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Published: June 27th 2018
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MIchelin Star Count: Today 0; Trip 11
So this morning we got up and headed down the tube to the Coppa Club, a resto near the water and across from the Tower of London. Pretty straightforward menu - eggs bene, avocado toast, English breakfast. A good meal, one that redeemed the English breakfast for me. Tried the blood pudding. So...it wasn’t the worst thing I have ever had (that honour goes to Kalles - if in Sweden, you must try it just to say you have but be warned) but I just don’t see the attraction to dried, fried blood. If yo are heading to the Tower, a great location for a pretty good breakfast to get you in the right neighbourhood for your tour.
After breakfast we popped across to the subway to meet our guide for the next three hours. He was a fantastic guide that had the foresight to rush us to the Crown Jewels before the lines became 3 hours long. The jewels as we know them now are not the original jewels. There was a period of about 11 years when Britain did not have a monarch. When the lords
revolted over the kings insistence to increase taxes, the king was convicted of treason and executed. The Crown Jewels were then melted down and used for the people. 11 years later, in 1660, when the leader of the revolution died, they brought the monarchy back to Britain and started fresh with the jewels. So what we see today is a mere 350 years old. It was quite interesting to see the different crowns of the monarchs and what they are used for, the ceremonial gowns and sceptres for the coronation and the two largest diamonds in the world. Certainly worth the price of admission. Our guide took us around to many other parts of the tower and gave us some of the very rich history of the tower, showed us rooms where the nobility would have served time for being too catholic or not catholic enough depending on the king of the day and described some of the different and evolving fortifications of the tower.
After saying goodbye to our guide, we popped over to Fortnum & Mason for Jubile tea. That is fancy talk for finger sandwiches and scones. Tea is a very rich tradition in
Don’t call them Beefeaters!
BTW...those are fully loaded assault rifles they carry. This is NOT for show. Britain and none do it better than F&M. Pricey but worth the money to see take in the tradition.
After tea, we popped back to the hotel, I had a couple calls to make so the fam relaxed upstairs before we ran accros the street for a pub night at the Black Friars. A big plate of bangers and mash and a few steak and ale pies were had...as was a wit and a vanilla porter. To date, while I have not been blown away by the beer, I have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of almost all I have tried.
Tomorrow another Ramsay resto and part one of the Cursed Child.
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