The Tower of London!  For so many years I have read about this place and finally got to see it.  One of my roommates and I were lucky enough to get in on a tour given by one of the Beefeaters.  These Yeoman Warders live inside the Tower walls with their families, and are extremely knowledgeable about the history of the site.  Ours also had a great sense of humor! 

I thought I knew a lot about British history, but this gentleman certainly filled in some gaps.  The tour ended inside the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula where several of Henry VIII's executed wives (including Ann Boleyn) are buried.  There is a plaque on the wall listing all the people who are buried there and it reads like a Who's Who of people who fell out of favor and lost their heads. 

There are many moods inside these historic walls.  We saw the Crown Jewels first to avoid the lines, and that was quite an experience.  I had to buy a book about them.  In fact I bought another book about the history of the Tower.  It is actually a complex of towers, the most famous of which is what we now call the Bloody Tower.  I reddened the window frame so you can see where a doomed prisoner might watch someone else being carted off to be executed.  The yeoman told us as many as 2,000 people would turn out to watch a beheading.  One had to be in special favor with the ruler to be granted the privilege of a private execution.

 

The Queen's Guard is present at the Tower as well as a couple of other palaces.  The last time I saw one of them was in Ottawa as a child and my sister tried valiantly to get him to move or laugh.  We thought we saw his mouth twitch.

 

 

 

We ended the afternoon at the Borough Market.  I walked over London Bridge into this huge marketplace full of every sort of food stall.  There was lots of fresh produce and all kinds of interesting products to buy.  We are leaving for Paris early in the morning, so I just browsed.  Can't wait to ride on the Eurostar.