Today we got up and got everything ready and then walked down to the Train station about 1 mile away to head into London to see the dreaded Tower of London. When we got to the train station we spent 15minutes trying to figure out what train to get on and how to make the transfers. But, once we asked for help, we understood it well enough, though it is a bit confusing how to interpret the arrival and depature times. So we got onto the train and Makenna was good until I made the mistake of responding to her request for a cookie. Teri said "don't do it, you'll spoil her." But, Chris said: "what can one cookie hurt" and handed it over to the cutest smiling happy child you would ever see. She gobbled the cookie down in about 2 minutes and then the finger comes up: "Un mo", "Un mo", which is "one more" in Makenna-speak. Chris said: "no, no, honey, you've had enough". And BAM, NUCLEAR MELTDOWN!!!" We spent the next 15 to 20 minute hearing her explode into ear piercing screams and cries. She completely broke down so much so that Chris didn't even think she was awake. Chris had never seen her so distraught. Of course, at that point we could not give it to her because she would learn that that is how you get things, so we suffered, along with everyone one in our car and I'm sure the two cars in front and in back. A nice lady behind us said "Don't give into her, but she is going to be a great singer with those longs...this is good practice.", which made us feel a little better. Other people were yelling out "Oh, give it a rest!" Oh well. She finnaly calmed down, but wimpered all day practically. Every once in a while giving out a pathetic "ooky" when she saw the bag that we had them in. We figured out that if you break a cookie in half, then when she gives the "un mo", you give her the other half and she thinks she is getting two. So, I think we figured out the trick. Hopefully, that will work for a couple more weeks until she realizes she it getting the short stick.
So we got off the train at London Bridge, apparently some rich oil tycoon bought it back in 1969 and moved it to Arizona. The London Bridge he bought wasn't as impressive as the Tower Bridge, so people think he really wanted the tower bridge, but he denide it. Here is a picture we took:
We started walking around and stumbled into Southwark Cathedral, which is beatiful, but no where near as much art and such as Westminster or Rochester. It was still nice on the outside too:
Anyway, so, the tower of London. What an amazing place. Crowded! Wow, there were a lot of people. Apparently, it is even worse on Sundays. I tell you, the only people that are equipped for that type of crowding are the Indians. I'm sorry if any Indians are reading this, but I had more Indian people pushing me in the back than I care to have in a lifetime. They were literally pushing me to move forward into the people in front of me. And, whenwe didn't respond, they would literally squeeze around us bodily forcing their way through, and then 20 other
small women and men would follow them. If you left any space in front of you between what you are looking at and yourself, there a 5ft tall Indian would squeese themselves in blocking your view of what you were just reading. (I tell you they were like Gnats! So, I'm sorry if this seems ethnically rude, far from it, they impress me. I haven't met an Indian that isn't the nicest person in the world when you get them out of crowds. We Americans are just not used to working with crowds I guess, so, kudos for the Indians for figuring out how to make it work! ) Also, they make good food. Indian food is very popular over here. Every place serves Indian food. You go out for Chinese, there indian food is. You go to a place called New Orleans...there Indian food is...again, Kudos to the Indians, they've even budged the line onto the menus of ahead of ribs. Wow!
So back to the Tower of London. It has the crown jewels, which were incredible. I don't think I've seen that many diamods and gems of that size in all my life. And the Gold! Incredible. They had this punch bowl and ladle that were 3 ft around and 3 ft tall of Gold! Not sure if it was solid gold, but it was huge! They had these 2000 lbs doors locking it all up, but you could stand within a foot of it behind glass. It is amazing they can do that. (I'm sure laser beams come out and vaporize anyone who tries to take anything.) They had the Second Start of Africe on one of the crowns and it was 3 inches in diameter easy. HUGE. (I can't imagine being the person who carve that, one slip and CRACK, oops...sorry Queen.)
The white castle is there as well, the oldest castle apparently, made by William the Conquerer or some person. (I'm so bad at history) Anyway look it up online if you want to know for sure. Inside was Armor and weapons going back to his time and the largest collection of old flint lock riffles, blunderbuss, and pistols anywhere we have seen.
