Thursday was a day for visiting the historical landmarks of England. On this day, I went to the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Westminster Abbey. The Tower of London opened at 9:00 a.m. but I arrived a little early. I had to wait behind the shuttered ticket booths to escape the rain. From the Tower of London, you can see the Tower Bridge and London’s new skyscraper, The Shard, so I took some photos of that while I waited. The Shard is also visible within the Tower of London and makes a nice contrast to its historic Norman towers.
My London Pass allowed me to enter without further payment or a ticket. Just about the first thing I did was see the crown jewels. After walking through a series of tacky museum exhibits I entered a large room with glass display cases containing the crowns and jewel incrusted relics of the monarchy. There were not many visitors to the Tower of London that early so I got a good look at the crown jewels. After that I saw where they beheaded many famous prisoners, the prison tower with its graffiti, the Bloody Tower where the two princes were murdered, the Royal Armouries Museum, and The Fusilier Museum. It was still raining so everyone had their umbrellas out.
I’m glad I got to see the Tower of London. I might have skipped it but I read Helene Hanff’s travel diary of her dream trip to London, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, in which she expressed regret that she did not have enough time to visit the Tower of London, so I decided not to make her mistake.
There was some crazy Asian tourist whom I caught taking photos of me at one point. He must have thought I was British. As I was leaving I passed a professional film crew with television cameras. They seemed to be interviewing someone using the Tower of London as a backdrop. At the White Tower Shop I bought the book The Princes In The Tower by Alison Weir (ISBN: 978-0-099-52696-4) and metal Knight with Flail statuette.
Before I left the area I got some close up photos of the Tower Bridge, the City of London’s City Hall, The Shard, and the HMS Belfast. Then I ordered fish and chips at a food stall near the ticket booths. There was no place to sit and eat so I had to eat standing up, using a stone block as a table. I felt a bit foolish and it was still raining so I had to eat under my umbrella. There was a funny little bird that hopped around me trying to steal my chips. Anyways, there I was eating fish and chips in the rain with a good view of the Tower of London. It does not get more British than that!
My next stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral. I didn’t entirely follow my Tube directions because the cathedral was visible in the distance when I exited the Monument station so I just walked to it. By that time it was raining hard so I was glad to reach the cathedral to get out of the rain. My London Pass also allowed me to enter St. Paul’s Cathedral without payment. I climbed the dome but only up to the whispering gallery because that was tiring enough for me. I also visited the crypt where I searched for the William Blake memorial. I searched every memorial twice but I could not locate his memorial. I’ve since found a photo of it online and I don’t think I saw one like that. My one disappointment with this trip was the search for William Blake because I also could not find his work at the Tate Britain.
I had a ploughman’s sandwich in a box, a large lemonade, and a Bertrams Smoothie in the cathedral’s crypt cafe. There is also a restaurant and a small gift shop down there. It is strange how they’ve turned the cathedral into a museum of English spirituality. I sat with a French family who asked to sit at my table. They chatted away in French. The only word I easily picked up on was "manger" so they were talking about eating of course.
After leaving St. Paul’s Cathedral I found the Mansion House tube station and went to the Westminster Abbey. According to my ticket I arrived there at 2:09 p.m. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in the abbey, but I saw an impressive collection of memorials, ancient tombs of kings and queens, and Gothic splendor. I found the Poet’s Corner where I was surprised to find a memorial tile for Henry James on the floor. I didn’t know he was commemorated at the Poet’s Corner. I also saw Ted Hughes’s memorial floor tile. I found my way to the cloisters and the small museum where I bought a booklet on the Poet’s Corner. Before I left I bought a biography of William Shakespeare at the gift shop, Shakespeare: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (ISBN: 978-0-749-38655-9).
I’m glad I managed to visit these historic sites of London all in one day. It really made an overpowering impression of the history of England. I recommend that you take a day to see all three sites together because that makes for the best experience.
I still had some time left in the day so I may a special Tube trip to the Daunt bookshop to buy some books on Venice. I bought Venice by Jan Morris (ISBN: 0-571-16897-3) and A Brief History Of Venice by Elizabeth Horodowich (ISBN: 978-1-84529-611-7). I don’t think I want to take the Tube at 5:30 p.m. again because it was incredibly crowded with commuters rushing home after work. They were packed in like sardines on the trains and there was a huge crowd for the escalators.
That evening I had dinner at La Porte Des Indes. This is a neat restaurant which serves Indian / French fusion food. All of their courses have French names for exotic Indian dishes. I had a mango drink served in an actual coconut. It was a very fancy restaurant, not your typical Indian restaurant, and I watched the staff perform their duties at great speed like a well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, this was also a very expensive restaurant as my bill came to 58.50 pounds for one person. According to my receipt I had the following; Perles Des Indes, Zakouski, Irish Coffee, Ice Cream, Mango Coco, and Crevettes Assadh (prawns simmered in a mild coconut curry with green mangoes, tumeric, chillies and ginger).
