In the morning we took the bus back to London from Oxford. By the time we'd gotten lunch and dropped our bags off at the hostel, we just had time to go to the Tower of London. It was well worth the £20 it cost to get in. It's kind of hard to process the fact that some of the buildings are over 1000 years old. I wish I remembered my English history a little better, but it was still amazing to see the old guard towers, castle walls, and chapel where Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard are buried. By far my favorite part of the Tower was the crown jewels. I can honestly say I've never seen so many diamonds in one place, not to mention all the other priceless emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. The biggest diamond was over 500 karats. Fantastic. Harder still to believe is that those jewels are cruelly used in coronations. Kings and queens for the last 400 or so years have all worn some of those crowns an scepters. We tend to think of kings and coronations as a thing of the past, but in the UK it is a very real part of living tradition. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures.

After the Tower closed we tried to make it to Twinings tea shop, but it had closed early. So we walked to the theatre to see Les Miserables. On the way we passed a building that looked just like Bancroft Hall. It was uncanny. Then, the show was absolutely amazing. It's my favorite play, so I have a high standard, but this cast was wonderful. With the exception of one, every major cast member was equally as good if not better than any I'd ever heard before. I'd forgotten how interesting the technical aspect of the show was. Just the way they move the sets around is an art form in itself. Well worth the ticket price.