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(Lori) We switched hotels today - leaving north London for a place in Belgravia, in the west end. Sure glad we had figured out the tube system prior to lugging our baggage during morning rush hour (what were we thinking!!) This second B&B hotel is a narrow converted row house walk up, similar to the first, but the room is even smaller - if I roll over in my twin bed, I will end up not on the floor but on susi's bed! But it's clean & there is a bathroom with it (a luxury not all rooms have!)
We observed the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (thanks to Rick Steves' travel book of London, we knew right where to stand.) A lot of people apparently had read the same book, so we were all watching a very impressive display of pageantry. A moment of excitement rippled through the small group where we were standing when one woman noticed someone at a window on the palace had pulled a curtain back to peer out into the courtyard. Unfortunately, I looked too late to see anyone. I hypothesize it was a maid!
We spent the remainder of the day at the Tower of London. As many of our friends recommended, we were not disappointed! Most of incredible was to be standing in a building constructed nearly a thousand years ago, and was the home for 500 years or so of many significant British kings and religious leaders, the place of execution for many and a thriving stronghold community of continuing royal power. I had always thought the Tower of London was merely one big tower building, but it is in fact a walled town where gardens, the royal mint, a metal works, and more thrived. A highlight here was one of the Towers where prisoners thought to be treasonous were imprisoned, awaiting trial or execution: a practice was to somehow strike a remembrance of the prisoner's family name or a message of sorts. There were inscriptions dating back to the early 1400's made by Jesuit priests (who refused to acknowledge to sovereign right of Kings as the head of the church of England) - it seemed so profound, not eery, yet a weight of those who had gone before and stood adamant for a strongly held conviction from which they could not be moved. We came home weary, but once again satisfied with a full day of experiencing the richness of British history.
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