Day 4 - Tower of London

Today we set off for St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London. Upon arriving at the Cathedral, the sun broke through the clouds and we actually saw some blue sky!!! It was God's way of welcoming us! (It was behind the clouds for the rest of the day however!!)

We took an audio tour of St. Paul's which was very nice. Unfortunately between the speed of the tour and other tour groups we all got separated. I headed up to the Whispering Gallery in the dome alone and up to the Stone Gallery (outside viewing deck). The views from up there were absolutely awesome! Too bad I didn't have the camera! When I got down and finally found Melanie and Grandpa, I found Melanie had not yet been up there. So up the 378 stairs I went a second time! We still did not have the camera!! Eventually we found Dan in the crypt and we were all once again reunited!

From there we went on to the Tower of London where we immediately joined a guided tour by the Yeoman Warder (or Beefeater). He was a funny chap with a lot of "American" jokes! We learned a lot about the history of this royal palace, especially about all the killings that took place. We toured the rest of the grounds which included a "Very Quick" glimpse of the crown jewels! We actually got 58 seconds to see them because Melanie and I went back on the moving walkway a 2nd time and got an additional 29 seconds! Boy are there a lot of shinny jewels in there! After a few more hours of touring the grounds, we went down to the harbor where we boarded a city cruise ship and headed off to Greenwich.

The cruise ship was nice (and warm) and a good way to see the city. From Greenwich we headed back down river towards Westminster. We passed by the Tower Bridge at sundown and got a few good pictures! One may just be our next Christmas Card! We got off by Big Ben and found a good pub to eat St. Patrick's Day dinner at. By the time we stopped for groceries and got home it was after 9. We are exhausted!!

Tomorrow... Westminster Abbey