London Tower

We were one of the first visitors to the London Tower  that day.  We had already bought the tickets through our niece for that day and had the tickets with us and hence we did not waste time standing in the queue.

Any body who has read about Henry the VIII would know London Tower and that was the exact reason I wanted to see this.

This is the Tower where Political Prisoners   (read it as people whom the King and his cronies dislike)  were kept as Prisoners.

I had read about Henry the VIII who was the person responsible (albeit indirectly)  for bringing in Protestantism to England and Father  of  Queen Mary (Bloody Mary)  and Queen Elizabeth I  the two famous Queens of England.
 This Tower was where Anne Boleyn one of the wives of Henry the VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I was beheaded.   I had  also  seen  the movie 'Anne of Thousand Days.' which is the story of this queen.     No wonder I was curious to see this place which reeks of  History.

We could see many many towers in   here.

The first thing I did was to go and see the place where Anne Boleyn was kept as a  prisoner and where she was supposedly beheaded.  I was really moved and was standing there looking at the place and wondering about the woman who had seen heights of glory and ended up being beheaded  .

                                                    

                                                             

I have heard so much about the Kohinoor Diamond taken from India and kept in  London.

 That famous Kohinoor is on display along with crown jewels in this tower of London.   I could see the Kohinoor which is embedded  in the Crown of Queen Mother.  I was reminded of The HOPE Diamond which I saw in Smithsonian's in DC /USA which looked much more magnificent as it was  in a pendant and looked very nice and big.  So I should say that I was disappointed with Kohinoor  even though I did  appreciate the nice display of the jewels.  

There were so many things happening inside the Towers ,  people were dressed up as historical characters and enacting the role of the erstwhile kings and queens who were connected with this Tower.  We watched some of these  which seems to  be a regular routine in the Tower  every day.  

I could see big Ravens inside the tower .  There is a myth connected with it that the presence of  Raven signifies the safety of the King/Queen and the Kingdom of England.    So it was kind of a must take picture item and the Raven were nothing but the bigger version of our common crow.

We came out of the Tower around lunch time and had our packed  lunch on the banks of the Thames.  The Tower is situated in the banks of the river and the famous Tower Bridge stands very next to this Tower.

Our next destination was Monument which was nearby and so we were supposed to walk there.   When we inquired for directions the police could not help us and were very indifferent to our queries.  Not knowing what it was,  but knowing we had to climb, we were trying to tell them it is some thing which we were supposed to climb.  

I did not know how to rotate this picture hence it is  horizonal.....

Up on the steps of monument.... puff....puff....

So when we walked there we found out it is not an open stairs  leading to some big hall (that is how I imagined) it is a 'Monument' which has spiral   stairs   which we were to climb about 300 steps.  I found out that it was built to commemorate a great fire in London.  The view from the top was very nice and the climb was little tiring (for me)

View of the Tower Bridge from the top of the Monument.

From here we bought a phone card (luckily it is compatible with Malaysian, Indian phones unlike in US which is not ) for our  use, in TESCO which is a very common Super Market in London.

We proceeded  to the Boat point near the Tower and  went to Greenwich  by boat.  Nice ride and my niece was waiting for us in Greenwich Boat Station .     

Due to Olympic Games many roads were closed and by the time we walked to the Greenwich Observatory   it was late and the Observatory  already closed.  I was disappointed that I could not see the  Observatory.   There is supposed to be  a line which is what is Greenwich mean time  (line) or GMT.

  May be this is also a myth , being a slave country of British,   wanting to see certain things which are etched in our mind as kids.  May be later I can visit the place and stand on the imaginary line where the time starts or what ever it is which is so confusing concept.(for me)

My niece's husband joined us and we had a nice  dinner in a Mexican Restaurant  and returned to our room tired. I could not wait for the next day to dawn so that I can see more places.

