I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much rain in my life. No,
I don’t think I’ve ever walked in this much rain in my life. The plan for today
was to at 10am go to the Tower of London with my friend. Things started out
smoothly, not too rainy, no need for an umbrella at the time (thank God I
brought one just in case. I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and Keira had brought a
lunch with her as well, I decided to get some food at Costa with James (and a large tea,
which always baffles the people over the counter –“You sure you just want
regular tea? Nothing in it? It’s not coffee you know”). After that we got on
the tube and off at King’s Cross and then headed in the wrong direction. That’s
when things started to take a little turn. We eventually made it to Tower Hill
station and by that point the rain was really coming down. Because of my
destroyed feet from the “interview” on Friday my feet were still in repair so I
had made the decision in the morning not to wear my clunky, support-less rain
boots but instead to wear my flimsy, practically-paper flats today. Mistake #1.
By the end of the day these things were soaked completely through. Poor shoes.
We walked over to the shop and bought tickets to the Tower of London and headed
inside. It was like being transported into another time. The walls were
complete stone and head small cut-outs of crosses. The ground was 90%
cobblestone and there were (what I thought at the time) tour guides wearing
insane blue and red costumes and top hats walking around the place screaming
various Olde English terms. First we checked out this place called “Bloody
Tower” which is where prisoners were tortured. This was very interesting to me. On all the plaques
at the exhibit it stated very clearly that England no longer tortures
prisoners, which is interesting because America definitely still does, which
probably seems quite medieval to English folks but is quite normal for us
Americans. Outside the tower were cages of ravens that had their ability of
flight severed as to not “end the tower’s reign”. Americans still may torture
terrorists for information, but at least we don’t cripple birds because of
urban legends.
After
the Bloody Tower we headed to the crown jewels (my main attraction). The line
wasn’t too bad in length but it was entirely outdoors so I turned my scarf into
a hijab and attempted to gain complacency. Once we gained entry it was
definitely worth the wait. We got to see all the royal housewares and armor
(including swords and shields and protective gear) and then my favorite of
course, the crowns. I’ve never been more comparable to a fish in my life,
everything was so shiny! It was very difficult to look away, fortunately the
whole tour is on a moving walk-way so you are literally pried from the sights.
Next we headed to the White Tower which wasn’t as exciting for me because I’m
not a big history buff but I did appreciate all the different types of armor
(see: fish comparison). The last thing we did on the tour was pop into another
tour group where the “tour guide” in “costume” talked to a group of about 50
people in a church. He was very funny and especially liked to make jabs about
Americans. I didn’t mind that, Americans are pretty stupid, I can be pretty
stupid at times too (see: fish comparison). I did find out that the people I
thought were costumed tour guides were actually real British security for the
queen. I wonder if the queen picks out their outfits…
Finally
after all this we left and I headed off home with James and Keira headed off
to get some new socks. Once I got off the elevator and onto my floor it was the
best feeling in the world to take off my soaking wet shoes and get on some cozy
socks. Right now it’s 10:49pm and the shoes are still wet. Oy vey.
