"Here's a preserved kidney. I ate the other half. Catch me when you can."

Neal wanted an opportunity to write in my Duke in London blog, since it is so full of the works of insightful and knowledgeable writers (teehee), and since I'm still a little terrified from this evening's tour, I'm going to go read a book so I can get my mind off things so I can sleep. Oh boy.

So over to you, Neal, Saturday July 18th

Much Love,

Becca

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So, today was an awesome day. Bec made me wake up this morning at 7:30 for a surprise tour that she's been talking about for awhile. She got us tickets for a short cruise on the Thames! We went to where we were supposed to get on the boat, but the ticket window was closed and the pier was a bit "dodgy" as they say here. The boat ended up coming on time though and we had a great time. The ride lasted about 40 minutes and took us along the Thames from Parliament to the Tower of London. We had a great guide for the cruise, he seemed like he was having a blast giving the tour. Some notable buildings or attractions we passed by were the London Eye, the world's largest freestanding stone column, Sir Francis Drake's ship that sailed around the world (it was amazing seeing how tiny it actually was and thinking about a crew of 80 sailing on it), London Bridge, the Globe, and several other old buildings. 

We got off the boat at the Tower of London and went inside for the tour. As a typical American tourist, I pictured the Tower of London as a single tower. Not even close. We took a tour guided by a Yeoman Warden, who gave us a great summary of the history of the castle and pointed out several interesting parts of the castle. He started by telling us what the tower was used for; how it was most well known as a prison. So many people were executed there, or on a hill nearby, and it's amazing to think that the public came to these executions for entertainment. "Let's go watch someone get beheaded!" Sounds like a blast. The guide then showed us traitor's gate which provided a secret entrance through which prisoners were often brought into the castle. Next he took us to the chapel at the tower of London, and told us about Ann Boelyn, one of Henry VII's wives who was convicted of 27 or 28 crimes including treason and insulting King Henry, and was eventually beheaded inside the castle grounds. He also told us about the White Tower, the central, palace-like portion of the castle. The White Tower has a small bunch of ravens living in or around it, and apparently one of the kings claimed that when the ravens left the grounds, the tower would crumble and fall. Our guide pointed out that to make sure this didn't happen, several ravens were kept in cages. 

After our tour with the guide, Bec and I explored the castle on our own. We got to see the Crown Jewels, which were absolutely amazing. One of the scepters held the world's largest pure diamond, weighing in at over 500 karats. I thought the swords were the most interesting of the jewels, just because their design was so ornate and detailed. Bec really liked the giant golden bowls and plates that were really intricately carved. 

Once we'd seen the jewels, we went inside the White Tower to visit the special exhibit that was on display at the Tower of London. It was called "Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill" and was basically a collection of Henry VIII's clothing and armor. He had so many different types of armor, from jousting armor to full combat armor to ceremonial armor, the exhibit had it all. He was a very large man, so the armored suits were huge and very imposing. Apparently his chest measured 44 inches around so the armor was even bigger than that. The exhibit also displayed many different types of weaponry Henry used including his jousting lance, broadsword, and some of his guns. 

We got some fish and chips after seeing the Tower of London (My first fish and chips in London!). Unfortunately the meal was really gross. In hindsight, we should've know it wouldn't be too good because we got it at a little stand outside the tower, a perfect place for a tourist trap. Still hungry, we got some ice cream and took a nice walk along the Thames to St. Paul's Cathedral.

The cathedral was BEAUTIFUL! The architecture inside there is just amazing, and the mosaics that cover most of the ceiling are incredibly intricate. We decided to do an audio tour of the cathedral, which turned out to be really interesting, although rather long winded. We decided to see the Whispering Gallery first, a circular balcony inside the dome of the cathedral where apparently, you can whisper into the wall on one side of the circle and a person on the opposite side can hear you. Unfortunately, we tried this and couldn't figure it out. (Dr. and Mrs. Stone, we wished you were there so you could show us how it worked!) But just being up in the dome was amazing. Although it was a long climb up there (259 steps!) we got a great view of the paintings on the inside of the dome that had been put up when the cathedral was built. The site of St. Paul's had been the home of a cathedral since 600 AD, although it was renovated several times. Following the great fire of London, the cathedral burned down, and the current version of St. Paul's was built. We learned that the designer, Christopher Wren, had had a difficult time getting his design approved. The city wanted the cathedral to have a steeple, while Wren wanted a dome. He finally convinced the city to allow him to build a small dome and a small steeple, but in the process of building it, he used his artistic liberty and scrap the steeple, and built a larger dome in it's place. 

From the Whispering Gallery, we took an additional 119 stairs up to a higher level of the cathedral where we were able to go outside on another balcony around the upper dome, providing an amazing view of the city. After our long trip down, we continued the audio tour of the cathedral towards the altar. Interestingly, a great part of the altar was dedicated to Americans who had fought in the Battle of Britain. In fact, on the back wall the ornate decorations included several American birds including the bald eagle, as well as other common American symbols. We just both found it interesting that they used the cathedral to honor the Americans. We then went down in the crypts beneath the church and saw four or five tombs that were all that survived the fire that burned down the older cathedral. We also saw the tomb of Wren, the designer, and wondered if he and the others really wanted to be burried in a place crowded by tourists every day. We tried to get a couple of pictures of the main floor of the cathedral but the staff were very strict about no photography. 

After that, we went looking for a Cork and Bottle for dinner, but couldn't find it, so we ended up getting snacks and headed over to a new part of London that neither of us had been too for the Jack the Ripper tour. We got there early so we tried to find some more food, but after walking nearly half a mile in both directions from the tube station, we found that almost every single restaurant was closed. Why the were closed on a Saturday, I have no idea, but it was very frustrating. We ended up just sitting in a Burger King to wait for the tour to start. It was worth it though. The lady who gave our tour took us around the area and showed us the buildings or where the buildings had been where Jack the Ripper murdered his victims. According to our guide, Jack was the first recognized serial killer. He attacked prostitutes, mostly in their forties, and mutilated their bodies. He was never caught, and was given the name Jack the Ripper by a journalist who sent a letter to the chief of  police pretending that he (the journalist) was the murderer. It was a really creepy story, and it was amazing how many of the original buildings were still standing!

We had an awesome day today! I definitely learned a lot and I think Bec did too. Tomorrow, we're seeing Dorian Gray, Harry Potter, and some more museums!

Sorry I'm not as elaborate as Becca usually is but I just wanted to give this a shot. It makes me appreciate how hard she's been working on this!

No pictures today since most of them were on my camera and I forgot my cord to upload pictures to the computer, but once I get home I'll e-mail some to Bec so she can put them up. 

- Neal