I didn't make it out this morning until 9:00. Then I remembered that my all-day bus tour was still good until 9:45 this morning, and it had a free boat ride on the Thames on it. I wanted to take the Thames River Cruise; get on by big Ben and get off by the Tower of London. I wanted to be there early because I'd read that the crowds were worse at the Tower after 10:00. So I hopped on the Tube over to Westminster and came out a little tunnel right by the docks, just in the bottom right of this picture. Worked like a charm. I was there by 9:20, just in time to get on the boat. Not . . . so fast! the window wasn't open yet. So I stood around and talked to several other people who were waiting. All Americans, 2 couples and a single guy. At 9:45 the window opened, but it was not the company with the free boat ride. "Two windows down, probably open in 5 minutes." So I wait while the wind is blowing and I'm freezing (wearing full thermals) but at least the sun is shining.
At 10:00 the next window opened, so I tried; but no, it's still the next window. Probably open around 10:30. So I decided not to wait around; instead skip on over to Parliament a few hundred yards away and see if I can get in to watch the MP's in action.
The Union Jack was flying over Parliament, which means it's in session. So after asking a bunch of questions I finally found the right door to get in where people were queueing up. It would be at least 30 minutes before I could get in. I decided to go back to the docks and try the boat again. The window was still not open, so I talked to the single man again. He mentioned his boyfriend, but it was too late; I was stuck as his friend. About that time I noticed that the correct company that I'd been waiting for all this time only did non-stop circle trips from this pier. Aargh! I decided to walk downriver to the correct pier.
It was lovely walking along the Thames. Breezy but sunny, only a few blocks. As soon as I got there and showed my voucher, the ticket lady said to just go on up those stairs and down to the docks! Finally! She didn't even give me grief for having an expired voucher. Hallelujah!
The only trouble was the boat had just left and the next one would be along in 45 minutes. Oh well, at least they had a glassed-in place on the docks with a great view of the London Eye, but out of the wind. Soon the single guy showed up again, and we ended up talking together even after we'd gotten on the boat. The boat ride was quite nice; had a local young boatman pointing out the sights, kind of a breath of fresh air, so to speak. I ended up finally getting to the Tower of London at noon. This is SO why I am doing this pre-trip! This morning would have been a fiasco if I'd had a bunch of paying customers following me!
I took the Beefeater Tour at the Tower. Those guys seem to enjoy what they do, and they are the real McCoy. Afterward I went in to see the Crown Jewels The new arrangement is better because as you wait in line to get in, you watch these multi-screen videos of the queen's coronation and all about the jewels and it has uplifiting-type music and it's really quite cool. There wasn't a big enough crowd to make us really have to wait in line, but you want to see the video. People just keep watching when they should move ahead, so you can just pass them if you want. I liked it so much I went through again later, skipped the lines and just went round and round the jewels on the moving walkway. 
I wanted to get up on top of the walls to walk around. Every set of directions I got, I could not follow. Remember British directions? Well, you can't miss it! Turns out there are 3 places to get up on top of the walls, and 2 of them are closed. I finally found the last and it was worth it, because it took me to a nice little exhibit in a corner tower about how they cut the world's hugest diamond into 3 pieces. The biggest piece is in the queens' sceptre and the next is in the queen mother's crown. There are lots of very tight circular staircases in the castle, doubtless for defense. There are also 2 moats. Did you know the Thames used to be a lot wider than it is now? The water used to come right up to Traitor's Gate.
Next I went into the White Tower which is an armament museum. The most interesting thing there is the armour worn by Henry VII with interchangeable parts and his horse armour. That's the armour he wore while riding a horse, and the armour for the horse! There is also a set of armour for a man 6' 8" tall, said to be for John of Gaunt (he is supposedly in our genealogy) but it was actually made in Germany 200 years after he lived.
I also ate lunch in the cafe in the wall. Cost me £6.50 which is about $11 for a foccacia sandwich and 2 bits of salads. The salads were very interesting. One looked like a normal fresh green salad, but I kept chewing and chewing on my first bite. Something had the texture of shoe leather. I pulled it out to look at it, and discovered it to be a tomato! It must be one which had been dried and the rehydrated! Tasty, when you get used to it. The other salad was shredded raw carrots with sesame seeds and watercress and black olives. Not bad.
By this time it was 4:00 and I wanted to go to St. Paul's. I hopped a red double-decker city bus and was there in no time, but it had already closed for the day.
So I walked across the Millennium Bridge to the south Bank, thinking it was too late to get into the Globe Theatre (new reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe) but I could see there were people over there, so I just barely made it in for the last tour for the day. I really like the Globe. I think I 'm going to try to get us "groundling" tix (£5 for standing room only, right down in front) for a play there. That's cheaper than the tour and you get to see a play to boot. From there I went next door to the Tate Modern Museum which is interesting because it's housed in an old listed power plant. It closed right after I got there, so I had to find a bus on the South Bank to take me to Waterloo Station.
My goal at Waterloo was to find out what it would take to get the Chunnel tix for the group. I spoke to an info officer and found that I should but them on April 10 to get the cheapest price, and be sure to buy a round trip ticket, because it's less than half the cost of a one-way ticket!
I walked across another pedestrian bridge toward the London Eye. Since it's so expensive at £13 I did not go up, but checked it out thoroughly and took lots of pix. At night there are blue Christmas lights in the trees around it, and it's stunning! Walking home over the Westminster Bridge was really cool and atmospheric, because the city is all lit up and you can see Parliament across the river. The picture below doesn't really do it justice. I can't wait to show that view to my people in August!
There were delays on the tube, but I made it home in time to ask the info booth in the main train station about best way to get to Stratford-upon-Avon tomorrow. I think I will not take a guided tour from here, but just do as planned and take the train myself and find my own way. This plan doesn't let me see Oxford or Stonehenge or Bath but it's way the cheapest. This has been a really full, productive day. Someone else wants the internet. I have to go. . .
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