Today we made our first adventure as a family down to London. The forecast called for sun so we thought we would chance it. This time we decided to take the train down and took advantage of the 2-for-1 ticket offer into the Tower of London for our main attraction for the day.
We happened to take the really LONG train down so we had 1 1/2 hours to enjoy each others company. The kids really like riding on the trains and it is really one of the easiest means of transportation....wish we had more trains in the US. Harrison enjoyed a little snack (as he hoards the whole bag of pretzels) as he watches outside.
Our morning consisted on looking for post offices that would allow us to do our biometrics testing to carry on our work permit process. We hit two dead ends and found out that we didn't have the proper paperwork to allow us to even do it at the post office. Looks like we'll have to make another trip to London soon. Needless to say we did get to see the "Old Town" station and got back to Camden Town so it wasn't a completely wasted morning. The really fun part of the morning though was that 3 of the main tube lines that we wanted to travel were all down so we spent about an hour trying to the Tower Hill where the Tower of London was at...I can tell you that is very difficult when both the District and Circle lines aren't running (since those are the two lines that stop right at Tower Hill). Anyways we had to do a bit of walking to get to the castle but we did get to see this really cool old style double decker bus along the way.
Again we have to thank William the Conqueror for building a massive stone tower at the center of his London fortress in the 1070's so that we had something to go see today. Of course Ol' Bill has constructed many fortresses that we have enjoyed seeing during our time in England. The Tower is quite impressive in it's size and the function that it served for so many years as a medieval palace, prison, and home of the Crown Jewels.
Of course before we entered the castle the kids wanted to partake in a very English tradition of eating ice cream in the freezing cold. Our 60 degree F weather turned into 40's weather and cloudy but they still wanted ice cream which they have everywhere!
Addison even let Harry have a little bit.
Here are the kids in front of a very old canon displayed next to the "White Tower" which I guess happens to be one of the most well preserved 11th century buildings in Europe. Back behind the tower are the Waterloo Barracks where the Crown Jewels are stored. The same guards that stand near Buckingham and St. James Palace are also stationed at the door of the barracks and you can get right up close with them.
Some other interesting fellows that we met were some of the Yeoman Warders. There are 34 men and one woman who cover various duties at the Tower such as watchman, looking after visitor safety and conduct guided tours. Each Yeoman has at least 22 years of military service, have reach the rank of warrant officer, have been awarded the long service and good conduct medal and be between 40 and 55 years old. They all live in what they call the Casemates which are small flats on the castle grounds. I had always wondered why I saw a swingset and climbing frame on the east side of the grounds from the outside...some of them have school aged children who live at the castle as well. All of the guards were quite nice and Addison really too a liking to one named George...she looked all over for him after we left the tour group.
We got to see a lot of cool interactive displays that showed how the castle was used as a defense mechanism. This helmet probably weighed about 5-8 pounds.
Our kiddos on the castle wall with Tower Bridge behind them...what a pair!!! They are finally getting the pose thing down.
Kevin showed Addison how to use a medieval cross bow...wow, the guys who used these things had to be pertty darn strong to pull the bow back.
This metal knight showed Addison how to stand guard on the east wall.
This block and axe were actually used for 4 of the executions held at Tower Hill. Not sure though if it was the exact one used for Anne Boelyn or not but could have been.
This was one of the executioner's masks....creepy!!!
Here we are in the Bloody Tower which was thought to be the place where the Richard III allegedly had his twin nephew's stored and murdered as they would have been heir to the thrown after the death of Edward IV but they were declared illegitimate (but he had to make sure they wouldn't come after the crown you know.)
A replica of Henry VIII's armor....as you can tell he wanted to make sure the "crown jewels" were well protected.
After we went through the Tower of London we did a little walking around just to see what we could see. One thing we did smell was hot roasted candied nuts and they looked and smelled amazing. I made the mistake of asking one of the guys around the Tower if I could take a picture of his nuts...yeah, you can guess where that went. I did replay by saying "Thanks, but tempting."
We took a little walk through St. Catherine's Dock which is a very "posh" part of London. Home to many exuberantly large yachts and boats. I thought this sign was interesting..."Boat Owner's Only" and then behind it are these really old sailing ships looking to be several centuries old...I asked Kevin who he thought the boat owner's were for those.
This was classic...an entrance to underground pay toilets in the middle of an intersection in a pretty busy road just up from the Tower of London.
With two sleeping kids in the stroller we headed back to King's Cross to catch our train. We are quite a site heading down the escalators in the Underground and especially when we have to carry the thing up and down stairs, but you do what you gotta do.
We caught a bit of supper before heading home. The kids and Kevin got some McD's but I had to endulge in a chicken and veg pasty from the West Cornwall Pasty Co. One of my favorite English foods is the pasty and the WCP Co. had moved out of King's Cross for a while due to renovations and I was so happy to see them back!!!
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