New discoveries and old favourites

After a reasonable sleep in we had breakfast in the room with some yummy Cruesli (chocolate chunks in toasted muesli) about a million calories per bowl but hey what the hell we are on holidays.

Walked to Paddington Station but didn’t get on a train.  Instead, we went through to the end of the station and beyond to the Grand Union Canal and up to the canal boat water taxi.

 A very pleasant glide past Regents Park and the London Zoo (we glimpsed a couple of African hunting dogs through the fences) to Camden Markets which was a complete surprise as it is a rabbit warren of little stalls in the old horse stables. Very interesting but a bit too much retro and hip for us (even though Larry oozes that style already) and we weren’t hungry enough to indulge in any of the multitude of food stalls so it was like water of a duck’s back.

We actually got lost in there and couldn’t find our way out but eventually Google Maps helped us out and we found our way to Chalk Hill tube station and travelled to Tower Bridge to see the Tower Of London.

Dutifully lined up and were amazed at why it so long for some people to ask for and pay for their tickets but we were quick and off we went like a seagull to a chip to the exhibit/Crown Jewels. Had a line up of about half an hour to see the Crown Jewels but they were well and truly worth it. Huge diamonds in the crowns and sceptres and overall it really is a must see exhibit. The Beefeaters and staff are quite clear about no photography and Larry witnessed a pillock taking photos of one of the crowns when he thought no one was watching. But out came a staff member and demanded he stop, told him to show her the pics, demanded he delete each photo as she watched. Gold, what a moron, thought he could do what he wanted but that doesn’t work when you are around tens of millions of dollars worth of jewellery.

We explored most of the Tower of London and there is so much history to take in. Larry particularly enjoyed the armoury section and the armour of Henry VIII caused much laughter from the people who saw the enormous cod piece, would make John Holmes look like he was in freezing water if the cod piece was actually a true representation.  Jenny, having just watched the series ‘The White Princess’ which is all about Elizabeth of York and deals a lot with the period where Edward Plantagenet, the Earl of Warwick was imprisoned in the  Tower was disappointed that the White Tower was a shuffling mass of people walking past armour and the full history of the Tower of a place of imprisonment and royal apartments is glossed over.   There is only one little reference to the staircase where they found a box of bones in the 17^th century which they assume must belong to the long lost Princes in the Tower.  Jenny has more sympathy for their cousin Teddy, though, who was locked up there for 14 years before finally being dragged out and executed.

Eventually enough was enough and we exited and found a bench next to the Thames for a ten minute recover sit down. As it was approaching workers knock off time we made our way to the tube station before it became very busy and took the circle line back to Paddington Station as we wanted to get some supplies for our room. A few drinks including a couple of aluminium stubbies of Corona were purchased and consumed whilst writing this blog.

A quiet night planned as Jenny is struggling a bit with her cold and has just about lost her voice and developed a cough so we need a rest and a few hours of down time as tomorrow we are off to York on the train.