London! Day 4

On Thursday, Steve and I visited the Tower of London and Madame Tussaud's.  As I mentioned in a previous post, my legs, they were a hurtin'.  Horribly.  We figured out how to use the tube, so that helped a bit.

 

 

The Tower of London is just phenomenal.  Steve made the comment, "Gee, I work on some 300 year old houses at home, and think that's old.  Not quite!"  Here are some Original ROMAN walls that still exist:

Taking the guided tour was a smart move.  Our Beefeater guide, Bob, was hysterically funny, and gave us so much information and so many stories about the Tower!

The Crown Jewels are stored in the building below--now that was some serious bling!

Here is a guy working on a flagpole:

And here is how high he really was: (see the tiny speck?????)

 

The Beefeaters (or Yeoman Warders, as they're officially known) live in barracks inside the citadel walls:

 

This used to be the moat around the castle.  It ended up being the biggest cess pool in London, and could be smelled up to 5 miles away.  Eventually it was drained, and is used for a drilling green now.

I have tons of pictures of the inside, too, but the outside is so much prettier! :)

Lunch was a very American trip to Subway, followed by a visit to Ben & Jerry's.  Laugh if you must, but my salad followed by a Cookie Sundae was very satisfying!

Then we hopped the tube to go to the wax museum.  Frankly, I don't think it was worth the money (50 pounds or $100) to get in, but at least we can say we've seen it. Here are a few of the pictures I took:

 

 

We headed back to the hotel for a nap & a shower--we had a PARTY to go to!  Thursday night was The Pampered Chef's Gala Evening, and WOW.  They know how to throw a party.

Here is the ballroom:

About 1100 people attended the gala event--350 consultants who earned the trip, plus spouses, guests and children. 

With my director and friend, Arlean:

 

Steve in a jacket & tie--I'm glad I have this picture!

It was a phenomenal night, with the Welsh Guards Marching Band performing for us!  We didn't head back to our hotel until almost 11pm--those of you who know me will know that that's a late night for us! :)