Well, after 2 weeks, we were back in London for 2 days before heading home.
We stayed at a pretty fancy hotel - Hyatt Regency Scottish Yard (only $606 a night but of course 0 for us), and these were the stairs to go down into the lobby from the street. Even though it's only 5 stairs, as we started to go down with our luggage, the door man came running and told us to stop!
He took our luggage, told us where to go to check in - where were private desks where we sat down to check in, and then a small elevator came up from the floor to be level with the top of the stairs to hold the luggage (and wheelchairs)
Of course our room was upgraded to a suite which included this "working" fireplace! Never had this in a hotel room before!
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London is so helpful to remind visitors which way to look for oncoming traffic before crossing the street since they drive on the other side of the street, and they paint these at every intersection
The London "Black Taxi" are pretty much the only kind of taxi you see. There is a seat in the back-back and the middle area of the car is all open, for luggage usually, or they can pull down extra seats for other passengers
We walked around the huge and very busy Chinatown and found a real hole-in-the-wall gem from Shelley's research and it was pretty good!
This is the bridge you see in lots of photos for London, and you might think, like I did, this was the "London Bridge" well, it's not. The London Bridge is an unassuming bridge over the river near downtown. This is the Tower Bridge and is probably the most famous bridge in London
There are a lot of police on horses
That night we went to a West End (their Broadway) Show of The Lion King. Wow. Just wow. Amazing.
Being the obedient people we are, we didn't take any pics after this
The next morning, we went to the Tower of London which is a huge complex next to the Tower Bridge. The Tower of London was a fortress, palace and prison and currently has several museums, one of a kind pieces of history, a mint, keeper of records, and the crown jewels of England. We heard it was a very busy place so we got tickets for when they opened.
Back in the day, when it was a palace, the Tower of London was called His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress and built around 1066 and part of the Norman Conquest.
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This is the queuing line for the crown jewels....it was pretty empty the entire time we were there, which was good!
This was the head Yeoman Warder, also known as a "Beefeater". The Warders have been guarding the Tower of London since the Tudor times and still do today. They live inside the Tower of London and there are 32 of them, all coming from the armed forces, and have to had served at least 22 years. This one here, opened the Tower in a ceremonial procession before we were let in. The were also the King's bodyguards. Every night, the Warders close the Tower of London in a "Ceremony of the Keys" which starts with a chant of "Halt! Who comes there?" A ceremony then closes the gates, and gives the keys to the Resident Governor (the guy I am in the photo with) for safe keeping for the night. In the morning, they repeat the ceremony to open the Tower and have been doing this for over 700 years.
The White Tower - built around 1080 - not the same White Tower in Lord of the Rings. The White Tower is a "keep" which is a fortified tower built in castles and was the strongest structure in a castle. It would be used to "keep" the king or his family as a last resort of the rest of the castle was being attacked. The White Tower here is the largest keeps in the world and "the most complete 11th century palace in Europe"
Currently, the white tower has one of a kind pieces of history throughout the time the Tower of London was built and used
The White Tower was fancy and even had toilets!
Notice the skyscraper building in the background.....more on that to come.....
How would you like to go to church and sit next to this grave?
We walked over the Tower Bridge which was closed to traffic due to a half marathon. It was fun to see all the runners and their support
At a huge outdoor market, the famous chocolate strawberry booth always has a line...they go through hundreds of pounds of strawberries every day and it was yummy!
Here is the same skyscraper I told you to remember. You could pay lots of money to go to a rooftop garden nearby, or come to this building and go to the Sky Garden for free. It's 37 stories tall, with a garden and park area on the top 3 stories and offers 360 degree views of the city
The Tower of London complex - it's huge
We then went over to "City Hall" which offers a self guided tour of the history of London and England and is a beautiful building inside
I wonder who the human food tasters are and how much they get paid
This is London's strangest clock - it has rotating discs, a goat, the astrological signs and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the middle as a sun god. The clock still works and shows the current minute, hour, month, year and zodiacal sign
It was time to go home and say good bye to London
Cruise #26 was our longest yet! And we loved Princess again, not having sailed with them since 2006.
