LONDON

People, people and more people, that is our first impression of the famous city. We are staying in Earls Court and have found everything to be close by to make getting round a simple thing.  We had purchased a 'London Pass' before leaving home and that included a transport pass for buses and trains and this has been great to use for the underground.
We only have a walk of a few minutes to get to the station and there is never a long wait for a train.  Such a great system. I guess with a city of 12 million you have to have something that works.  I read that approx 3 million people a day travel on the underground and we shared a train with quite a few of them yesterday when we returned home late in the afternoon!
We have walked Whitehall and seen Scotland Yard, #10 Downing St, Houses of Parliament MOD, Westminster Abbey,  Nelsons Column and so the list goes on.
Our pass also gave us a cruise on the river from Westminster to Greenwich and return. Thiswas a great way to rest the legs and check out the sights also to have a cuppa and some lunch. Walking the streets you are hearing tongues from around the world.
We visited the Tower yesterday and also walked across the Tower Bridge with a detour down to see the mighty steam engines that were used to lift the spans to allow shipping traffic through. Ships have to give 24hrs notice of needing the bridge lifted and there are usually a couple every day, mostly at night. The pale blue colour that you see painted on the bridge and around different parts of the city was the favourite colour of Queen Victoria and is still used to this day.
We did a Beefeater Guard tour of the tower and heard some gruesome tales of its history and learnt that it is a working 'village' of is own still today. They have their own medical centre, a chapel, pub and even village green. This green inside the castle walls is where the ladies executions took place. Men were executed outside the walls on Tower Hill with a bellin the tower ringing 1 hour before the execution so that onlookers could come to watch. There was only one man executed inside the walls and he had been a good friend to the queen and although she could not prevent his execution she could prevent the public display. The history in todays ideas was so brutal and I found it chilling in some ways to be walking those paths and seeing the stories.  We did visit the Crown Jewels however and thatmwas pretty gob smacking. Most of the collection of crowns gold 'tableware' dates back to 1661 and Charles II coronation. Tye previous regalia had been melted down or destroyed during a civil uprising and to fund the battles etc so come 1661 they then had to create new. It used to be tradition that following a coronation there would be a banquet andthis is where the gold tableware would be used. I tell you there was a gold punchbowl that you could take a bath in!! never mind the platters etc. It was really gold overload.
The crowns along with the sceptre and orb however are just magnificent and a delight to look at. The jewels are mind blowing and of course worth a kings ransom.
Today is our last day here and we plan to visit St Pauls Cathedral, inside Westminster Abbey and the Royal Mews to see the coaches etc.  We visited the Horseguards museum and saw the horses (all black) and learnt what is required of this long established regiment.  They spend 10hrs a day just polishing and caring for their equipment and on parade the best presented troops are allowed mounted duty whilst the worst is given foot duty. It is amazing how the horses can be able to bear standing there in their guard box for all that time. I do hope they get lots of exercise at some time.
We are certainly enjoying ourselves but you can only do so and see so much