A Towering Day…

Up early this morning. I spoke way to soon when I said it was quite in my hotel. Because of the age of the building, the floors are really squeaky. This wasn’t a problem last week when I had considerate neighbors upstairs, but when I heard them moving around at 7:30am last Saturday, I figured they were leaving and I was probably right as I now have at least 3 different people in the room above mine. How do I know there are 3 people? Because I can hear them walking around and talking, usually starting around 10pm and starting around 7am. I have resorted to using the ear plugs dad leant me for the flight just to get to sleep, but they fall out during the night, so when my up-stairs neighbors are awake, so am I. So, up early this morning. That was the general plan, since I got to play tourist all day!

I left my apartment at 8:30 and headed by tube to Tower Hill. My Frommers guide recommended buying my ticket at the kiosk outside the grounds to save on time in the line ups and getting there early, so that’s what I did. I got into the gate around 9:15 and, though it was busy, it wasn’t too bad. I wandered around the grounds and through the buildings and what struck me most was how much the Tower of London is about layering – Victorian built upon Stewart, built upon Tudor, built upon Norman, built upon Roman. All the ages of Britain are represented and are there – it’s really quite something. What’s more, from certain vantage points in the grounds you can see modern London encroaching on the old.

Highlight of my time included the Tower Green where a handful of respectable people lost their lives. There’s a god-awful glass monument there now – it would have been better just to mark the location with a stone marker or nothing at all. I missed the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s death by only a couple of days, but someone had left a bouquet of roses on the moment with a card on them for the “Innocent Anne Boleyn;” a nice touch, if not a little over the top. Also, I got unreasonably excited when I saw the ravens. They were just wandering around the grass in front of the White Tower (legend has it that Britain will never fall as long as there are ravens at the Tower, so for insurance they’ve clipped the birds’ wings). I had to laugh when I saw the sign “Caution – Ravens May Bight.” The poor things are fat, imprisoned, flightless birds – I think they’ve got something to complain about. But, my experience of domesticated fowl in England continued….

After leaving the Tower, I headed to Tower Bridge. Because of an accident earlier on last week (one of the elevators in the Bridge fell 10 feet injuring 6 people), the lifts were out of commission, so if you wanted to go up, you were taking the stairs. I took the stairs. Half way up, I asked myself what I was doing since I usually get winded going up just 3 flights for meetings with Connors – what was I doing? But, the trip up was interesting (and I took breaks) since you got to see the ingenuity of Victorian building. The view from the walkways up-top weren’t what I was expecting since that part of London is now the business district, but I got some nice shots of the Thames. From there I went to see the engine rooms from where the Bridge was raised and lowered.

It was a little after noon at that point, so I started walking east along the south bank of the Thames looking for somewhere to have lunch. When I got to London Bridge, I popped into the first restaurant I saw – it was actually in the foundation of the Bridge. Outside, the sign said the Mug House, but inside the menus said Davey’s, and it was more bistro than pub. For some reason they had sprinkled sand all over the floor (for effect?) but I didn’t notice that until I had picked up my purse of the floor and put it on my lap to dig out my journal, getting the stuff all over me. I had a goat’s cheese sandwich, which was alright, but as I was the only one in the restaurant, I ate quickly and got out of there since I was the focus of the wait staff’s attention.

Continuing my walk along the South Bank, I saw the reconstruction of the Golden Hind (but didn’t go aboard) and the reconstruction of the Globe Theater. I had intended to go into the Globe, but on the Friday before a bank holiday, there were lots of school groups milling around and two big bunches of kids were entering just as I got there, so I decided to forego the experience. From there, I walked to the Blackfriar’s Bridge, and across the Thames.

I made my way up to The Strand where I found and electronics store and bought a universal power adapter for about $8 (my $50 one from Staples broke my first day here and I’ve been using one of the hotels – now I won’t have to steal it when I leave. And yet, I’m wondering why I paid so much back home….). My walk down The Strand led me to Twinings where I happily dropped about $50 on tea (and would have spent a shit-load more it I didn’t have to cart it all home with me. I did pick up some info on become a member of the tea of the month club). I asked one of the employees there if I could take some pictures of the shop, and was told to go for it. There were a bunch of portraits hanging above the shelves of the Twinings, and I was able to recognize most of the earlier ones since I had spent a day reading their personal papers at the British Library.

From there, I headed to the tube and back home. I have to do some laundry before leaving on my tour, so I think I’ll do that this evening. Tomorrow I’ll be going to the Westminster area – I’m really excited about that! I took A LOT of pictures today (about 300 – I blew through 4 batteries and was lucky to have a set of disposables on me!), but won’t be able to post them until I find myself near a wireless network that’s much faster than the one at my hotel. I’m hoping when I move to ritzier hotels next week to be able to put them up.

Some observations:
-London men all seem to wear the same uniform: a pin-striped suit with a checkered button-up and either a solid or patterned tie. And douchy leather loafers – can’t forget the loafers
-The Brits can master an Empire, but they can’t master the concept of water pressure. My shower is like a weak rain; I’m really looking forward to a proper shower when I get home!