Yes Wanderlust: London with Mum

12.8.12

London with Mum - Tower of London

This will be deemed as the day mum and I were cray tourists. We embraced our inner tourist and hopped aboard an Open top bus, which actually took a lot longer to get on then we expected. Hence mum and her crankiness underneath.

Us among the flock of tourists waiting to board our shiny carriage.

We thought we were going to Westminster Abbey as well but we only ended up at St Paul's Cathedral which was quite spectacular inside. If you come to London I suggest going inside and grabbing an audio tour. We didn't get the luxury of individual learning experiences, instead we had a quite larger then life tour guide who was a real treat. I am not being sarcastic she was actually quite lovely. She reminded me somewhat of a British female Robin Williams. I don't mind tours, it was just hard to hear all the juicy goss of the cathedral.

Next stop was the imfamous Horse Guard Parade at Buckingham Palace. This was a real treat being in a tour, following an umbrella sticking above a sea of people. It wasn't sticking very high though because she was quite short.

I look so dazed and confused-esque

chiller ducks

This was one of three sisters from our tour group. They were so cute. They were American and we always seemed to end up with the family at one point or another.

Sooooooo.....can anyone tell me the significance of this? Any why it is such a must do thing in London? And why I was in a mosh pit to experience this. I mean if you looked up overrated in the dictionary there would be an image of this parade, like in the Simpson's in that episode which now I want to find and watch.

After the watching of horses and people walk into Buckingham Palace courtyard we went to the Tower of London which due to previous complaints on the tour, was made to be the place we spent the longest time at. Which I was quite happy with. I actually loved this place, I love gory history of kings and queens that feels like you're reading a fairytale until you look up and see the castle right in front of you.

I was actually so amazed when I heard that the castle basically was a zoo with lions and polar bears and elephants running around everywhere. Being someone who loves animals and hates cruelty towards animals more then anything, it was annoying hearing about these animals being passed between royalty as presents. Honestly how ridiculous is it all. A King wants to get in good terms with another so he buys him a giraffe? The animals would have been so depressed.

Tower Bridge getting into the Olympic spirit.

Go away green polo!

Mummy looking cute and happy <3

Creepy ravens.

As part of our tour we got a private tour talk with a Beefeater. Something I never knew is that these people have actually served 20 or something years in the army. It's actually a requirement. And it's one of the highest honors. I guess I am just so accustomed to street performers and people working at theme parks forced to unwillingly get too into the theme. I guess I never realised how much England wants to preserve there history.

I told him off for being so serious. I told him to relax and smile, and he initiated some small talk about the pains of home life making it hard to smile these days, but I got it out of him.

This is the duty of a young soldier in Britain.

I just really liked this belt.

We went inside the centrepiece and climbed its many stairs to the top, oogling at all the historical artefacts along the way which honestly do not seem real. I know I am looking at Henry VIII's armour, it's just so hard to imagine that someone who died so long ago actually wore this.

Child king's armour

A gun made by Tiffany & Co.

This was inside the dungeons of the Tower. To be honest after seeing the torture museum in Prague 5 years ago this was a bit of a let down. The only noteworthy thing is that I really like the handwriting in the above photo.