London Day 2

We started Day 2 in London at the “Tower of London” where we heard a tour with the famous “Beef Eater, Yeomen” was a must.   The Tower of London, was founded by King William the Conqueror in 11th Century, and has served as a royal palace and fortress, prison and place of execution, an arsenal, royal mint, menagerie and jewel house. The guards official names according to Wikipedia are: “The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the (Tower of London), and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary”, popularly known as the Beefeaters.  They are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, but in practice they act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction. 

While waiting for our tour to start, we checked out the Tower Bridge and surrounding grounds of the Tower of London. 

These statues were all over at the major attractions around the city dressed up like the attraction.  This guy was a symbol of the Olympics. 

As part of the tour we went in side the White tower that had amazing Royal Armor and weapons on display from the past.  Carter thought this sword was pretty sweet! 

 

Next we headed to the Bridge to walk across and go up to the upper level.  They had an “Olympics history exhibition” on display. 

 

Next we walked back over to Westminster Abbey to check out the inside.  The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to as Westminster Abbey, it is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English monarchs.

   

The floor was of particular interest to me…..it was very ecclectic and old….and a little haphazard.  And the above tomb was pretty cool too!  These were every where in the church.  

William Shakespeare was buried here:

   

The courtyard was amazing! 

 

Sir Isaac Newton was buried here too:  along with a lot of other famous English people

 

The outside was impressive….. and right across the street from Parliament and the Big Ben Bell Tower. 

   

I Spy with my little Eye,  Carter’s green retainers:  Can you? 

 

Churchill would allow a monument of himself built with the one restriction:  He did not want it defaced by pigeon poo.  So it has an electric current flowing through it.  The kids were trying it out to see if the cement stand also had electricity…..

   

And a few more pictures of Big Ben Tower (Big Ben actually only refers to the main Bell inside, but the whole tower has come to be known as “Big Ben”). 

 

Next it was time to head for the Apollo Theatre for WICKED!!  We had prepped the kids the night before by reading summaries on line and explaining the basic story to them so that they would get the most out of our all too expensive tickets. 

 

Not pictured:  the British row of women right behind us that were cracking up at sweet Josh’s response to the “Toss-Toss” scene where Galinda is trying to teach Elphaba how to be “Popular” and pretty at Shiz University.  When Elphaba fell off the bed, Josh got the giggles so bad that the whole row of British ladies were cracking up AT HIM.  The kids really enjoyed Wicked and loved the whole experience.  We were so glad we splurged and bought them all tickets.  This was my birthday present!  Definitely a birthday to remember in LONDON!!

The Stage:  AMAZING!!