May 5, 2018 – London, England

London is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. It was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1.12-square-mile medieval boundaries.

London is a leading global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transportation. It is the world's largest financial center and has the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area GDP in the world.  It is the world's most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.

London contains four World Heritage Sites: The Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret's Church; and the historic settlement of Greenwich.  Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and The Shard. And, the London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.

After disembarking, and having no customs except on the ship two days prior, it was very uneventful. We collected all our very heavy luggage and they put it on to the tour bus that we were using during the day.

Our itinerary for the day was St. Paul’s Cathedral, Lunch and the Tower of London.

St. Paul’s cathedral has stood on the same site for over 1,400 years. The buildings have changed but St Paul’s remains a busy working Christian community. This is also the place where Diana and Charles were married. Here are some of the pictures from the outside. The statue is of Queen Victoria. We could not take any pictures inside of the church.

Next, we went to lunch at a wonderful pub called the Admiralty. They served us beef pie and a very decadent desert.

Our last stop was to the Tower of London. The Tower of London, officially Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle located on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite. The castle was used as a prison from 1100 until 1952 although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.

The Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history. It was besieged several times, and controlling it has been important to controlling the country. The Tower has served variously as an armory, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public record office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of England, which you cannot photograph.

The peak period of the castle's use as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries, when many figures who had fallen into disgrace, such as Elizabeth I before she became queen, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Elizabeth Throckmorton, were held within its walls. Despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the World Wars of the 20th century. Executions were more commonly held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, with 112 occurring there over a 400-year period.

They happened to be doing a reenactment of the beheading of Anne Boleyn while we were there. It was very good.

We did get to see the crown jewels, but there we could not take any pictures. On the way out we saw some ravens. We found out that the ravens are the Guardians of the Tower. It is said the kingdom and the Tower will fall if the six resident ravens ever leave the fortress. According to the stories, it was Charles II who first insisted the ravens of the Tower be protected. This was against the wishes of his astronomer, John Flamsteed, who complained the ravens impeded the business of his observatory in the White Tower.

Despite the painless clipping of one wing, some ravens do in fact go absent without leave and others have even been sacked. Raven George was dismissed for eating television aerials and Raven Grog was last seen outside an East End pub. There are eight ravens at the Tower today - the required six, plus two spares!

From here we went to our hotel, where they took our luggage directly to the room. It was a very beautiful hotel, very close to Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, the London Eye, and Big Ben. It was only about 3:30 so we decided to take a little walk. We passed by Westminster Abby on the way to the Riverwalk.

We got to the Thames, found the London Eye, walked along the river, through a couple of parks and back to the hotel.

We came back and went to a pub, The Feathers, that was next door. Great beer and good food.

And that was the end of our first day in London. Tomorrow we are on our own.