Tour day! Up and out of the hotel at 6:45am (urrgghh!) and off to meet the coach that was taking me to meet the tour bus. As usual I got chatting to the driver who gave me tips on what other things to check out in London. There is just so much to see and do in this city - so very excting. He made sure to tell the tour guide to look after the Kiwi when we were leaving, naaaw. Anyway, onto the bus I got with about 40 other people and off we headed to stop #1 - Westminster Abbey.
What a building! So very beautiful. We didn't go inside as time didn't allow it but we had a good look at it as we walked around to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben! Every now and I then I get hit with the realisation that I'm really in London - this was one of those times. Looking up at that immense clock gave me goosebumps. Big Ben is actually the nickname of the Great Bell that chimes in the clock, how it got it's name is not entirely known but could have been after the man who was in charge of the installation of the bell - apparently he was quite large! More stories from the tour guide about famous people in history (more interesting than I've made it sound) then we were on our way to the river Thames for a boat ride.
Filthy river but with more history than I could wrap my head around. Under bridges that were all significant for something amazing, past the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, past the building that reflected the sun so brightly it melted tar on the street below, and on to the Tower of London. I think this was probably my favourite part of the tour. A real honest-to-goodness Yeoman Warder AKA Beefeater, gave us a short tour of some of the towers and gates (traitor's gate and the bloody tower were particularly interesting and gruesome!). Kapai tried to get a picture with our Beefeater but he wasn't allowed to hold anything representing any other country so I stepped in to make sure Kapai got his photo.
Next up, jewels, lots of jewels! The Crown Jewels to be precise. An absolutely stunning display of sceptres, swords, crowns, maces, spoons, and more. The amount of gems and gold in that display could feed a small (or not so small) nation. A lot of it is used for baptisms, weddings and other official events so doesn't stay locked up permanently. The crowns were the most impressive for me; very very sparkly. Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds galore. I may have drooled a little. The whole Tower of London complex is actually a palace and quite spacious. Many royals were imprisoned there awaiting their eventual beheading. The two princes, around the time of Richard III were kept in the tower in 1487 supposedly in preparation for the coronation of Edward, the eldest little prince, but they 'disappeared' and Richard III became king. Our beefeater said it wasn't known what really happened to them but their best guess is that the boys were smothered in their rooms and buried under the stairs in one of the towers. In 1674 workmen dug up a wooden box with two small skeletons in it, presumably the princes. It's history like that that makes this place so fascinating. I'm totally loving it!
Did you know there are 6 (plus one spare) Ravens that live at the Tower and there is one Yeoman whose job it is to look after them? He's known as the Raven Master - cool name - and his role is to make sure they are healthy and happy. They are fed meat, special biscuits that are soaked in blood and sometimes whole rabbits. Each raven has a name. The eldest is 24 Years old which is way older than the live in the wild. They are kept in the Tower because of a legend that says the Tower and London will fall if there are less than six Ravens there at all times. Their wings are clipped so they can't fly too far. One raven was dismissed from duty some years ago because he became fond of chewing on rather essential telephone wiring so was sent off to a zoo in Wales - even birds need to behave if they want to keep their job!
I could have stayed at the Tower much longer but it was time to move on to the next bit: St James Park (gorgeous!) and seeing the Royal Guard make their way back to their barracks. The music they played was awesome. They were stoic and formal, a bit stuffy and feaking awesome. Back onto our bus and off to St Paul's Cathedral. I had mixed feelings as we were taken on our tour of this incredible place, not because I didn't like the building (it really is spectacular) but because I got a bit sad. As we heard about the incredible feats and achievements of these men buried at the Cathedral, I suddenly felt so very insignificant. A bit silly really as life isn't about status but it was more that these people had done phenomenal things but still, they are dead and gone and now millions of us just walk past their tombs, stop, say "oh wow" then move on. It seemed that it doesn't matter what we do as it will end anyway. I suppose we all feel like that at some stage but I guess all we can do is focus on the life we have as we don't know what, if anything, comes next. i made myself stop thinking so deeply as it was just a bit depressing, and concentrated on what I was doing right there and then and truly enjoying it as right now is all we really have isn't it?
Enjoying the moment was helped immensely by chatting to a lady I met on the tour, Danielle. She and her husband are Canadian and just spent three weeks in India with her husband's work (civil engineering). She had such a great view of travel, had had such great experiences and really made the most of wherever she went. She was so excited for me and my trip it made me even more excited. We laughed, shared stories and basically agreed that seeing new places and meeting new people was the best thing ever!
The tour ended at the London Eye (nope, I didn't go on it, I'd have kittens going that high!) and I trotted off (via black cab with another very cool cab driver) back to Drury Lane. Oh look, it's time for another show ... this time it's Charlie and the Chocoalte Factory. Thanks to my awesome friend Pam and her equally awesome friend Nicky who works on the show in costume design, I got my very own golden ticket to the Royal Circle in the Theatre Royal. What a show! It was visually beautiful and colourful and clever and funny and professional and entertaining and slick and just wonderful! Willy Wonka was really very excellent. Wouldn't be surprised to see him recieving a Tony this year. The special effects were quite outstanding too. The way they made Violet grow, the glass elevator, the Oompa Loopas, Mike Teevee, the squirrels...it was all so well done. What a musical. I love the West End!
Right, that's quite enough for one day don't you think. Good night xx
