June 7th Through the Tube

Our new friend.  He said he was a barber, but his blade looked a little big for my whiskers.

 Adventures come in many forms.  Today, we wormed our way through the ground and popped up like gophers.   The first pop-up was the Tower of London and a shopping trip for Nancy, but alas no extra crown jewels. I dodged that bullet. Believe me, they are really impressive.  Big diamonds (one over 500 karats), precious stones of all kinds and  gold in so many forms, it is hard to list.   We toured the castle and buildings around the tower for five hours and we didn't make it to all of the different areas.   The history, treachery, noble causes and many severed heads filled the stories of the Beefeaters and guides.  We sat in a 900 year old chapel, walked in the foot steps of kings and prisoners going to the tower for a severe hair cut just below their chin.  I will say that the Brits saved everything from the rack to a royal spoon that held the oil that anointed the kings and queens since 1100's.   It was a very good experience.  Down the tube again.

After a trip to Starbucks to get out of the rain, we scurried over to St. Paul's Cathedral for a short service at 5:00.  We were going to the service to avoid the 10 pound charge to tour the cathedral.  Our short evensong service was the Feast of Corpus Christi with a sung mass, choir, organ, incense and communion, with 300 or 400 people in attendance. Impressive.   St. Paul's was first considered for the wedding of Prince William and Kate, but it was too small.  This church is enormous and stunningly beautiful.  The present St Paul's is the fifth cathedral to have stood on the site since 604, and was built between 1675 and 1710.

A brief gopher trip over to the Porter's Pub for two scrumptious English pies and, of course, a couple of pints of Guinness fresh from the tap.

Porter's Pub

We hop scotched back through the tubes to the hotel via the Piccadilly Line to the Circle Line.  It is nice to finally get a handle on the different routes for the undergound.  It is easier to travel during off peak hours.  I think sardines had more room in the can than we did today.  No doubt the transit people would like to have stuffing plungers if they could, but I do not think they could have gotten us much closer together. 

Nancy in the tube

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We are closing our 14 hour day now.  We have a sunny day plan and a rainy day plan for tomorrow.

This is London's City Hall.  A local resident said when I asked him what the building was, he said " that ugly egg looking building is London's city hall and you need to take lots of toilet paper there, because that is all they serve."  I guess some things don't change around the world.

Important things to consider in the Tower of London,