London

After some uncomfortable journey as the Emirates  Service in this sector was very poor, ( the seats were changed for us in the last minute  even though we had web checked and had confirmed seat numbers.  The flight entertainment which I had liked earlier did not work at all,  and the  attitude of the Flight Attendants were like we could not care less.)  We reached London before time.

Surprisingly the Immigration Officer was very friendly contrary to my  expectations, Welcomed us with a big smile,  which set the mood for my whole trip I suppose.
 
We had made all arrangements (here we means my hubby and I just the nodding partner) , with the help of my  dear Niece who lives in London Suburbs with her family who helped us plan the visits , buy tickets  and generally telling us the not to be missed list .

 We had booked for Taxi Service Online and the Driver was waiting for us even though the flight was before time.

  We had booked our stay in Service Apartment in  the City near Gloucester station .
  The places which we passed while we rode ,  from the airport looked like some rundown cities of U.S.A.,  but I reminded myself that I  just should not   jump into conclusion by mere glance.   We reached the hotel and had a room with a nice view of the road and an  attached kitchen and arranged the things.

  Hey and Presto my Niece arrived with her  little kid to see us with flowers in her hand and home made food in her bag.

In the streets of London City.....

In Hyde Park.....

In Hyde Park........

All of us went by walk  to the near by Super Market to buy some fruits, bread, milk, Yogurt etc for us.  We proceeded to Hyde park.  One of the entrances  was near to where we stayed.   We had a picnic dinner with the food she had brought and sat and watched the lovely geese in the water.
Deeps left for her place with baby Sanjana and We walked back to our hotel room from Hyde Park.  It took me some time to get used to the feeling that I was walking in the streets of London in a very relaxed pace and manner.

The Actual Day One started today as our visits to different places of interest were planned from today only . It was 21st August 2012 and we had  bought tickets to visit the Tower of London.
I got up early and made some rice in the micro wave oven.  We had booked the service apartment as we wanted to carry our packed lunch so that we will not waste time and money in searching and buying food from outside.
  I made some  ready to eat Uppuma in 5 minutes.  ( The ready mix I had made at home and brought Uppuma is Uppittu in kannada which is a breakfast/Lunch item made with Sooji/Rava).  We packed some rice mixed with Chutney powder (which I had brought )  and also uppuma for our lunch and had Breakfast in the room .  Bread, butter, jam, fruits cereals which we had bought the previous day.

We walked with the back pack (This trip helped me in teaching,  how to walk with the back pack and more than anything how to hang it in the back!  even now I struggle a bit to put it on my back ) to the Gloucester  Station and bought the Oyster Tickets/ Cards  for one week. for three zones.  There are many zones in the London suburb which is called the Tube  and also the other Railway lines.  Almost all the attractions are within 1,2,and 3 zones and to go to farther places all we had to do was just to give this Oyster Card and buy the ticket for that place so that they  will subtract the price for the zones we are eligible and we need to pay only the difference. So it was easy to visit the attractions within the zones by simply swiping the card and taking any train we want (there are so many connecting lines)  and to  go farther also was no problem.

  It was very convenient and the deposit amount of about 5 pounds they  took which they would repay when we give back the card after the week is over or when we are leaving.    There are many trains and user friendly  maps for the underground and you have to know which train you have to take to reach your destination and we kind of mastered it within one or two days as to where to change which train to take etc.   I  think I really got emotionally attached to the map and   I still have it with me.

We knew that we had to go to Tower Hill Station and we  got the right train and got down in the station.  The people in the escalators just simply keep running and so you have to stay on the left allowing the regulars to run in the right side.   Even for our own standards we walked fast but these Londoners ,  they simply run and run.   We had practiced enough walking back in KL as we knew that we  have to do lot of walking if  we are  to see places in London.

Being first day we got confused as to how to reach the London Tower even though, we   could just look at it from the outside of the station .  We walked in a very round about way to reach it.  Later on another day we found out that we could have reached just walking in the underground walk way which just would have taken  us there in two minutes flat.  
Will talk about London Tower in my next Blog.