July 23: Tower of London and Walking Tour

Erik signed up for a local gym which contained a CrossFit and a regular gym, so after a restless sleep poaching in our sweltering apartment (alleviated greatly by opening all the windows and strategically placing the fans for cross-breezes... but still mighty hot and super bright in the morning), we woke up to our alarms at 6:00 am and jogged over to Gym Box. I signed up for a class called Threshold (Erik is always presenting opportunities for me to venture out of my comfort zone), which was held in a darkened, neon-lit room with a bunch of young athletic Londoners and a handsome, young, friendly, blue-streak-swearing coach with a soundtrack of loud pump-up music. It was a grueling workout of assault bike and skier, but I knew how to do that stuff so I did great and was happily sore afterward. Then home to get showered and ready for our day with a Rick Steves tour guide named (appropriately)... Britt. 

Britt turned out to be a very sweet, very friendly, very knowledgeable, slightly bossy English lady who seemed accustomed to working with inexperienced travelers. I chuckled (but also grimaced) as she bossed Ed around... he is usually the alpha and was not used to being told what to do. He fell in line eventually and was a good sport about being a bit hen-pecked. I only bristled once or twice as I had Ed and Britt standing over me at the tube station arguing about how many tickets I needed and telling me how to put my credit card in the machine as if I were 10 years old. I kept gently reminding my elders that I had bought subway tickets many times before - I did not remind them that I am 41 years old, but I did think it - and once we got to the Tower of London and into the Crown Jewels exhibition everyone had calmed down and we were ready to see and learn!

I took a few photos before I realized photos were not allowed :/

Britt walked us around telling us fascinating stories of the murdered princes, Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth, and Lady Jane Grey just to name a few. And this guard told us about his daily life in the Tower of London - he lives in those apartments behind us with his family! All the beefeaters apparently live there with their wives and children - it's like a big Escondido Village but with castles instead of sand boxes! He says after the tourists leave they take the "off-limits" ropes down and the kids come out and play all evening. That grass is where they have their community barbecues. Who knew??

The drawbridge where not-yet-queen Elizabeth penned a very wise and cunning letter to her half-sister Mary, saving her own life

Last time we were standing there it was freezing and rainy and the kids were little

After the Tower of London we set out into some nearby streets for a tour of some London streets, including this hilarious pub

And this beautiful old monastery which was nearly destroyed in the blitz and deliberately left unrestored. Instead of turning it back into a church it has been left in its roofless state and turned into a public garden

This street was near the entrance to the Three Broomsticks in the Harry Potter movies 

Old architecture mixed with new

Erik hadn't joined us for the tour, but he showed up for lunch. These wacky face-warping candle holders kept us entertained before the food arrived (which was thankfully really good!)

Stone's generous portion of fish and chips

My goofy kids like to take selfies on my phone

And I discover them later

The duck faces are ironic. Also note that the "peace" sign is facing the correct way. Erik keeps doing it backwards, especially to say "thank you" as he drives, which is essentially the same as giving a middle finger. 

After lunch Erik took the kids home while Ed, Elayne and I toured St. Paul's cathedral on our own. Then Ed and Elayne went home to rest and I sat in quiet contemplation for awhile.

"His Christian faith has taught him that what we do to the most vulnerable in our world we do to Christ." I can think of no one more vulnerable than children, and especially displaced children, like those of immigrants and refugees.

After my time in St. Paul's cathedral I walked for a long time by myself, eventually ending up in Spitalfields (think "hospital, in the fields outside the city") for a tour of the Dennis Severs house. Grammy had said it was really fun when she visited it years ago. It was a little different this time, but still very evocative and magical.

After a full day, we came back to our place and played "Write Draw" for awhile before crashing into bed.