Slept in a bit this morning and had a good breakfast at the hotel, then out to a full-service Sainsbury's grocery store to pick up some snacks and to find a pay-as-you-go SIM card for my old i5 cell phone that I brought along.
Normally, when I go to the UK, I just switch out the SIM card in my iPhone with a UK SIM card. However, this year I have to consider that I am legally responsible for medical issues with an aunt who is in memory care in Georgia. It got too complicated to have the facility she is in to contact me at an international phone if something happened to her where I would have to respond immediately to give permission for medical care. So, I made the decision to keep my US phone number and pay the $100 monthly fee for 250 minutes of calls and some data and text messaging.
I have an older iPhone 5 that I have used before in the UK by purchasing a limited time period pay-as-you-go SIM card. This would give me a lot of local calls in the UK, unlimited text messages, and a certain amount of data to use as a GPS system. This usually cost me only $20 per trip. Unfortunately, the company I have bought SIM cards from the past, CarPhone Warehouse, has been sold and is operating as Curry, and no longer offers the fantastic SIM card deals it offered in the past. So, off to a full-service grocery store chain, Sainsbury, where I was told I could get what I wanted, along with some snacks.
That done and fully supplied with snacks and some shampoo and a bar of soap, I dropped it all off at my hotel and headed to the Tower of London for the day.
This is the White Tower, which served as an armory for a very long time. It also occasionally served as a residence of various kings and a prison at times.
A couple of the ravens in their cages. I had forgotten how big they were.
There are always tours given by Yeoman Warders, otherwise known as Beefeaters. They are all ex-military retirees and live with their families in the tower. They wear their many military ribbons on their uniforms.
One of the gates where kings and prisoners entered from the Thames River by boats.
After talking to one of the Beefeaters, I learned that the birds have broken into pairs, and each pair claims a territory on the lawn of the tower.
Oops, someone is getting very close to someone else's territory!
This is one of the buildings where the Beefeaters or Yeoman Warders live with their families.
This is the part of the Tower where the Crown Jewels are kept, hence the long line in the distance.
One of the soldiers guarding the Tower.
This is the location where three queens were beheaded, along with a few others who lose their lives here.
The entrance to the Tower church.
Beautiful organ!
The White Tower, in the center of the Tower complex, has been the residence of kings, but it has primarily been the armory of England.
It has a nice display of royal armor, but the lighting is so weird, it was really hard to get good photos.
The next two photos are of Medieval toilets.
And one of the few fireplaces in the building.
The day started out with an extremely long line to see the Crown Jewels, which are stored in the Tower, but as time went by, the crowds got smaller.
And even small, almost non-existent, so I hopped in the short line and saw the various real crowns, swords, and other regalia used for Coronations. Unfortunately, they do not allow photos, so you will have to imagine it all. But if you ever go to London, remember to visit here later in the day.
I was really exhausted from all my walking, but I found out that Wicked was playing and got online tickets for this evening. I was really glad I did because it was excellent, even better than the Detroit show I saw about 12 years ago!!
Hopped on the nearby Tube and got back to my hotel by about 11:30 pm. I'll repeat my earlier tip: If you ever go to London, make sure you choose a hotel in the center of the city and very close to a subway entrance. It makes it a lot easier to go out at night.
Fitbit Update: I walked 4.9 miles and took 12,541 steps today. Whew!!
No comments:
Post a Comment