Kendra Babbles

Today Blake and I navigated the tube on our own and made it to Tower Hill to see the Tower of London.  We had intended to get there around 10:00.  We made it around 1:00.  Apparently staying up until 2:30 for several days in a row takes a toll and getting out of bed is tough.  So after some fish and chips we started our tour at the Tower.  Our tour leader, known as a Beefeater, took about 45 minutes to tell us some of the history of the Tower.  I can’t accurately describe the comedy of a Beefeater, but I must say we were thoroughly entertained.  After the tour, we wandered around the Tower to see the Crown Jewels of England, the Bloody Tower and the Prisoner’s Tower with carvings in the stone made by prisoners hundreds of years ago.  London has done an amazing job preserving the history of their city and of England, even after the fire of 1666 that wiped out most of the city.

Our original plan was to also see the British Museum today, but since we couldn’t get out of bed this morning, we ran out of time.  We met John and Michelle for a tasty Italian dinner and then headed home for an early night.  John and Michelle have to return to work tomorrow, so we are trying not to keep them up until 2:30 in the morning.

Tomorrow we will take the hop-on hop-off bus tour in the morning and then tour Westminster in the afternoon.  It will be our last day in London, which is very sad, but we have had such a wonderful time that we will be back as soon as we possibly can.  There is so much more to see and do!

After blogging last night, we apparently weren’t sleepy enough and stayed up until 2:00.  So instead of getting up early to get tickets for Avenue Q, we didn’t make it out of the house until 1:30.  But the theater gods were in our favor and we scored 4 seats together in the 11th row for half price.  I don’t know how it happened, but we were all pretty excited.

We made it to St. Paul’s Cathedral mid-afternoon and toured the main floor.  St. Paul’s has the second-largest dome in the world, which sounded like a good idea to climb at the time.  The first level after climbing 257 steps is the Whispering Gallery.  This part of the dome is inside and looks directly down to the cathedral floor (so I hear, I tried not to look).  You should be able to sit on one side of the Gallery and whisper, and someone 32 meters away can hear what you are saying loud and clear.  We gave it a try, but there were too many people to tell if it worked or not.  The next level is is the Stone Gallery, 119 steps up.  This gallery is outside, but surrounded by a fairly tall stone and iron barrier with great view of the city.  The next level is 152 steps up.  I decided maybe this was not for me, but John insisted that gallery was inside, so I went for it.  John is a liar.  After climbing many spiral iron staircases (with steps that are see-through) we made it to the Golden Gallery.  Which was outside.  Again, John lied.  And there is not the option of turning around.  So, while Blake, John and Michelle saw amazing view of the city of London, I saw an extensive collection of graffiti on the stone exterior of the dome.  Blake was an amazing husband during this slow circle of the dome exterior, blocking as much of the exterior he could while we went around some very tight corners.  I think my fear of heights is officially confirmed.  After we made it back down the labryinth of stairs, we tried to vist the crypt of the church, but apparently it was well past visting hours and we were politely encouraged to exit. 

After that, we did some shopping.  I was very successful. 

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, then headed to the Guilgud Theater to see Avenue Q.  The show was hilarious.  It is politically incorrect and fantastic.  Watching the puppeteers switch voices and puppets and still interact with others on the stage was amazing.  Our seats were awesome.  Theaters in London are much smaller, so although seats are a bit harder to get for a good price, you really never get a bad view.

After the show we had a drink at a pub, walked to see Big Ben at night, then caught the Tube home.  Tomorrow we are visiting the Tower of London (where Blake and I will navigate the tube on our own!), then the British Museum in the afternoon. 

On New Year’s Eve we boarded an early train heading north to Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was my first time ever on a train like that and John was smart and booked us in first class.  It was great to see the English and Scottish countryside, complete with cliffs and sheep and green fields.  I saw that in between my naps anyway. 

After we arrived and found the hotel, we went out to the Royal Mile.  Blake and I headed up to the castle to check that out (pics later, can’t find my camera cable).  Then we met up with John and Michelle for dinner.  The group decided a nap was in order to make sure we made it to midnight, so after our naps we loaded up with layers and hand and foot warmers and headed out to the Hogmany fireworks.  There were huge crowds of people and as it got closer to midnight the vibe was more and more exciting.  We did our countdown to midnight and then watched an amazing fireworks show.  It was like the finale of a normal fireworks show, but it went on and on and on.  Amazing!  One of our best New Year’s celebrations ever.  Snow and 18 degrees - I’ll never forget that part either!

New Year’s Day we slowly got up, had breakfast and made it to the bottom of the Royal Mile to see the Holyrood Palace, the office Queen’s residence when she is in Scotland.  The tour was very interesting and we got some good pics that I’ll eventually post.  We boarded a train at 5:00 for London, and now we are trying to make ourselves sleepy because its midnight and we are all wide awake.  Tomorrow we are hoping to get tickets to see Avenue Q, visit St Paul’s Cathedral and possibly the British Museum.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year’s!  Cheers!