UK August-October 2013- Tower of London

Prior to visiting the Tower of London, my idea of what it must look like came from cheesy Historical Novels, namely those written Philippa Gregory. In Gregory's novels, nothing good ever happens at the Tower of London. I also heard of my aunt and uncle's visit, where my uncle refused to enter the buildings because of "ghosts". He was superstitious like that and I'm not. My poor aunt ended up touring by herself, while he sat outside. In conclusion, in my imagination, I pictured the tower to be a dark and foreboding place.

A little, but really not so much.

We arrived at the Tower of London in the late morning, after touring Saint Paul's Cathedral. As tourists with limited time, there are only so many attractions that we could visit first thing in the morning, effectively beating the rush. We should have done the Tower of London first. It's very popular and although they manage the crowds like pros, it's still a mad house.

Our first stop was the Royal Mint to look at some really old coins.

Next, we did the Wall Walk, which is a one way walk around the stone defensive perimeter with viewing the exhibits in each of its towers. We saw examples of Medieval living, wall carvings by prisoners and examples of period weaponry.

My favorite exhibit involved animals that used to live at the Tower. The tower was once home to all types of exotic animals, including a Polar Bear that would go for swims in the Thames. There was a gruesome story about a visitor, who was mauled to death when a lion decided that he didn't want her stroking his paw. Around the grounds of the tower, there are animal sculptures to show where the real animals used to live.

We got some great views of the Tower Bridge from the perimeter wall.

We ate Tower of London chocolate coins to keep us going as we headed to the White Tower to tour the Royal Armouries.

A very cool fact about the Royal Armouries, is that it holds the distinction of being the World's Longest Running Visitors Attraction. That's impressive.

Truthfully, I felt like I was at Medieval Times, the part before the show, where you can look at all of the replica medieval weaponry and costumes. I have no doubt that the creators of Medieval Times visited the Tower of London, so that they could recreate it for their dinner show. Could I tell the difference between fake and the real deal? Probably not.

We went into the Beauchamp Tower, where prisoners were held. It was fairly cheery.

The most popular attraction at the Tower of London are the Crown Jewels. We waited over an hour in a line that snaked around the front of the building. So tip, if you visit, do this first! The line was long and it was a rare, scorching hot day! It's a quick exhibit, as a some of the more popular pieces are viewed as you are standing on a moving walk way. It's just so busy and popular, that it's not a place that you are allowed to linger. The Crown Jewels are opulent and a sight to see, but seeing them once is enough. It was probably the least interesting exhibit in the tower.

As we walked out, I found a few of the animals.

This is my favorite shot, showing old and new London.

Visit early and be prepared to do a lot of walking and standing.

UK August-October 2013- London Dining Last Week

Here is the post where I'm going to fill in the gaps for everywhere else that we ate during our last week in London.

Having eaten a lot of traditional breakfasts on the trip, we tried to keep the first meal of the day, simple. We found a great restaurant close to our hotel called Ponti's Italian Kitchen. They had wonderful oatmeal and strong lattes. A few days, we did a quick breakfast of parfaits and fruit at Pret A Manger. Pret A Manger is kind of like Starbucks, but better and with more food options. They need to open in Los Angeles.

When I visited the Victoria and Albert, it was really busy in the museum cafeteria. Too crowded to snag a table. About a block away from the museum, I found a cluster of restaurants. I don't normally like crepes, but I wanted a sit down restaurant to read and relax while eating lunch and the Cremerie Creperie fit the bill. I ordered a savory crepe with spinach and mushrooms. It was probably the best crepe that I've ever eaten.

Located in the same area as the Creperie, is Chopstix Noodle Bar. I'm generally suspicious of restaurants with cutesy misspellings in their names, but this was an easy and cheap option on the day that Dan and I visited the Natural History Museum. Chopstix Noodle Bar is a low rent Panda Express.

I think it may have been the abundance of wine consumption, but I didn't take a single picture of my solo dinner out at Spaghetti House. Spaghetti House doesn't sound very fancy, but this was one of my favorite meals of the entire trip. The restaurant is upscale/casual. I had an amazing pasta dish with braised beef that I washed down with several glasses of merlot. I finished by splashing out on a decadent creme brûlée. Dan was having dinner with his friends, so I treated myself. It's rare that I don't have to share my dessert and I cherished it!

Speaking of dessert...we loved the frozen yogurt chain called Snog. Delicious frozen yogurt and very colorful lights. We took our desserts and walked around London on a warm early autumn night.

Finally, the prettiest restaurant was the Serpentine Bar and Kitchen in Hyde Park. The food was a bit expensive and mediocre, but this restaurant is all about location, location, location. The views of the park and the Serpentine are stunning and it's definitely worth having a meal, or maybe just dessert here. The ambiance is hard to beat.

UK August-October 2013- Victoria and Albert Museum

Founded in 1852, the Victoria and Albert is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. It has 145 galleries organized by themes ( like theatrical arts and sculpture) and by regions of the world. It's so expansive, that it is impossible to see it all in a day. It's probably impossible to see everything, even if you visited for a whole month!

I didn't plan my visit, so I did what all of the other tourists were doing and I started with the exhibits right at the front entrance. There is no fee for the museum and the collection starts immediately upon entering the building. A few steps in the door and I was immersed in ancient sculptures. The giant statue of Neptune and Triton is by famed Italian artist, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Years ago, I wrote a paper on the sculpture for an Art History class and it was exciting to see it in person. It's very imposing!

I quickly realized that with so much to see, I would need to focus on the things that I was most interested in and I found a directory. My next stop was a display of fashion through the decades.

I paid a small fee to go into a special fashion exhibit called Club to Catwalk, which highlighted fashions of the 1980's. This exhibit was worth the extra fee. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed, because I saw some really crazy outfits that need to be seen to be believed. The most memorable, were outfits by designer Chrissie Walsh, that looked like they were stolen from the ride operators in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. Look her up, because this is clearly where they got the idea for the cast costumes!

As I walked through the museum, I peeked through the closed doors of the Art Library.

My favorite part of the museum was the Theatre and Performance section. I spent a few hours looking at costumes, watching performances on a giant cinema screen and reading through their playbill collection.

I love the creativity that goes into set design and the museum has a wonderful collection of set design dioramas. I managed to get a decent shot of one for a production of Sweeney Todd.

My favorite parts of the collection were a giant rhino puppet from a production of Ionesco's Rhinoceros , masks from a production of The Oresteia and costumes from The Lion King. If you love Theatre, this gallery should be a must-do when you're visiting London. I was really happy to have visited alone, as I could take my time and fully enjoy the exhibits. I could have spent all day here.

I ended my trip to the Victoria and Albert with a walk around the beautiful center courtyard. The dining hall was very busy when I visited, but it was huge with all types of food options offered. Many people took their lunches outside to sit by the reflection pool. If I hadn't been so overwhelmed by the crowds, I would have done the same.

The Victoria and Albert has a wonderful collection and with a free admission, it's an easy choice of an activity to add to your London sightseeing list. I look forward to a future trip, when I can explore more galleries.

A special Thank You to my in-laws for giving me cab fare, so that I would get to the museum safely! I got my bearings fairly quickly, but that first day alone in London would have been a little scary without taking a cab!