Back in time

The White House

He gave me the keys

Window

Spanning many years of history a roman ruin, Tower of London and Shard

White House through arch

Happy office workers

The day starts sharing the train with 4 black teenage boys from Catford talking with very strong British accents about Banksy, they use slang words I don’t understand like bang, coon and crude.

At the Tower of London my head is spinning from so much history. Anne Boylen, William the Conqueuer, Elizabeth I are just a few of the kings, queens and traitors that have made history in here.

The Beefeater tour guide starts off jokes about other countries, for the Aussies “welcome home” for the yanks, “this all could have been yours if you paid your taxes”. Most of the Americans did not find that funny.

The White Tower fascinates me it started out as a timber fortification and here today it is a massive stone building over 900 years old. We hear the story of the two princes and all the other goings on over the years.

Now Stephen we need to talk about diamonds, the First Star of Africa currently part of the Queen Mum’s sceptre is mightily impressive at 530 carets. Remember, we do have a big wedding anniversary coming up. The whole crown jewel collection is so much more than I expected and luckily not surrounded by crowds today.

Leaving the Tower of London I spy the Gerkin and decide to find it, through winding streets and following office workers making shortcuts. I get to the base easily and feel like a local. Now I ruin my local status with taking many photos. Then it’s back to my beacon the Shard to find the way home. It’s Friday so there are office workers everywhere making good use of the pubs. The noise is quiet deafening.

Last stop for the day is the monument another 311 spiral steps but at least this time I get a certificate for making the climb.

Finished off with a visit to Mary and Jeff for a perfectly cooked dinner washed down with Cava and some football in 3D on the telly.