queenie

Ok, so I got up early this morning to go to the Tower of London—I figure that I should see it seeing as how I have been here for nine months and it’s just down the road. So the Tower is about a mile walk, and half way there I turned the corner and ran smack into a blocked off street. No way to the other side, both sides lined with barricades and police men walking up and down. Seems I was half way between St. Paul’s, where there was a church service commemorating the first 50 years of Queen E’s reign, and the City Guild Hall, where there was a state lunch afterwards. I asked the police if I could cross the street but they said I would have to walk back around (doubling my journey) or wait till the motorcade was passed. I decided to wait. An hour later the motorcade finally arrived, led by a brand new Rolls Royce with the Queen and Prince Philip in it. I managed to snap a few pictures—yea me, I hope they come out.

I think it’s cool that I was here for the Queens 50th Jubilee celebration, though I did not go down to the actually party by the Palace the whole city has been one big party all weekend (we will ignore the fact that the Queen’s celebration is competing with the World Cup pub parties.) I did not expect to actually see the Queen while I was here in England, how often does one actually see her in person?

Anyway, I did make it to the Tower later. Very cool, lots of history and bloody tails. “Off wit ‘is ‘ead!” Walking around the White Tower (the original “Tower” ordered built by William the Conqueror in 1078) and the Bloody Tower (where Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned for 13 years) is very cool, but the best part has to be the Crown Jewels. They have their own building and the collection is amazing. The two largest cut diamonds in the world, the largest being the Cullinan I at 530 carets! The sparkle of this diamond must been seen to be believed. She sheer number of diamonds in the Crown Jewels collection is staggering! I think they could spare me a few!