May 22-23, 2018 - More of London!

We arrived in London on May 20th and left on May 24th.  This gave us 3 full days to explore London. We covered the first full day in the last post and will share the rest here. Our second day started at the Tower of London.  None of us had ever been there before, and we really loved it!

We decided to take the audio walking tour and it filled us in on so many interesting pieces of history! That place has seen a vast array of amazing, awful, and fascinating events over it's long life.

As you can tell from the picture above, we were not alone during our visit to the Tower; however, this picture makes it look more crowded than it really was.

It's not hard to imagine royalty living here, and the armor collection is extensive!

Hannah wasn't impressed by the second floor, "bomb-drop" toilets that just emptied out along the outside wall of the tower.

I guess when you have an abundance of armor and weapons, you can get creative with it.

There was an entire exhibit about how they used to keep exotic animals at the tower to impress visitors.  Now, instead of living animals, they commissioned an artist to make impressively realistic animals out of chicken wire.

According to Wikipedia:

The Ravens of the Tower of London are a group of at least six captive ravens which live at the Tower of London. Their presence is traditionally believed to protect the Crown and the tower; a superstition holds that "if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it". Some historians, including the Tower's official historian believe the "tower's raven mythology is likely to be a Victorian flight of fantasy".

Historically, wild ravens were common throughout Britain, even in towns, the tower being within their natural range. When they were exterminated from much of their traditional range, including London, they could only exist at the tower in captivity and with official support. They are tended to by an official Ravenmaster. Local legend puts the origin of the captive raven population at the time of King Charles II (reigned 1660–85). Some of the ravens at the tower were specially bred in Somerset.

It was fun to watch the Ravenmaster work with the birds and talk about how smart they are.  They are impressive birds!

We saw several members of the Tower Guard (even a miniature one, pictured above), many Yeomen Warders (or "Beefeaters"), and even a miniature princess.

Wikipedia says:

The name Beefeater is of uncertain origin, with various proposed derivations. The term was common as early as the 17th century as a slang term for the English in general.[3] The earliest connection to the Royal Household came as a reference to the Yeomen of the Guard by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who frequented the Court in 1669. In referring to the Yeomen of the Guard, he stated, "A very large ration of beef is given to them daily at the court, and they might be called Beef-eaters".

After enjoying the day at the Tower, it seemed imperative to walk at least half-way across the Tower Bridge.

On our way back to our flat, we decided to grab some dinner and eat in the gardens around Kensington Palace.

May 23rd started out with a subway/tube trip into London to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.  Heather and Mark are both feeling a little shocked at how much and how fast Hannah is growing up.  She seemed more like an adult than a kid on the subway that morning.

We didn't really know what all was involved with the changing of the guard.  We had no idea it was so involved and entailed such dramatic ceremony!  The crowds were impressive too!

We staked out a spot on some steps that allowed us to see over the top of the crowds.

Several different groups of soldiers either marched or rode on horseback into Buckingham Palace, with marching bands playing.  There was quite a bit of ceremony and band-playing within the gates of the palace, and then the soldiers (presumably the ones being replaced by the new arrivals) marched back out.  The whole process took over an hour.  We had no idea it was such an involved process!

Neither the Queen, nor any of her family, made an appearance that morning, although we kept a close watch on the upper windows for any who might be peeking through the curtains.

From Buckingham Palace, we walked through the beautiful St. James Park to Westminster Abbey.

Unfortunately, we did not plan our visit to Westminster Abbey well enough to be there when it was open, but we enjoyed seeing it and nearby statuary from the outside.

From there, we took the Tube to the Natural History Museum.  We loved exploring this impressive museum.  The escalator through the molten planet was an impressive touch, and the building itself is beautiful!

This is a really huge, varied, and beautiful museum. It would take days to see it all. It is in an ornate and interesting building, as well. We loved it!

These cool, little monkey creatures (and others) are climbing up all of the inside ceiling arches.

The picture above shows a room in the museum dedicated to hands-on discovery, especially for kids.  There are hundreds of drawers and shelves of specimens that you can pull out, touch, and view under microscopes.  There was a very helpful instructor there, to answer (and ask) questions. It was impressive.  Of course, the sequoia cross-section prompted Heather to reminisce about her childhood in Sequoia National Park.

After the Natural History Museum we ran home for some dinner and then headed out to the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see Wicked.  It was a fantastic way to cap off our time in London!