London, Day 4

Royals to Retches
Tuesday was a day much like Monday…not much on the agenda, but it taking the whole day. We were up fairly early in order to catch the tube to Green Park station, and the short walk to Buckingham Palace. The tour was one of those headphone program guided tours, and it was pretty neat. Those people are RICH! There were no photos allowed inside, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

The Royal Palace Guard musicians heading back to get their sheet music.










De queen's crib, yo.











Nothing escapes Mrs. Farrago's eye!...










...except perhaps maybe the amount of food I cram down my gullet!










After the palace tour we milled about outside and took some photos of the palace main gate, and then we headed toward the Houses of Parliament for a tour there. That, too, was interesting, as I now know probably more about the British government than I do about the USA’s!

Westminster Abbey. I forgot to re-read The DaVinci Code!














We meandered past Westminster Abbey where just about the entire roster of Renaissance history's major players are buried. And Wilt Chamberlin. It's what I heard someone say!

It was another tube ride to South Kensington, near our hotel, and an early dinner at Kavanagh’s Irish Pub. It was more commercial than the pub where we dined a couple days ago, but it was nice. A had the gammon, which is a cut of ham with a sort of cheese sauce on it. If they took the cut from somewhere else on the pig…say, from the ribs area, they could call it babyback gammon!

Or was it Lord Chamberlain?

Anyhoo…

Tonight, late, was the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. We were on a group ticket with my supervisor and his family. As we were to view this event in the middle of our trip, my supervisor insisted on holding onto the ticket, presumably because he didn’t trust that we wouldn’t lose it…and besides, it was in his name. We hopped the train to the Tower Hill stop and walked down to the gate of the Tower of London and waited until the 9:30 p.m. entry time. …and no supervisor. The gates closed and we stood outside, hoping against hope that he and his family would come sprinting down to us in the next minute.

But no.

Then one of the Beefeaters, the caretakers of the Tower of London, came to the gate to see if we and another couple of guys standing there were ticket holders waiting to get in. The others were just hoping to be able to buy tickets, so they were turned away. The Beefeater asked us what we wanted, and I told him that we were on a group ticket, and the holder of the ticket didn’t show. He took pity on us (lucky we had the kid on hand!) and let us in. It’s free admission, but they only allow a certain low number of people in each night.

I wouldn't want to spend the night there....











The ceremony was fairly low key (pun intended!), and a fairly somber military ritual. It was cool to be in the Tower of London at night…and our Beefeater host guide told us a creepy ghost story about the two princes who disappeared in the 1600s, presumably murdered by their step-father so he could preserve his right to the throne.

The Tower Bridge glowed in the night and beckoned us to the river's edge, pleading with us to take some photos of her in her nighttime splendor. We obliged indulgently.

Then we went back to the Pelham and called it a night…after a snack on some mediocre sushi.