Anniversary

Monday, July 16, 2018
London, England, United Kingdom
This morning, despite my predictions that I would be sound asleep, we were up in plenty of time to head down to breakfast right as it opened. With just us and the businessmen eating at this time, we were able to get a nice seat by the window. Bryan ordered a delicious looking waffle that came with some amazing strawberries. 
After breakfast Bryan spotted a Pokémon silhouette that we never see at home in our “nearby sightings” on Pokémon Go, so out the door we went and with only a few blocks walk in the cool of the morning we had added a few new Pokémon to our virtual decks.  This is more fun than it perhaps sounds. 
We had planned to go over to the Tower of London “first thing” but it turns out that on Mondays it doesn’t open until 10AM. This being the case, we walked back to the hotel and rested until then. The lines were long to get in, even though we were among the first to get our tickets today. Apparently they can be purchased ahead of time online. But seeing as we had not decided ahead of time what day we wanted to tour there, getting tickets first thing today was fine. And the long line moved quickly. 
We went first to see the Crown Jewels. The line was reasonable, and we saw the guards up close on our way in. This area was blissfully air conditioned. We saw all the crowns and gem-laden scepters anyone could want to, and learned a bit more about the coronation process. For example, I learned that an ornate spoon is used to distribute the anointing oil onto the royal person during the ceremony.  
After this I sat down on a bench for a bit and nibbled some chocolate squares from our bag, while Bryan ate an ice cream cone. As we did this, there were costumed performers doing an open-air play about the tragic history of Anne Boleyn. The actors were quite talented, and the musical accompaniment provided by the violinists was excellent. Unfortunately, we were both tired and over-warm. We began checking things off of our list so we could head somewhere with AC. 
Next thing we tackled was the White Tower. It has been an armor museum for 1000 years. (That is five times as long as my nation has been its own country, for those who care to notice.) We looked at armor for kings, their horses, tiny princes and one giant man. We looked at cannons, swords, old guns and all manner of other weapons. Bryan turned around to comment on something and found me just sitting on the bench I’d found behind him. He began to try to take me back to the hotel. 
But I had paid my money, read the pamphlet, and by golly I wanted to see the stuff. So we continued on. We saw the ravens, the statues representing the animals that once resided there when it was a managerie, and then, armed with a cold 7UP (that was worth every pound) we climbed up onto the walls and walked around. 
We finished off our tour with the Tower Mint where I glanced at old coins and how they were made. Then we trudged home, the hot cobblestones giving the illusion of walking through a brick oven. 
It was lunch time by then. But we just wanted to cool off. So up to our room we went, planning to grab some coupons for the cafe downstairs and circle back for lunch. We both lay down on the bed and neither of us moved for an hour. 
Finally I persuaded myself to go downstairs and order a sandwich. Bryan wasn’t ready to stir yet, so I was planning on getting him something there and bringing it up. But the waitress told me that was not possible and that we should use room service. Which makes sense, of course, I had only been thinking of the two coupons we got for £5 off by waiving having our rooms cleaned those days. Pretty cool system. In any case, we are still resting, and it is unclear what we will get up to this evening. We had planned to take a boat down the river before lunch and call it an anniversary cruise, but now there’s no telling. 

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