Day 28

Today was SO full of exciting/interesting things! Lauren and I went to the Tower of London this morning and Tower Bridge.





I know I've said this before, but the history here never ceases to amaze me. I can't ever wrap my mind around how long some of the buildings have been here or how old the city is in general.

The Tower of London has been here for centuries, serving as the home to several monarchies like Henry VIII. It sits adjacent to Tower Hill, where thousands of executions took place until the 18th Century, including the beheading of Anne Boleyn. She is also buried beneath the chapel there, along with numerous others.

We were taken on the tour by a Yeoman warder when we arrived.



I had no clue who these people where when I got there, but I had heard of them before. Thirty-seven Yeoman Warders -- also called "Beefeaters"-- live at the Tower, as its guards: a tradition that goes back to King Henry VIII's bodyguards, established in 1485.

Also, while we were there, we saw the crown jewels. INCREDIBLE! There had to have been millions of dollars worth of gems in that room, and they were miraculously beautiful. Unfortunately, miraculously beautiful and insanely expensive meant no cameras allowed. Sorry.

There was also an exhibition showing many former kings' armor for battle. There was even armor for their horses. These were really interesting to look at and see how they evolved from one century to the next. It also had the various weapons and protective instruments they used in battle.





After all of that, we walked down the bank of the Thames to Tower Bridge. It was so awesome to walk across it, and know that I was standing on one of the world's most recognizable landmarks. We got tickets and were able to walk across the top segment of the bridge, which was also very surreal.









The city views from the top of the bridge are beautiful and they provide all kinds of interesting facts about the bridge's history and current situation up there. For example, the bridge has been the backdrop for a few exciting events, and has appeared in a number of films. These include Bridget Jones's Diary, The Mummy II, Spice World 2 and The World is Not Enough.

During the summer of 1912 the English pilot Frank McClean flew a short pusher biplane up the Thames. He failed to get sufficient height to clear the bridge, so he flew under the walkways. This event was captured by newspaper photographers, and the image became famous. He was not the only one - pilots (deliberately) flew under the walkways in 1973 and in 1978.

In 1952, a number 78 double-decker bus was unlucky enough to be on the bridge when it opened. Back then, the lights would change to red, the gateman would ring bells to encourage the pedestrians to move off the bridge quickly and close the gates, and the head watchman would order the bridge to lift when it was clear. On this day in December, there was a relief watchman, and something went wrong. Albert Gunter, the driver, saw that the road ahead appeared to be sinking. In fact, his bus was perched on the end of an opening bascule, which was giving the illusion of a sinking road ahead. He realised that he would not be able to stop in time to prevent going into the water, and making a split second decision, decided he would go for it. He accelerated and jumped the three feet gap, landing on the north bascule, which had not started to rise. None of his dozen passengers were seriously hurt, and he received £10 for his bravery.

When we finished there, we headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a long walk, and my feet have never hurt so bad in my life...seriously. I think it had to do with the road we were walking on at the Tower of London. It was brick, but eroded from being so old, so the affect it had on our feet was not good.

We got to St. Paul's and it was gorgeous. Much like Salisbury Cathedral and many churches constructed during that time, it is gigantic and crafted to impress, and so it did.



We didn't do the tour because it was nearly 10 pounds, and we were afraid if we didn't stop walking soon we might collapse from our feet going numb with pain (it was really THAT bad).

Earlier tonight we went to see CHICAGO!





I loved even more than I was expecting to - which isn't easy to say. I had never seen the movie all the way through, and I hadn't seen it on broadway but knew all the songs by heart. Having the storyline fit together with the music was fantastic! It was in Covent Garden at the Cambridge Theatre - this is a newer theatre by London's standards, but still very impressive and much bigger than the older, more detailed theatres.

I have to mention this. The funniest thing happened before we got to the theatre and we were making our way there on the tube. Allie, Lauren and I were sitting in the tube talking, when Lauren motions to us with her eyes to look at some people who had just gotten on our carriage. There were three - one started playing a plastic clarinette-looking thing he had with him, as another older woman started singing an unrecognizable song in an unrecognizable language (if it was a language)with his music. The third, who we thought at first might be an amused tourist taking pictures of them, was actually a friend who was doing a mini photo shoot of them on the tube. Again, I have some kind of magnetic force field for these people in London. These situations just seem to find me. Allie and Lauren even admit that very strange/uncomfortable situations and people always seem to appear when they are with me. This isn't the best picture. We were almost at our stop, so people stood up in front of them, but you can still see the guy playing the white instrument toward the back:



The best part was looking at every single person's face in our carriage. Some weren't sure whether they should laugh or keep a strait face, while others just looked annoyed or highly pissed off. There were a few like us though, who just laughed and smiled the whole time, completely unable to stop the giggles which had already been apart of our conversations prior to the new passengers entrance. Don't get me wrong - we weren't laughing AT them, we were just laughing at the entire setting and my unfailing power to attract the most uncomfortable public demonstrations.

I still had "All that Jazz" in my head when I got back to the flat that night after the show...it hasn't stopped yet.