London Day 2 - Royal Day Out

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We have our routine down now. The night before the girls ask what time to meet in the lobby. I give them a brief rundown of the next days events and then we agree
on a time to meet in the lobby.

After breakfast at the hotel restaurant we head out.

The streets of London were still empty due to the Bike Race so we could walk the streets pretty freely.

My camera messed up so I do not have many pictures from this day. I need to go get mom's camera. A lot of places do not allow flashes and I think I had turned the flash off so everything came out black or really dark. Sorry, I will add pictures later.



Tower of London
I have heard from several people and I have read online that we should watch the unlocking of the Tower of London.

There are 37 Yeoman Warders (36 men and 1 woman) at the Tower of London. They have to have at least 22 years military service, reached the office of Warrant offier,
to have beeen awarded the long service and good conduct medal and be between the ages of 40 to 55 years old to obtain this appointment.

Each morning they have a cermony to open the gates. Each evening there is also a very ceremonious way they lock the tower as well.

We were a little slow going so we did not get a chance to watch the unlocking of the Tower. We were able to get to the Tower a about 45 minutes before it opened. Getting
there early was a good call on our part. The crowds started coming as it got closer to opening.

We used our London Pass to get into the Tower. We bought the London Pass prior to coming over. As we were standing in line we were not able to find Timmy's. He finally
found it on a counter where he was running around while we were waiting for the gates to open. I decided that we were not going to go through that again so I ran (literally)
to a souvenior shop and bought us all lanyards and had holes punched in our passes. We always do this on the cruise ship I don't know why I didn't think to bring our
'cruise lanyards'. Oh well, we are now the proud owners of British lanyards.

When we got into the Tower we promptly walked to the spot where you catch a Yeoman tour. Wouldn't you know the day we go they do not start the first tour until 30 minutes after the gates open. Normally the first tour starts at 10 am but today the first tour was at 10:30 am. Bummer.

So, a tour finally begins. The guide has a very good sense of humor. He really captured everyones attention. He told us about how people accused of crimes were taken to the town
enter and were beheaded with a dull ax. Sometimes it would take up to 6 or more times before the head would detach from the body. They would then bring the heads and hang
them on the tower wall. Stories of murrrderrr and betrayl.

We started to follow the Yeoman along with about 300 people. We got to the next stop and he stood on his stool and began speaking again. We could not hear
him or see him really. It was such a bummer. We decided not to follow the Yeoman even though I had heard so much about them. Mom and I decided it would probably
best to hire a private guide hosted by the Yeomen before the castle opens. We saw a couple of people doing that while we were sitting around waiting for the castle to open. Where is Mike when you need him!

Kirby wanted to see the Crown Jewels that are housed at the Tower of London. I didn't even know Kirby knew about the Criown Jewels. Apprantley they learn about those types
of things at school. Who knew.

Cameras are not allowed in the Crown Jewels house so we had to put our cameras away.

Fortunatley we got to the Tower early enough that the line was not long. They had a permanent queue line that looked like it could take hours to go through. We were able to
just walk in the door. They first take you through a couple of rooms that are showing videos of the history of the jewels and there are timelines on the walls. Kind of the way
Disney does things. Entertain you while you wait and wait and wait. We were just walking through so we didn't take in all the videos, etc. The last video is when Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953. There were benches there so we sat and watched the video.

The ceremony is beautiful. We all kind of chuckled because it reminded us of Frozen when Elisa has to hold up the orb and the staff looking thing (forgot what
it's called). Queen Elizabeth looked so beautiful and the pagentry of the ceremony is over the top. It is quite the video to watch. I am sure you can find the video
on YouTube somewhere.

To get into the room that houses the Crown Jewels you walk through a doorway. Ok, the doorway is a vault door. The vault door is about 2 foot thick (I don't think I am exaggerating). The vault door is really, really thick!

You then get on people mover that takes you past the crown jewels. These are the real deal. These are not fake. The diamonds you see that are the size of a babies
fist are for real. Beautiful does not descibe them. They are unreal.

Kelsey and I walked on the platform and rode the people mover again. It is really heard for your brain to wrap around the fact that these these are real.

After we visited the crown jewels we looked around the gift shop then it was time to move along to the next museum. We were on a time schedule because we had tickets
for the Buckingham Palace tour.

Before we left I took Tim by to see the old coins. Him and his friend Will love old coins. Timmy was happy about this display and interactive area.



Tower Bridge Exhibition

The Tower Bridge is just a short walk from the Tower of London. Mom didn't go on this one. She chose to watch people as they walked up and down the Thames River. This wasn't
going to take long so we left her. We figured no one was going to steal her. She'd be fine and she was.

We were able to walk right into the Tower Bridge because of our London Passes. We felt like we were in the Disney Fast Pass lines. It was awesome.

The kids got a little pamphlet that contained an outline of the Tower Bridge. If you go to spots A, B, C and D you got stickers to fill in the bridge.

