London Day 2 - 28 May 2005

London Day Two -- 28 May 2005

We started off this day with a trip to the Tower of London. I'd been there before about 18 years ago, but
I didn't remember too much. It's a pretty cool place, with a very long and complicated history.

We went to see the crown jewels first, since the lines are nonexistent first thing in the morning. They were OK, but
would not have been worth standing in line if we had waited until later in the day.
If you don't want to wait in line, there are replicas of some of the jewels in the White Tower, which is in another area
of the site.

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The tower is built on the same location as part of the city walls the Romans
built around their city of Londinium. There is still a bit of the wall left...

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The next stop was the white tower. This is the central keep that is now one of the Royal Armory sites (another is in
Leeds).

I always have to go check out the armor and swords and such, hearkens back to the good old days of D&D.

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After a few hours in the Tower of London, we went on a Thames boat cruise from the tower over towards parliament.
It was a short trip, but we got to see a lot of Riverside stuff.

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Not quite as cool as the old one.

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There were a few Shakespeare-related things. This bar was supposed to be one of his hangouts, and this is
the replica of the globe theater that was built a few years back. It is supposed to be near the site of the
original theater.

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After the boat ride, we went on one of the double decker bus tours.
This went all over the city, ending up back at the tower. When I go back,
I would like to spend some more time checking out some of the things
seen on the tour.