The Tower of London

Queen's Guard at the Crown Jewels

Yeoman

AKA Beefeater

Aidan Lending a Hand

Cool Door

A good nights sleep, a filling breakfast at the hotel and some planning and we were off to the Tower of London.  We are once again (Dave & I were here 20 years ago) amazed at how in such a large, busy, unknown city one can get around so easily with public transportation.  We finally got to hear more of the wonderful british accents we expected.  The Londoners we met on the tube and around were very friendly and eager to share what they knew - which also amazed me as there are so many tourists here that you would think they would see us as a nuisance.  Emerging from the underground we were struck by the juxtaposition of the skyline - the old brickwork of the Tower against the very modern new glass buildings - one we thought resembled an egg and believe the other was named the Gherkin and resembled a pickle???  At the Tower we were greated by a Yeoman Warden aka Beefeater (apparently no one knows for sure why they are called that, but may be because in history they were given the Royals scraps to eat and so had beef which at that time in London was a delicacy).  The Beefeaters have been employed for hundreds of years at the Tower- we learned that present day Beefeaters have to serve about 20 years of military service before they can apply for the position and that they live at the Tower.  So much gruesome history here - the boys were enthralled and as a result we stayed until closing;  Keeghan and Poppa reading everything and Cael taking pictures of every weapon and suit of armour.  Aidan was a trooper being very patient with it all and was happy at the end of the day with his purchase of a Royal Guardsman teddy bear.  Dave, Keeghan & Cael tried to get to the HMS Belfast, but missed the last tour so a stroll over the Tower Bridge with great views of the Thames was a great end to the day.
2 days in London and no rain Yay!