Praise Jesus, they have an elevator! The elevator takes us to the top of the tower in less then 1 minute.

The Tower Bridge has a history that spans back to 55 BC. The brodge has always been in this particular spot more or less. The previous bridges had been destroyed by war, weather and general use. This particlar bridge took 33 years to complete and was completed in June 1894.

In the top of the bridge area they have a whole bunch of facts that would take you three days to read. We were on a time schedule so we just scooted through. We took some pictures on the glass floor and of the skyline of London. The glass portion of the tower was cool becuase you could see the Thames River.

We walked down the stairs and outside the bridge to the engine room. The bridge can lift up so there is a room that houses all of that equipment.

Bridge tour was done and we went to pick up Gigi. We got something to eat, walked a couple of blocks back to the hotel then went onto our next adventure.



Queen's Gallery, Royal Mews and Buckingham Palace

We bought tickets called 'Royal Day Out'. This allowed us to go Queen's Gallery, Royal Mews and Buckingham Palace. We had to be at the Queen's Gallery at 2:15 pm but of course we were late. Turns out we did not have to be on time so it all worked out.

The Queen's Gallery was all about garden art work, porcelain and garden sculptures. I liked the history of the sundial. There were a couple of really big ones. The audio guide
said that someone would go out to the garden and set thier pocket watch by the sundial. They would go and set all the clocks in the house according to the sundial. I have seen sundials my whole life but I guess I never really thought anyone actually used them. Makes me want one for my yard.

The next stop on the tour was the Royal Mews. The Royal Mews is where all the royal cars, carriages and horses are housed. The drivers and horse folk live in the compound
fulltime. They even raise their familly within the compound.
The carriages are massive and very ornate. The auto guide walks you through every car and told you the history. We then were walked to the stables.

The tour of the horses took you in the stables. The horses weren't there because the Queen was away. Guess they get a vacation too. There were two horses that were still
on property. Once was named Claudia. I took a picture for my Aunt Claudia.

The audio guide told us that the Queen actually names all the horses. When a new horse is brought in the Queen is given a list of suggested names and she chooses the name for the horse. I thought that was neat. Who knew the Queen had such a hand in the names of the horses.

I asked the Police Officer where the horse named 'Olivia'. He said, 'We don't have a horse named Olivia.' I said, 'I know but you need one.', He said he would suggest that
to the Queen right away. I told him thanks. He, he.

Our last stop was Buckingham Palace. The Queen opens the 19 State Rooms for the 6 weeks she is out visiting the rest of the UK. I think she was actually visiting Scotland
at this time.

By this time it is about 4 pm. Mom was spent but she was determined to go and see everything. She walked with us over to the Buckingham Palace entrance which is on the side of
the building. I asked the gentleman if they had a wheel chair that my mom could use. After about 5 minutes they confirmed that they had a wheelchair that we could borrow.
They told us to walk around to a particular entrance. We kept walking and walking and walking. We finally found a gate and a gaurd. This gate however was at the FRONT of the
palace. I asked the lady and she said 'oh, are you the Starlings?' Um, yes. She gets on her radio and says the Americans are here. I'm confused. I do not understand.

They open the front gates of the palace and a golf cart arrives. She told us we would ride the cart to the entrance of the castle? For real?! We got a golf cart ride through
the front grounds of the castle. How did all of this happen? I don't know but thanks Gigi. Once we got to the entrance they had a special security checkpoint and then they
walked us into the palace.

I could go on and on about each room but my fingers are getting tired. Words cannot describe each room. We walked slowly through each room listening to the audio guide.
The history of the rooms and everything about them were spectaular.

After we were done touring the rooms we could go to the cafe in the gardens. This is the only place we were allowed to take pictures. We had some tea and cakes on the Queen's
back patio. It was fun.

I heard a lady call for Olivia and she was talking to the person behind us. I told her that was my name and she smiled. I asked her what her middle name was. Would you believe
her name is Olivia Catherine just like mine. What are the chances in the world that you meet someone with your exact same name and the exact same spelling. I wish I
would have taken a picture with her but I don't think she was as excited as I was. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

When we were done with the cafe our personal golf cart took us out the front gate again. You could see people hanging all around the front gate taking pictures. We weren't
sure if they were taking pictures of us or not but I am sure people were talking about us. They were wondering who are these fancy people coming out of the front of
the palace. Oh, it's just #starlingpartyof8.

After this wonderful tour it was time for our last adventure of the day.

Thames River Cruise

We walked from the palace over to Westminster and down to the boat docks. We were able to get on the last boat of the day. Lucky us. The boat would drop us off by the
Tower of London so just a couple of blocks from our hotel.

The River cruise was very nice and relaxing.

The men that are able to work on the boats have to be trained for 2 years. They are normally trained by a family member like thier father. So basically all the people operating
the boats on the Thames River have been doing this for generations.

Thier commentary was very entertaining and the slow cruise was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Tomorrow we are off to Paris.

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