We got a audio tour headset and it guided us around to the places where various people were held prisoner. Where King Henry VII killed of two of his wives out of the 5 or 6. They showed us traitors gate where a boat could come in quietly and drop off prisoners. This place has been around since 1060AD or there abouts. Amazingly ancient. They had ravens there as well that they have clipped the wings of so that they won't fly away. They eat chicken and other meats. They say that they started showing up there because there were so many executions and the birds are carion eaters...say no more. Anyway, apparently there is some supersition that if the raven ever left the White palace that the castle would fall and so would the monarchy. So, ravens have always been kept there.
So we got off the train at London Bridge, apparently some rich oil tycoon bought it back in 1969 and moved it to Arizona. The London Bridge he bought wasn't as impressive as the Tower Bridge, so people think he really wanted the tower bridge, but he denide it. Here is a picture we took:
We started walking around and stumbled into Southwark Cathedral, which is beatiful, but no where near as much art and such as Westminster or Rochester. It was still nice on the outside too:Anyway, so, the tower of London. What an amazing place. Crowded! Wow, there were a lot of people. Apparently, it is even worse on Sundays. I tell you, the only people that are equipped for that type of crowding are the Indians. I'm sorry if any Indians are reading this, but I had more Indian people pushing me in the back than I care to have in a lifetime. They were literally pushing me to move forward into the people in front of me. And, whenwe didn't respond, they would literally squeeze around us bodily forcing their way through, and then 20 other
small women and men would follow them. If you left any space in front of you between what you are looking at and yourself, there a 5ft tall Indian would squeese themselves in blocking your view of what you were just reading. (I tell you they were like Gnats! So, I'm sorry if this seems ethnically rude, far from it, they impress me. I haven't met an Indian that isn't the nicest person in the world when you get them out of crowds. We Americans are just not used to working with crowds I guess, so, kudos for the Indians for figuring out how to make it work! ) Also, they make good food. Indian food is very popular over here. Every place serves Indian food. You go out for Chinese, there indian food is. You go to a place called New Orleans...there Indian food is...again, Kudos to the Indians, they've even budged the line onto the menus of ahead of ribs. Wow!
So back to the Tower of London. It has the crown jewels, which were incredible. I don't think I've seen that many diamods and gems of that size in all my life. And the Gold! Incredible. They had this punch bowl and ladle that were 3 ft around and 3 ft tall of Gold! Not sure if it was solid gold, but it was huge! They had these 2000 lbs doors locking it all up, but you could stand within a foot of it behind glass. It is amazing they can do that. (I'm sure laser beams come out and vaporize anyone who tries to take anything.) They had the Second Start of Africe on one of the crowns and it was 3 inches in diameter easy. HUGE. (I can't imagine being the person who carve that, one slip and CRACK, oops...sorry Queen.)The white castle is there as well, the oldest castle apparently, made by William the Conquerer or some person. (I'm so bad at history) Anyway look it up online if you want to know for sure. Inside was Armor and weapons going back to his time and the largest collection of old flint lock riffles, blunderbuss, and pistols anywhere we have seen.
We got a audio tour headset and it guided us around to the places where various people were held prisoner. Where King Henry VII killed of two of his wives out of the 5 or 6. They showed us traitors gate where a boat could come in quietly and drop off prisoners. This place has been around since 1060AD or there abouts. Amazingly ancient. They had ravens there as well that they have clipped the wings of so that they won't fly away. They eat chicken and other meats. They say that they started showing up there because there were so many executions and the birds are carion eaters...say no more. Anyway, apparently there is some supersition that if the raven ever left the White palace that the castle would fall and so would the monarchy. So, ravens have always been kept there.
(By the way, you might see that I have shaved part of my beard and went with a smaller beard. I did this when I first went to work, but not sure if I like it.)
We headed back in the evening and Makenna was ok on the way back but squirmed quite a bit to get out of the seat and walk around. We got back around 8:30 and grabbed some Chinese food (that we picked out on the menu in between the Indian food), along the walk back to the house. We were so exhausted when we got back, we went right to bed after eating. Our legs were very sore from all the walking.
No comments:
Post a Comment