Thursday, July 24, 2014

A Royal Girls Weekend in London | Red Coats, Towers & Muggles

Sunday was no exception to the picture perfect weather we enjoyed the two previous days. We knew going into the day it would be busy and full of walking (i.e. choose your shoes wisely). Out the door by slightly after 10am, Ali and I made our way to Buckingham Palace for the super touristy tradition called Changing of the Guard.


Perhaps, I naively had no idea there would be a million people there or simply the fact that we didn't plan in advance to camp-out in order to have a front row view, but either way I was overwhelmed and not in a good way.

 As we tried to cross the street toward the Palace, we heard and saw the entourage of horses and soldiers marching down the red-tinted road.  I {foolishly} asked a policeman who was wrangling spectators onto the sidewalk what exactly was going on. His response? "It's just the Changing of the Guard! I've seen it hundreds of times." Clearly he wasn't impressed either. Or perhaps he was upset that he wasn't chosen to wear the famous fluffy, black hat and participate in the parade. 

My suggestion is to either go all out and make the Changing of the Guard a priority meaning get there very early or don't bother. Either it is important enough to you to carve out the time necessary to be able to actually see it or else you're in a sea of people all holding up their cameras/phones acting like they can see it. 

Next up {and honestly, I wish we went there instead of CotG}, we ventured to the legendary Tower of London. Best known for being the home of the Crown Jewels, I was so impressed and frankly surprised at how much I liked the Tower of London even without seeing the jewels {an unfortunate consequence of having a busy day booked}. You could literally spend the entire day inside the walls exploring all the areas open to the public. 



The the 1000 year lifetime of the Tower of London, includes being a royal residence, prison, armory, treasury, menagerie, Royal Mint, public records office and, as mentioned earlier, location of the Crown Jewels. Despite its infamous reputation of torture and death, there were "only" seven executions held within the walls before WWI & WWII. However, one of most notable executions within the walls was former Queen of England and ex-wife to King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn. Outside the walls on Tower Hill was a different and much bloodier story. In a 400 year period, there were 112 executions on the Hill. Yikes!


To maximize our time at the Tower, Ali wisely suggested we take the one-hour Yeoman Warder tour offered every half hour by the legendary tour guides aka "Beefeaters." Back in the day, a Beefeater's original purpose was to guard the Tower and the English monarch. So, why are they called Beefeaters? Supposedly, it's because they were allowed to eat as much beef as they wanted at the king's table. A relatively small price for such an important job, dontcha think? 



So, what does it take to become a Beefeater? I'm glad you asked! Not just anyone can apply and get hired for such an iconic position. For starters, you must have served at least 22 honorable years in the British armed services. Also, it doesn't hurt to have a very loud voice and a witty personality to enhance the storytelling of both the Tower's history and the gruesome stories said to have taken place within its walls. Our Beefeater was fabulous and packed a lot into an hour even a few friendly jabs at Americans.

TIP: If you plan to visit the Tower of London, I would recommend purchasing your tickets online the day before to save £1.10 { hey, every little bit helps especially with the conversion rate right now!}


Once the tour was over, we quickly grabbed some fish & chips to eat on our speed-walk over London Bridge {So British right? Fish & chips AND London Bridge all in one!} to meet up for adventure #3 of the day... Harry Potter Muggle Tour

The only way the Muggle Tour could have been better {besides obviously meeting the trio} would have been if we actually got to dress up and walk around London in Gryffindor quidditch attire. I knew it was going to be amazing when our tour guide introduced herself as "Gretta Granger" and said she had a theatre background. She was super animated and made the two-hour tour feel like 30 minutes. Here are a few highlights! Maybe you can appreciate the locations too!?


Top Left: Entrance to the Leaky Cauldron | Bottom Left: Where Ron, Harry & Hermione use the poly juice potion in Deathly Hallows I to get infiltrate the Ministry of Magic | Right: JK's inspiration for the Durmstrang Ship which goes underwater in The Goblet of Fire



Top Left: No. 12 Grimmauld Place aka Order of the Phoenix headquarters | Top Center: J.K's inspiration for Azkaban Prison | Top Right: JK's inspiration for Knockturn Alley | Bottom: JK's inspiration for Diagon Alley

Looking back, I wish we had taken a picture with Gretta {our tour guide} and I wish we went to Platform 9 3/4. Overall though, if you're a Harry Potter fan, you'd very much enjoy the Muggle Tour!

After all that walking, Ali and I were ready to sit down and re-hydrate at one of her favorite spots on the Thames, Tattershall Castle. Can't beat the view on a beautiful London summer evening!



Despite being in London and having countless options of new and fun places to eat, the inner-American in me came out in full force demanding a burger. Germany does plenty of things right, but let me tell you... burgers are not one of them! So, when given the option to sink my teeth into my personal favorite burger, I opted for comfort food: Five Guys.


Sometimes contentment looks like a deliciously greasy cheeseburger with Cajun fries, free ketchup in a pump, 100+ choices of Coke products and ICE! Hallelujah! Five Guys for the win! 

Tschüss!

No comments:

Post a Comment