The next day, after a rather disappointing breakfast at the hotel, we went off to Bloomsbury to see the British Library and British Museum. I guided everyone to the BL, and then quickly walked to my room a block away and back. It's funny to me that not everyone thinks that the BL is absolutely the coolest place on earth - Dominic seemed to like it, but Nicki and Karen were very unimpressed. We walked from the BL to the BM, cutting across pretty Russell Square. It's not far walk really, and taking the tube wouldn't make it any shorter. However, the gimps were pretty tired out from this short walk, and I felt more than a little bad for making the walk it. It's just that there's not really better way to get between the two places. Anyway, so we took little rest when we got there and took the required pictures in the courtyard.

Since everyone wasn't that into seeing a lot of antiquities, I guided everyone to the famous stuff like the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles. The Rosetta Stone cracks me up because it's not really that interesting if you can't read the languages written on it, but there's a huge crowd of people trying to get a look at it 24/7. We all enjoyed the Marbles, and everyone began to understand my constant wondering, "How did they get it here?" It was also nice to have other people agree with me that the V&A is better and more interesting museum than the BM. Maybe I could get the V&A to adopt me, and I could live there?

After the BM, we went over to Covent Garden for more shopping and wandering around. I suggested we grab some lunch from Marks & Spencer and eat in the market's courtyard. Everyone thought this was a great idea, until Nicki and Karen realized that I intended for us to sit on the curb and then they were a bit dubious about the idea. But, we sat down, and had a very pleasant lunch watching the people go by. After lunch, we shopped around the markets and such. Nicki and Karen really liked the Transport Museum Shop (we just popped into the shop, since I doubted that they would enjoy the museum), and I think Nicki's still debating about getting a really cute poster that's a reproduction of one of the 1920s Tube posters. Dominic got some really fun t-shirts at market.

After all this shopping, we took the Tube over to the Tower of London to meet up with Alison, Karen's sister, and her crew. The crew consisted of some of the younger members of the family who live in the London suburbs and Alison's daughter, Rachel. I think Dominic was happy to be back in the company of teenagers after being with us all day. The Tower of London costs a pretty pound to get in, but it is really neat. The place is run by the Yeoman Warders, also known as the Beefeaters because they were given a daily ration of beef (a great luxury) in the seventeenth-century. They and their families live within the Tower precincts, and they give very fun tours and such. The Tower is actually several towers with the oldest parts being innermost.

prisoners entered by boat via the Traitor's Gate

The most interesting parts of the Tower to me were the Crown Jewels and the White Tower. We went first to the Crown Jewels in the Waterloo Block. It sounds kind of lame, going to look at some jewels, but it was actually really neat. They have the building set up kind of like a Disney ride in that you wind through the building and see some less interesting objects as you're waiting in line so that you don't end up standing still a lot and are well entertained. We saw all sorts of things from the royal maces (some of which were not in the cases because they were being used) to the coronation robes, which look very heavy. Before you get to the room with the jewels, you enter a room with three large screens playing a looping video of Queen Elizabeth's coronation that has those Disney bars in place to make the line snake around the room. All the Brits very obediently queue up and watch the video while they're waiting, but several groups of French people shoved their way through the line. I'm beginning to think that you can tell a person's nationality by the way they stand (or don't) in lines. Maybe I should write about it;-)

When you enter the crown jewel room, you get on one of the moving walkways on either side of the cases. It's a very nice design. It keeps everyone moving, but moves everyone slowly enough to allow you to really get a good look at each object. The crown jewels themselves are absolutely beautiful, especially under the skillful lighting that picks up every sparkle. I really liked seeing the different crowns from Queen Victoria's small diamond crown to the Crown of India, which was made once India started asserting independence in a big way. We, of course, went to the special Crown Jewels gift shop, which has both really cheap plastic versions of the crowns and a really posh line of jewelry related to the jewels.

Nicki in front of one of the royal guards who keep watch over the crown jewels

the White Tower

the Beauchamp Tower

As we were leaving the tower, we stopped to ask one of the Beefeaters a question and, as it turns out, he was from Sunderland. Alison knew it as soon as he started talking because of this accent. I think it's very interesting how specific British accents are and how fine a ear most Brits have for them. I can tell the difference in accent between someone from south Georgia and someone from Atlanta, but I wouldn't know what town because our accents don't vary as much.

After we left the Tower, we all sort of lounged in the sun as we tried to decide on what to do for dinner. The problem being that we were now a rather large group and not every place could fit us in. We decided to take the Tube to Piccadilly, as there are a lot of places to choose from there. When we got to Piccadilly, no one seemed to really have an idea where to go and we sort of stood there for a while trying to figure out where to go. By the time we finally got going again, I was starting to get really hungry. That, combined with the press of people on the streets, made me start to get that I'm-about-to-faint feeling. I said as much to Nicki. She took one look at my face, and told everyone that we going to eat at the Italian place we happened to be standing next to. As it ended up, everyone was interested in eating at the place, so we all went in. The food was really good and the dessert was super-yummy, but the most interesting part of the place was how the young man who was manager ordered around the two young girls who did most of the serving - he ran a very tight ship, to say the least. After dinner, our group split up, promising to meet for at Harrods the next morning.

When we got back to the hotel, I went downstairs with my computer and very happily used the hotel's WiFi. Nicki and Karen joined me and used my computer to check their email and, as Nicki says, their "finances" so they would know exactly how much they could spend tomorrow, their last day in London.