LONDON DIARIES: Day 2

 

We all woke up at around 7 am and lazed around for a while. At around 7:30, I had a bath, and then had cornflakes and Maggi for breakfast. We had planned to go to the Tower of London and then do a bit of sightseeing. So, after figuring out an underground route to the Tower of London, we arrived at Tower Hill. The Tower made for a beautiful view.

The Tower of London

Though my first thought was that it would be one Tower, it ended up being an enormous compound of 21 towers and, at a time, had had a moat. When we entered, we were led on a Yeomen Warder tour. The Yeomen Warders were the guards of the Tower who lived there and were also known as Beefeaters. The Yeomen Warder entertained us with stories of all the events that had occurred in the Tower. There were many stories about the executions and the royal feuds that had occurred here. After asking my age, to which I replied 12, the Beefeater narrated a gruesome story about the murder of a twelve-year-old prince in the late 15th century. We finished the tour, and then entered the Tower holding the Crown Jewels. The Crown Jewel collection had some of the biggest jewels in the world, including the Cullinan I and Cullinan II diamonds, along with the famed Kohinoor Jewel. When we came out, we explored the compound by ourselves. We also learnt some interesting facts. For example, there are always six or more ravens in the compound. The belief is that if there are less than six ravens then the kingdom will fall.

The Ravens

 

After that we went to the historic Borough market for lunch. It was a group of stalls selling many types of food. The smell coming from the first few stalls were very tempting, but Amma said that there was indoor seating somewhere inside. It turned out to be a tarp that barely covered the stalls and the seating ended up being a couple of steps which were occupied. So, we ended up having kabab rolls on stools at the back of a stall where a couple of chefs were smoking. Neither the best setting nor the best food. 

Amma and I in front of Tower Bridge

In front of Big Ben

We walked past Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey to Parliament square, where I finished off a packet of Pringles in front of Gandhi statue. The Westminster Abbey is a famous church that has been the location of every British monarch's crowning since William the Conqueror. After that we walked to Buckingham Palace, and we took pictures of the palace through the bars of the gate in front of it. 

Papa and I in front of the Buckingham Palace

The Victoria Memorial

We sat at the Victoria memorial for some time and then we returned to Wembley, where we had dinner. Papa had a burger, while me and Amma shared a BBQ chicken and a BBQ pizza (too much BBQ). Thus ended our second day in London.