Worrybomb and I went to London to see the Crown Jewels. Its not her first time in London, but it was her first with me! This posting entry might be a Worrybomb.com first as I think its the first to include photos from Worrybomb herself.
We went on the underground. Where we did have a seat each, but it wasnt as much fun as standing up on the wobbling bouncing train!
The coat of arms of the Queen.
We saw the ravens. The group of ravens at the Tower comprises at least seven individuals (six required, with a seventh in reserve). The presence of the ravens is thought to protect the Crown and the Tower; a superstition holds that “If the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it.”
We saw Tower Bridge ( which we later walked over and found the bit in the middle. There is a pretty large gap between the two bits that lift up and you can see right down to the Thames river below! )
In one of the towers, we could touch some chain mail and we found a helmet you could wear. It was very heavy and a big big even over a fluffy cat hat !
We couldn’t take photos of the Crown Jewels, but they were lovely and along with the current ones many of the old crowns are there too. Several old corwns had all the stones removed from them, these were recycled to make the newer ones. As a (very basic) Silversmith it was very interesting to see how they were made, very similar to the way I was taught to set stones.
Worrybomb is following in the footsteps of Auntie Goody ( who was born within earshot of Bow Bells ) and could name some of the new landmarks of London like the Shard.
Off with your head, well there is a nice memorial to the nastiness that happened on the Scaffold site now.
Outside Waterloo Block there is a Queens Guard, who stands very very still, but every 5 minutes of so, he stamps and marches 5 or so meters to either side to check all is well. His first march made us both jump.
We saw Queens Guards come off duty, they were out of their dress uniforms in
green, carrying what looked like large black barrels, these had their bearskin hats in ! And yes they are still made of real Canadian Bear as the synthetic materials dont work as well or look as good !
Lots of suits of armour, some Worrybomb size!
Then over the river to find a Leon. The food was simple and great tasting, and the staff were really firendly and lovely to us. It wasnt the same one as Worrybomb had been in before with her Nanny, but the meatballs were as good she said and they helped to warm us up a little to enjoy the art around More London Riverside before walking back along the Thames past the Golden Hind and the Tate Modern and home.
We had a super time.
