I got up early again to blog and upload pictures on Sunday. When Kat woke up I made tea, muffins, and scrambled eggs and we had a nice breakfast together. We didn't have much planned other than maybe trying to get Lion King tickets again. We headed out around 9:30am.
We've since given up on Lion King. Tkts was closed and the box office at the Lyceum theatre said they had standing room only. We're fine with not seeing it here, but it was worth a try.
Kat had started to notice a rash developing in random spots on her body. It seemed to move around from day to day and spring up and fade in unpredictable patterns. We haven't been able to determine if it's the soap, her clothes, the coach, or something in the air.
Not much is open on Sunday, but at least the crowds are manageable. We hit Covent Garden again, and this time we could actually see things without pushing past people or getting knocked about ourselves. Kat found a couple photographs she liked that satisfied her need for art in the short term. We plan to make some sort of composition out of our four purchased photos and some of our ticket stubs for one of our blank walls at home.
We bought a snack from a surly street vendor while we were there. I got my first scone, but it was overpriced and underwhelming. I should have just waited for high tea somewhere else. Kat's other quests are to find a replacement toe ring and a replacement digital watch. Apparently now there is condensation in the watch, making it hard to read anymore.
We decided to walk down the Strand, Fleet Street, and East Cheapside to the Tower of London. Along the way we stopped by Somerset House and some of the other sites to take pictures. Kat likes to torment the pigeons. She chases them around until they fly off. She's compelled to catch one and hold it upside down to watch its feet go. She hasn't managed to do that yet, but she keeps trying.
We bought our tickets to the Tower of London at Tower Hill Station and then went across the way to get in. The line to get in wasn't bad, but the crowds were growing. I should have taken Rick Steves' advice and gone straight for the Crown Jewels. By the time we had seen a few of the side exhibits the line for the Jewels was around the side of the White Tower. It moved along at a decent pace, but we were still in it for at least a half-hour before we saw the jewels. We had fun mocking the videos along the way though.
The Beefeaters were there of course. It was funny how people would come up and try to put their arms around them or grab them in some way to get pictures. The Beefeaters weren't having any of it. They have a very strict "no touching" policy. Still, a nice bunch of fellows and very personable. We overheard one of them giving a dramatic account of an execution. He had the crowd gasping and laughing at all the right parts.
After the long wait for the jewels Kat and I were pretty much done with the Tower and headed out. It was time to eat by then so we wandered across the London Bridge toward the South bank looking for a place to eat. We found a pub called the "Bunch of Grapes" not far from the other side. We each had a beer and shared a platter of mini-burgers and chips. It was just what we needed.
Across the street was the old Operating Theatre Museum. This funky museum is housed completely in the attic of an old church. The only way to get there is up a rickety set of wooden spiral stairs and then you have to jump across them to a tiny door. Inside was a cozy book shop attended by a cheerful young woman who sells you your tickets and the attic is up another set of stairs. In the attic another pleasant woman was giving a presentation on herbal remedies, while we slunk around and looked at the various nick-nacks crammed into narrow spaces between wooden beams. It was really very neat.
The operating theatre itself was fascinating. Kat read that the floor was a false one, built above a layer of sawdust and the real floor in order to absorb the blood and gore. There were many illustrations of some of the procedures performed in the space. I took some pictures of some of the surgical instruments on display. Overall the museum reminded us of a similar one we visited in New Orleans, during one of our other most favorite vacations together. We wandered around for awhile until we felt we had gotten our pounds' worth and then headed back outside.
We continued on our self-guided bankside tour and found a replica of Sir Francis Drake's famous Galleon, the Golden Hinde. Next we went in search of the Globe theatre and found it without much difficulty. The millennium bridge was right near there so we walked back across the Thames on it, planning to take the same route for our play on Monday. We were treated to stunning views of the city and St. Paul's Cathedral from the bridge.
Our feet were pretty tired at that point so we walked to the nearby Mansion House tube station and took the District (Green) line straight back to Earl's Court. We had a quiet night back at the apartment. Kat worked on some "thank you" cards while I worked on the computer and planned some things for the next day. I went to bed to take a nap, but that turned into full blown sleep. We both ended up skipping dinner and just sleeping the rest of the night away.
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