The Tower of London and the mystery of the lost hours

Our London vacation rental is very nice; brand new, with all of the fancy European bells and whistles such as Villeroy & Boch sinks, tubs and commodes, Bosch and NEFF appliances, marble, granite and stainless steel, and streamlined recessed cabinetry, dishwasher and fridge. As nice as all of those designer details are, the thing we really like best about our new digs is the bed. It is unbelievably comfortable. Feathery, yet firm, soft yet supportive. It makes going to bed an easy proposition and if there was one night where it was really important to get a good nights rest it was our first evening here in London.

With jet-lag starting to aggressively get it's claws into us, we finished up dinner and retired to said bed with the full knowledge that whatever turmoil we may face in the ensuing hours none of it could be blamed on that fluffy little cloud on loan from heaven. So at the late late hour of 8:00pm. (8:00pm was actually an amazing feat; we hadn't really had any rapid eye movement in the past 24 hours and we actually held off until after dark; we should be commended!) Anyway, no sooner had our heads hit those goose down pillows than we were out. Wham! We both slept soundly, enveloped in the comforting caress of that oh so comfortable bed. We both got up to go to the bathroom at some point during the night, and later we agreed that we were giddy with the anticipation of falling back into the sweet embrace of that siren song of bedding. After what seemed like hours and hours of luxurious sleep we woke and checked our phone to see exactly how early in the morning we were waking, and much to our complete shock it was 11:30! 11:30PM!!!! After all that, we had only slept three and a half hours! We were completely and utterly gobsmacked! Both of us would have sworn with a gun to our heads that it was four or five in the morning. We both were sure we had slept eight or nine hours. What had happened to the other five hours? We were a little panicky; here we were so smug that we had totally fooled jet-leg and seamlessly slept through our first night in London without a hitch, and here we were completely rested and ready for the day and it WAS STILL ONLY 11:30 at night! My God, what were we going to do if we couldn't fall back to sleep?! We sat in bed totally stunned.

The only thing to do was set about forcing ourselves back to sleep, a hard proposition when you are feeling so bright eyed and bushy tailed. Fortunately for us, our bed RULES, and with a little tossing and turning we finally both drifted off and woke at a much more acceptable hour, 8:30am. Yea, crisis averted! But we still aren't sure who stole those damn hours, curse you jet-leg!

Once up we set about getting ourselves presentable for our first day as full blown London tourists. After showers and a new change of clothes we ate a leisurely breakfast and then plotted the day's activities. It wasn't raining and seemed downright balmy after our frigid winter on Lopez Island, so we decided to head towards the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We plotted a course on our "City Mapper" App and it directed us back to the Fulham Broadway station, the same station we had visited the night before to purchase our European phone chip, What do you know, we were starting to already know parts of London! We packed our day pack with a couple of *"Roundee" treats, our Cannon compact camera, photo copies of our passports, two five pound notes for emergencies, extra camera battery and chip, and the solar charger for the phone. I was carrying my light travel wallet in an inside pocket of my coat with my VISA, American Express, and Debit cards along with our licenses, Travel Insurance details, and about eighty pounds worth of notes in several denominations. Jerani was carrying the I-Phone and we both had our London Transit Oyster Cards in our easily accessible coat pockets. *More about Roundee Treats later, stay tuned!

After a little confusion about exactly how to lock the apartments beautiful looking yet entirely incomprehensible door lock we were off, retracing the route from the night before and feeling pretty smug that we actually knew even a tiny smidgen of a corner of this city of eight and a half million.
Once we reached the station we steeled ourselves for our first foray into riding the London Tube and we were nervously excited to see our Oyster Cards in actions. City Mapper had directed us to take the eastbound District Line into the City and to get off after about ten stops at the Tower Hill Station, a trip that would take around thirty eight minutes.

The first thing we needed to do to gain entry to the Tube was swipe our pre-paid Oyster Card across one of the yellow card readers at one of the entry gates. The wonderful thing about these cards is that they work on almost all of the London transit systems (Overgrown Trains, the Tube, Buses, Trams, even the water transit system.) All you have to do is swipe the card across the reader when you first start a leg of your trip, and swipe it again when you finally leave one of the stations and the card automatically tallies the journey (minus the reduced rate for purchasing the card in the first place) and subtracts it from your card. Super easy, and no hassle standing in line buying tickets or fumbling for change, just a little plastic card you stuff in your pocket. Marvelous!

We walked up to the station's turnstiles and using the Oyster Card seamlessly gained entry into the Tube. WooHoo! Moments afterwards our high was a little tempered after I snapped this photo and was reprimanded, although quite softly, by the Transit security guard who warned us against taking flash photos inside the tube. Oh well, I can pretty much guarantee you that this is but our first of many warnings as we bumble our way through Europe touching priceless paintings and strolling on private property. After awhile you just kind of get numb to making these innocent mistakes and as an added bonus it works in your favor, such as the time we toured a private and not open to the public castle in Brittany, France, or coincidentally take pictures of the Crown Jewels as was to happened later on that same day.

