This morning we set out to ride The Tube, London’s subway, to the Tower of London.  For whatever reason, our passes weren’t to be active for another hour so we opted to walk.  It wasn’t the most direct route, and took us over two hours to accomplish.  At one point, we got caught up in some sort of sensitive police matter.  A two block stretch of the street we were walking down was suddenly shut down and swarmed with police.  It was either an excessive money drop at a nearby financial institution or a prisoner transfer to the local jail.  I’m more inclined to believe the latter, but have no way of knowing for sure.  After all the hub-bub died down, we continued on, stopping briefly at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

We then trudged on until we finally arrived at our major destination of the day, the Tower of London.  For the first time in my life, I had to pay to use the toilet (50 pence or about 75 cents).  We spent about 2-3 hours wandering through the huge castle.  We climbed numerous narrow, winding staircases and saw a ton of relics dating back several hundred years.

The King’s Throne

The Lost Palace

Some of the houses inside the Tower walls

The Rack

One of the Ravens at the Tower.

A replica of an elephant once kept at the Tower.

Various calvary armor

Child sized armor.

Large and small armor

Location of several beheadings, including Anne Boleyn.

Dragon made of armor

Artillery at the Tower

King’s Bedroom

The Tower is situated on the River Thames.  Anchored on the opposite bank is a war ship that can be toured.

Anchored ship.

We then finally got on the Tube and made our way to Harrods Department Store.  We took a couple hours to see what all the fuss was about.  Genny and I opted to try one of their cafes…the Godiva Chocolate Cafe.  No, that’s not sunburn on my poor girl’s face.  That’s windburn.

Genny eating the chocolate garnish from her milkshake.

After Harrod’s we got back on the Tube and went back to the Tower of London where we met our guide for the Jack the Ripper tour.  He took us around to all the key spots of the still unsolved serial murder case from 1888.