London, England: Day Two ~ The Tower of London, Kensington Palace, and a sweet playground

Day two in London was less hectic, in a sense.
On day one we had the pleasure of riding the tube and trains around the city on a Sunday without many crowds. Monday mornings in London are, you guessed it, CRAZY when riding city transportation!

Paris was similar; shoving your kids onto a subway car, with little to no room left inside, before the doors close. Not to forget that doing the *cross your fingers* head count is always fun!

Aside from that, day two in London was easier because we had a general idea of where everything was, and how we should get there. It all began with a train ride, followed by a tube ride, and then we had arrived at our first destination: Tower of London.

I've always received mixed reviews about the Tower of London, BUT nothing or no one's opinion would stop me from visiting! 

For someone like myself, ToL (Tower of London) is a HUGE deal. 

After spending countless years studying the Tudor family, and King Henry VIII, this was a must. I went through years of college for this!

 Of all Henry's famous (and infamous) wives, Anne Boleyn has always had a place in my heart. Many historians are torn on her history, but nobody can deny that this woman was intelligent as hell; for a woman in the 1500's to catch an already married King's eye, deny his attempts of seduction, and in many ways manipulate him into breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church (thus creating the English Reformation) so that he could annul his first marriage to marry her, and subsequently become the next queen herself, is pretty damn impressive, if you ask me. 

Phew, run on sentence!

Yeah, she ended up getting a the sword to the neck at the Tower of London and lost her head, but she was also the mother of one of England's most powerful and influential rulers to date: 

Queen Elizabeth I.

Anyway, back to modern day...

We arrived at ToL 30 minutes before the ticket sales opened, and I am grateful that we had planned it this way. I was 2nd in line! And the queue behind us got pretty darn long before sales started at 10am. 

Note: ToL opens at 10am on Mondays, and I believe 9:30am most other days.

Once we had our tickets, we waltzed on through the gates, and I knew where we needed to go first based on Tripadvisor reviews: The Crown Jewels.

I had read countless reviews stating that the queue to see the Crown Jewels gets super long by noon, and it's best to go early. Boy, were they right, but I wouldn't know that until later.

We went inside the jewel house around 10:15am. No line, very few people. Seriously walked right on through!

Unfortunately, photos are not allowed in the jewel house, and although I know many people are eager to break rules, I refrained. The regalia is amazing, and worth visiting to see for yourself. I don't know about you, but I have never seen a 530 carat diamond in person before. 

It. Was. Wow. 

After exiting the jewel house, we wandered back up toward the main entrance where I earlier noted that the Yeomen Warder tours started at. 

The Yeoman Warder (nicknamed 'Beefeater') tours of ToL  run about every half an hour, at the top and bottom of each hour, from what I had noticed on the sign that day. 

By this time, it was 5 minutes til 11:00am, and watching the main entrance of ToL from the sidelines made me so glad that we came early. Tours buses must had arrived and people were coming through the gates by the dozens.

Our Beefeater had finally arrived! I didn't catch his last name, but Yeoman Warder Jason was quite a character! For some unknown reason, I noticed that whenever he mentioned a certain female prisoner (*cough* Anne Boleyn), he made eye contact with ME. 

I thought maybe I was making this up in my head, but my husband mentioned this to me after the tour was over, without me even bothering to ask if he noticed it. 

Creepy! I knew I wasn't nuts.

I was super saddened to learn that St Peter ad Vincula was closed for the day due to preparations for an event the following day in the chapel. This little chapel that sits within the grounds of ToL is where Anne Boleyn's grave marker is, and where some historians believe her remains are (although that's a controversial subject among historians). 

I was bummed. 

This is my #1 MUST see in London, and I seriously had a knot in my throat when the Yeoman Warder said we wouldn't be going into the chapel. 

Yes, that bummed.

By the way, the only possible way to enter the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula is by way of a Yeomen Warder tour. I wouldn't say this is the entire reason that I took this tour, but it was required of me to get into that chapel! 

Now I REALLY have a reason to return to London. I'm already planning it now. No joke.

But alas, I did get a photo of the exterior. No photos inside are permitted anyway.

The tour was fabulous, and definitely worth it. The Beefeater was hilarious, and kind spirited. And his "prisoner" glares directed at me were something I'll never forget!

After the tour was over, we sat down for a few minutes to look at the map. Guess what appeared right next to me? One of the Tower of London's famous ravens!

Legend has it that if any of the six Tower of London's ravens were to leave the ToL that the kingdom would crumble and the Tower would fall. Because of this, the ravens are a symbol of strength at the Tower and are regarded as residents! There are seven ravens, one is a "spare", and every now and then, they can be seen in a few places within the ToL perimeter. I thought it was pretty neato to get to see a Tower raven up close, and we weren't even looking for one. Totally by chance!

We weren't finished with our tour of ToL just yet.

Continuing to explore, we walked up, down and all around the place. The White Tower was probably my favorite building. Lots of King Henry's armor up in that shiz! 