 Whoops!

Once through the turnstile we headed down the stairs and found the proper platform for the eastbound District Line, and settled in to wait for the train to arrive. Almost all of the tube routes are served with very little wait between trains which allows you to relax a little and not to have to sweat the thought of missing a train. About eight minutes after arriving on the platform our train arrived and we headed into the central part of London.

Clean, brightly lit and filled with regular people the tube is not on the least bit intimidating. It's quite obviously just the way everyone gets around in this gigantic city and we have to admit that we are kind of smitten with it! You can literally get ANYWHERE there is to go if you just take a little time and minimal effort to figure out the right trains and transfers to take to get you there. 

And if all else fails you can rely on Jerani's last second go to which is to turn to whomever happens to be nearest to you and just ask. Nine times out of ten the people know how to get to where you're heading and we've found that people in London seem to be friendly and more than willing to help. You just have to get over that initial fear and discomfort of asking for help. Better to fight through a little social anxiety than to stand frozen on the platform in indecision, not sure what your next move is.

 Actually I REALLY enjoy riding the tube, but you'd never know it from my frightened look.

Geez, lighten up a little!

After our first successful trip on the tube we walked up the stairs, swiped our Oyster Cards at the exit turnstiles and came out into actual London sunlight! Yes, the sun was actually shining in London on March 2nd, and not only that, when we exited the Tower Hill Station, right there in front of us, was the Tower of London!

Now I have to tell you, I'm a bit of a history geek and I have always loved castles, and I was especially taken with the Tower of London and the White Tower when I was a child. To come out of that tube station and to have that iconic site right there in front of you, something you have dreamed of seeing all of your life, well it's magic. That's what I said when I turned to Jerani, "Travel is like a form of magic". It brings you right back to that ten year old thumbing through a book on castles. It is SO worth it!

We had planned on taking in the Tower Bridge and then heading to the Boroughs Market when we planned the day, but having never visited London we hadn't realized just how close the Tower Bridge is to the Tower of London, nor did we know we'd be exiting the tube station directly across from the castle. So in true traveling fashion we scrapped our initial plans and just went with the flow. Plans were made to change.

Having just had a bowl of cereal for breakfast we were a little famished at this point and needed something before we entered the huge fortress so we did a very touristy thing in London and ate at the first fish and chip stand we came to. I'm sure there are better fish and chip venues in the city but unfortunately they weren't six feet from us so we went with what was available. Overall it was good, not great, but hey, it was very convenient.

After our fish and chip lunch we bought our tickets, one of the more expensive sites you can visit in London at 24 pounds each, but very much worth it. Hey, there's only ONE Tower of London, right?

There were hundreds and hundreds of visitors on the day we went but the place is enormous and it's actually pretty easy to have a rather intimate visit and feel like you had parts of the castle all to yourself at times. With that said, this is early March and we can't imagine how many people would be here in mid July. It must be almost impossible to get away from the crowds.

The slow pace of the guided tour above is not tolerable for us, so we started our own self-guided tour following a continuous route through the circular wall and the many watch towers which guarded the White Tower within. There are a lot of spiral steps up and down because you climb each tower on the corners and there are interesting exhibits in each one.

As we made our way around the protective wall it was easy to see how formidable this fortress was.

Looking out one of the tower's windows towards the Thames

The royal chamber and chapel inside one of the many towers.

 Looking across the Thames to the Tower Bridge. It was a beautiful day. The first day of Spring!

The Ravens were one of our favorite things about the Tower. They have the run of the place and totter about in the yard and perch on railings. These two were grooming each other. They are quite tame and people were doing selfies with them but it does warn you that they can bite. We were happy to watch them from a distance.The ravens eat 170g of raw meat a day, plus bird biscuits soaked in blood.

The White Tower is a magnificent example of Norman architecture, dating from 1089, immediately after the Norman conquest. It is quite impressive!

The White Tower which houses the Armory exhibit.

After touring the White Tower we went over to the building which housed the Crown Jewels, which are really amazing to see up close.

Building that houses the Crown Jewels in a vaulted chamber. NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED!

A cool looking building called the Shard

Another crazy looking building seen from the walls of the Tower. London has a great mix of old and new. We love London so far. It seems very safe, it's really accessible, and the sites are fantastic!

Such a beautiful day. We felt lucky! Before jumping on the Tube and heading back to our cozy apartment we stepped inside our first English Pub, the Hung Drawn and Quartered, for a couple of Pints of British Ale.

There's a famous saying here...
"If you're tired of London, you're tired of life"