The Tower of London

On April 7th, Sid, Matthew, Rachel, Emma and I headed in to London. Thankfully Rachel was feeling better today as it would be unfortunate for her to miss her first chance to visit such a great city. We planned on catching the 9:34am train from Aldershot, the first one after the rush hour traffic (which makes the tickets cheaper). We were a little late getting out of Sid’s flat so Emma and I left first with the intention of buying the tickets for everyone. The plan worked. No sooner had we purchased the tickets, the train arrived and the other three ran the last 50 meters in order for us to board the train just in time! It was a 45 minute train ride in to Waterloo station.

We first wandered out to the London Eye and then along to Westminster Bridge, crossing over it towards the Houses of Parliament and good ol’ Big Ben. We hopped on the tube at Embankment and headed to Tower Hill, where our first stop of the day was the Tower of London. Sid and I tried to impress upon the kids the age and history of this place. The main building, the White Tower, was constructed in 1078....over 400 years before Columbus even set sail to America! As we exited the tube station, Emma remarked to me that she wondered if we’d run into Gemma and Charles. “Of course not Em, they’re in Mexico” I replied. “Well, maybe they didn’t get on their plane” she retorted. Highly unlikely, but I thought that there was a slight chance we could run into her parents as they were in the city...but also very highly unlikely and I didn’t want to mention it as I got the impression that both girls were a bit homesick for their mom and dad the night before. I was to be proven wrong, while queuing up to get our tickets, who came along but Julie and Brad! We chatted briefly, took a few pictures together and then they were on their way and we entered the Tower.

I introduced the kids to Tube Surfin':

Meeting up with Mom and Dad:

After some sandwiches in slightly dodgy weather (a bit of rain), I prepped the kids for the hour long Yeoman Warder guided tour we were going to do. I’ve been to the Tower before and this is a highlight. These Warders are ex-military from England or any Commonwealth country who have served at least 20 years and reached a rank of sergeant-major. They really bring the place to life and do it with great knowledge and a sense of humour. Many of the prisoners would be taken to Tower Hill, just outside of the Tower to be publicly executed, however, only after their portrait had been painted if they were of noble descent. One of the stories they tell was about a man (can’t remember the name) who was beheaded and as typical of the day, they chucked his head on a stake, paraded it around the streets and then planted it on London Bridge for all passers-by to see, and be warned. Well, suddenly someone realized that they had forgotten to paint his portrait so they hastily retrieved the head, had a doctor sew it back on his body and gave a painter 24 hours to do his thing!

Sid, Rachel and Emma heading to the Yeoman's tour:

The tour:

Matt by the White Tower:

Following the tour, we decided to queue up to see the Crown Jewels. These are the real deal, not fakes. The second largest cut diamond in the world, the Great Star of Africa, is mounted on one of the crowns...very impressive. So was a massive gold punch bowl that is capable of holding 144 bottles of wine!

Lining up for the Crown Jewels:

The White Tower was next and it is set up more like a museum now rather than the prison and palace it has been in the past. Most of the artifacts are suits of armour, swords and other weapons. It was cool to see a couple of King Henry VIII’s suits (who by the way had two of his six wives decapitated here). When he was young he was fully into jousting until he received a leg wound that never properly healed and hence he became a behemoth man of over 300 pounds (granted he was pretty tall). But the most impressive suit is the biggest one on display in the world. They’re not too sure who wore it but it was a man who was 6’8! If you saw this knight coming towards you...”Run away! Run away!”

King Henry VIII's armour:

A fierce defender of the Tower:

The large suit of armour:

Emma taking care of business in the White Tower

We were all a little weary from all of the standing and walking so after the Tower we headed to a pub to grab a drink and a little bite to eat. That re-energized us for the next stop, Hamleys, a gargantuan toy store with 6 floors, something for everyone. Across the street from Hamleys was a Ferrari store so Matt, being a 13 year old boy he is, had to go in. Sid took him there while I went with the girls into Hamleys. Matthew has had his eye open for cool cars since he’s been in England and tries to snap pics of them. Sid recounts that as they were standing in front of the 2007 Formula 1 champion Ferrari car, Matt insisted he look at a photo of a Ferrari he had taken in a parking lot earlier in the day on his 1” digital camera screen! Sometimes you can lead a horse to water but....

Matt about to get chomped, note the Ferrari store in the background:

Emma waiting for her strange balloon:

Starving, we found a Pizza Hut in Leicester Square and after a bit of a wait, we were satiated and we took the tube back to Waterloo and then trained back to Aldershot. It was a tiring but full day and I think the kids fully enjoyed it (seeing as they asked to go back the next day!). Thanks London.