After walking through the White Tower, we walked around the wall. From Legge's Mount, one can get a few neat shots of some of London's tallest buildings.

And now we were done!

A few things I want to mention:

Yes, I did see the memorial at Tower Green, but I didn't take photos. Based on the many non-fiction, historical books I have read (and my studies) I do not believe Anne B. was executed at that exact spot, but rather a different area within ToL. Debatable? Sure!

Also, we eventually saw what the jewel house line looks like in the afternoon. HOLY MOLY. Reviewers are correct on this one. See the Crown Jewels first thing in the morning. The line was wrapped all the way around the White Tower in the afternoon, and it moved quite slow.

Since we were next to Tower Bridge, I took the opportunity to get a few individual pictures of all of us there. There are many photos I choose not to upload, but I always try to stop my children and get a photos of them together and separately, so that they have memories to look back on, too. I promise that not all of my photos are of myself! I do try to limit posting a ton of pictures of my kids. (Internet) safety first!

If you read London: Day One, you probably know where I went to next...

...Saint Dunstan in the East, and I am so glad I did!

This place is beautiful, and is quite hidden. If you're not looking for it, you may never see it.

Saint Dunstan serves mainly as a napping spot for dudes in business suits. It was kind of funny to see grown ass men sleeping on grass in really expensive three piece ensembles. It does sit in the business-y part of London, and I can't say I blame these men. We did spot a few stroller moms, too.

Anyway, the church was destroyed during the blitz and left in ruins. I'm glad the city kept it this way. Probably one of the most beautiful places in London!

After stopping at Saint Dunstan, we hopped on the tube and headed to Kensington Gardens.

We arrived at Lancaster Gate Station, and walked across the street to Marlborough Gate entrance to the park. The Italian Garden of Kensington Gardens is beautiful, but not a whole lot going on there. Just a leisurely place to hang around. I debated with walking through Hyde Park first, but decided to skip it and save it for another time.

After visiting the Italian Gardens, we made our way to Kensington Royal Palace. Although I had no desire to tour the inside, I definitely scoped out the exterior. 

Some folks seemed to be preparing for some type of event on the Kensington Palace grounds. Big, burly men in suits were wandering all around with ear pieces and sunglasses on. If I didn't see them setting up chairs and such on the other side of the sunken garden, I would've assumed that maybe they were just palace security and that it was a normal thing; considering who occupies this palace from time to time. 

I wanted to walk on the west side of the palace and see what it looked like from there. Interestingly, we didn't know that we were walking down a road in a highly important area of  London: 

Palace Green

Palace Green is where you can find all of the embassy buildings/houses (or should I say "mansions"). They are some of the most beautiful 'houses' I have ever seen in my life. Security is everywhere and "No Photography" signs are posted everywhere, as well. Needless to say, I didn't take any photos in fear of my life. 

It was an exciting misadventure, and I am pretty sure we were passed by someone of great importance at one point (a mob of huge security dudes escorted a few folks that were walking fast as hell while fabulously dressed).

After coming up to Bayswater Street, we walked along the park fence and  entered back into the park though a gate near the Diana Memorial Playground. Our day was ending and we figured we could give the kids a break. 

The Diana Playground is AMAZING. Just like being in Neverland (not Michael Jackson's estate, Neverland from the movie Peter Pan).

There are quite a few neat elements to the park. I didn't take pictures of all the different areas (one part of it was a huge treehouse like setting), but the kids loved it. I wanted to snag a photo of the famous Elfin Oak that sits near the playground entrance, but it's pretty heavily guarded with fencing. There's also a carousel outside of the playground entrance, too.

After killing an hour at the playground, it was time to say goodbye to London. We headed to Paddington station to catch our train back to Hayes. The Paddington area is lovely. I definitely plan to explore more of it when I return. It's also next to the Nottinghill area of London as well, which I also have to visit one day!

My daughter LOVES Paddington Bear, so I made it a point to find him at the station. I knew there was a bronzed Paddington statue, but there aren't signs that tell you where he is. I finally spotted him near the Eastbourne Terrace street side; near Platform One.

Can you tell she was excited?!?!

After a photo op with Paddington, we jumped on our train and rode back to Hayes (where our hotel was) for the rest of the evening. 

The following morning we'd be flying back to Nuremberg, Germany to go home.

Our trip to London wasn't very long, and we still have much ground to cover there, but for two full days we wasted little time. We saw much of the city, experienced a lot of the local transportation system, and rubbed shoulders with some of the friendliest people in Europe that I have met thus far. 

I have to say, though London isn't my favorite city we've visited (Paris still wins my heart out of the many places we've been), the locals there were more helpful and nicer than I expected them to be. They were lovely people! I'd go back just to be in the presence of London's nice folks!

Planning my return to England now, but it won't be until next year. 

I will be back in the UK soon enough.... 

We'll be in Scotland for a week during Christmas break!