UK, Day 7- Westminster Abbey, Royal Mews, Peter Pan, Kensington Palace, Thames Cruise

So, my planned Tuesday became my actual Wednesday. We got up early and went to Westminster Abbey. We wanted to be in the beginning of the line. The abbey opened at 9:30, and we got there about 8:30. There was already a cash line forming, but we got to be second in the credit card line. It ended up not opening until like 9:45, but still, and hour and a half is better than three hours. And, since it was early in the morning, we weren't missing out on anything else.

When we got inside, I was rather disappointed to see that the nave was blocked off. There were people I wanted to see in there. But, then the people at the desk gave us a map (it was for the Royal Wedding Tour), and I saw that it was blocked from the side, but you could get in at the end. That made me happy. I had an Abbey guide that my mom had given me, and before we left for England, I had gone through and marked on the map all the people I wanted to see. It saved us hours, I'm betting. In the nave, we saw Dr. Livingstone, Sir Isaac Newton, and Darwin. I was also a bit disappointed to see that you can only see Edward the Confessor's grave on pilgrimage days, but no big deal. Near there, though, we did see Anne Nevill, Anne of Cleves, Eleanor of Castile, and Henry V. In the Henry VII Chapel, we saw Elizabeth I and Mary I (they're buried together), Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Mary Queen of Scots, James I, and Lady Margaret Beaufort. We also saw where Oliver Cromwell was buried before his body was exhumed and "executed." In Poet's Corner, we saw the tomb of Chaucer, as well as memorials to many other authors and poets. Most of them aren't buried here, but there are lots and lots of memorials. I don't care a whole lot about memorials, though. I like tombs. I also got a picture of the grave of Kathleen Andrews in the cloisters, simply because one of my childhood friend's moms was named Kathleen Andrews. No pictures allowed, except in the cloisters, so I once again have some relatively crappy shots of various things.

Elizabeth I and Mary I

The carriage used by the Queen after the wedding

After Westminster, we headed to the Royal Mews. My London Pass guidebook was rather misleading, and made it seem like we needed to get our tickets at some sort of central ticket place in front of Buckingham Palace, so we went there first. We ended up not needing tickets there, but it put us in front of the Palace just in time for the Changing of the Guard. Em & I couldn't see anything, but Max snapped some pictures over people's heads. We didn't stay. The Mews were pretty neat. It's where they keep all of the vehicles and horses used for the royal family's transportation. I was sad that the open carriages used at the wedding weren't there, but it was really cool to see the closed ones. We got to see the carriage used by the Queen, and the one used by Charles, Camilla, and the Middletons.

One of the things that Em needed to see for her English Literature GS patch was the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park, so there we went. It was pretty funny, just before us, there was a woman taking a picture of her dog in front of the statue. She led him up there, had him sit, and then backed up to get his picture. The dog kept glancing over at a duck that he really wanted to chase, but she managed to get a pretty good picture. Then, when I sent Em up to get her picture taken, she kept looking over at the duck, pretending to be the dog.

Tea at The Orangerie

By then, we were pretty darn hungry. We had a 20% off coupon for The Orangerie at Kensington Palace, so we went there for lunch. Unfortunately, nothing beyond the scones and tea looked very appetizing. So, we got scones & tea. They were really good, though. Scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam have to be just about one of my favorite foods in the world. Then, we went to Kensington Palace. Now, Kensington hadn't been on my original list, until I saw an ad for the special exhibit there right now. It's really cool. It's about 7 princesses who lived there, and it's very fantasy-based. I mean, it's based in fact, but the displays are very fantasy. It's hard to describe. I'll just say that, if you have a chance to see it, you should. It's called Enchanted Palace. After that, we thought Em could use some running around time, so we went to the Diana, Princess of Wales playground. It used to be the Peter Pan playground, so it's pirate-themed.


We had enough time (I didn't think we would) to get back to Westminster and take our Thames cruise. To get to Westminster from Kensington, you have to transfer at Notting Hill. Max loves I love the movie Notting Hill, so we came up to look around a bit. I'm so glad we did, because one of the things that I wanted to see was Portabello Road, place where the riches of ages are sold, but I didn't think we'd have time. However, it's right by the Notting Hill tube station, so we went. :) There weren't any markets going on right then, but I got a picture with the sign.

We got on the very last boat, and took it to Tower Hill. It was neat to get to see so many of the things we had seen before from the river. We also got to see Cleopatra's needle, one of the sights that we saw on our misguided drive through the city on Tuesday, but I hadn't had my camera ready before. So, I took a picture this time. I was also very excited to see Tower Bridge from the water, because it's such a cool bridge. But, my favorite thing was seeing where the Traitor's Gate was at the Tower. The Tower used to be right on the river, but they've now built around it, leaving sort of a moat. So, you can see on the Tower itself where the gate was located, but it no longer attaches to the river. Well, on the river retaining wall, they have written where it was. If you look at this picture on the Tower itself, you can just barely see the gate above that sign on the railings.

The Tower was on our pass, but we had missed the last entry by like 30 minutes. That's OK, since we saw it when we came out last time. The gift shop was open, though, so we went in there. I got a really nice new bag! I like small backpack-style bags, which aren't all that easy to find in something I would actually want to carry. This one is tapestry, and very pretty. It replaces the one I got in Disney World in 2008. We grabbed sandwiches for dinner in one of the cafes near the Tower, and sat on the steps that look down into where the moat used to be. It's quite a popular place to just sit. So, we had dinner with a view of the Tower. :)

We headed back to the hotel, since everything was closed now, and hung out for a bit, before it was time for our Jack the Ripper tour. It was something that Em & I wanted to do, and Max very kindly agreed to come along with us. So, our hotel was on Whitechapel Street. If you know Jack the Ripper, you may recognize the name Whitechapel. The guide took us all around the area, showing us where the main 5 Ripper victims had been killed, and he showed us other pertinent places, too. At one point, he took us to an alley and told us that in this same place used to be the Worst Street in London, and it was where the most gruesome of the murders had taken place. As we turned around, we noticed our car. Our parking garage (two blocks from our hotel) was where 100 years before stood the Worst Street in London. Nice. But, it was still there, so that's good. And, our hotel was actually really nice, despite it's less than savory location. Anyway, it was a fun couple of hours. :) After that, it was hotel and bed.

Emma says -  I really liked the Enchanted Palace, it was really pretty. I liked the Thames cruise because I got to sit and still see stuff. I got lots of pins for my hat today - Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace, the Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace. The Jack the Ripper tour was really funny, and awesome, and cool. Based on one of the guide's comments, I made a Walt Disney's Jack the Ripper movie poster.