42 meters above ground Which is roughly 138 feet. They showed the various bridges throughout the world. The two that stuck out... was the Bosphorus Bridge, which connects Europe and Asia. More specifically Ortaköy Turkey and Beylerbeyi Turkey (along the Asian waters.)The second was the Charles Bridge in Prague. This one has special meaning for Rob and Betsy. It's the bridge where they got engaged. Very cool. Betsy and I decided that Mary would've enjoyed this exhibition. All in all, very nice exhibition, it was very cool that we got to walk across the bridge, 138 feet up.

After Tower Bridge, we went to St. Paul's. Today was designated steps day. Everywhere we went, there were steps... but more importantly, at St. Paul's we walked up 525 steps to reach the top of the dome. Pats on the back for all of us because we all made it. The first level we stopped at was the Whispering Gallery (257 steps up.) This took us to the bottom border of the dome. The view was pretty magnificent. You could see everyone down below and was able to look up into the dome to see the vastness of it all. After the Whispering Gallery, we trekked another 119 steps to the Stone Gallery. This was the easy leg of the trip. However, the steps were very narrowed and windy going up. This allowed us to go outside and see the views on the outside. Viewing the River Thames and the London skyline was pretty breathtaking as well. We were able to see the Gherkin, Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast. The brochure said you could see Shakespeare's Globe, but I couldn't make it out. From the Stone Gallery we hiked up another 152 steps to the top of the Dome - the Golden Gallery. From here, we were able to see the west view of London. We saw Millennium Bridge, London Eye, Parliament and the Tate Modern. Very cool. Also to think that we were over 270 feet above ground and we managed to make it up there on feet. Impressive if I do say so myself.

From St. Paul's we headed to Oxford Street to do a little retail shopping. Bonnie raved about Primark, so we went there first. It was Uber Crowded and came pretty close to Madness. There were tons of people and the clothing was strewn everywhere. You could barely walk around, but that didn't stop me from finding some sweaters and a fun purse. Mon, I picked you up a very British tote bag. 100% recyclable. After Primark, I was pretty shopped out, but wanted to walk along Oxford a little further. It's the mecca of shopping for London. Shops of all kinds (high end, average, affordable.) By the time we made up another few blocks. We were done. So we tubed it back to the hotel and had dinner at De Olde Swiss Cottage. This was your geniune pub. We ordered at the bar, picked up our drinks, but they fetched our food. We tried Cottage Pie, Fish Pie and something called Toad in a Hole. Cottage Pie was very delish... Toad in a Hole (sausages and yorkshire pudding) not so much. The Sausage was cold. I think we decided that the cook was on her way out.. so they might have forgotten to cook it. Why we think this.... we went to order dessert and the bartender said.... let me see if the cook is still here.... and she was already gone. Oh well... we just stopped by the local Spar and picked up ice cream bars. I had a Bounty, Poysee and Betsy had a Magnum. Magnum was the way to go. It was very rich creamy chocolate bar. Yum... Could still taste it in my mouth!!

And so ends another day. Plan for tomorrow???? Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Churchill's War Room with the possibility of a River Thames Cruise to the HMS Belfast.... whereever the day may take us.

Cheers!!

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Photos

62 Gun Salute
in honor of the Queen's Birthday