I woke up with a sore back and I just couldn't stay in bed any longer so I got up at 8 am and hung out waiting for the others to arise.
Mom was the first to get up at around 10:00.
Once she was up I hopped in the shower and by the time I finished, My Honey & brother were up too.
We wanted to see my sister in action and she was on duty today so we scrambled to get to the Tower by 11:20 am
My sister was going to meet us at the side door and get us in there.
We took a cab over the bridge but as usual, traffic was crazy and just crawling along.
So as soon as we crossed the Tower Bridge, we had the cab driver drop us off thinking we could walk and make it to our meeting point faster.
Not sure if it was the best choice as we ended up having to walk pretty much right around the whole thing but at least there were some nice flowers along the way.
There was a wall of greenery too that looked pretty cool.
We were a couple minutes late but my sister had waited as long as she could so we just caught her.
We went in with her but she had to get back to her duties right away so we planned to meet up with her after.
What a difference compared to last night, te place was just packed with people today.
We thought about going in to see the Crown Jewels but the line up was super long so we skipped it.
My sister wasn't actually doing sentry duty, she was changing out the guards so we watched her do that.
There are three guards on sentry duty and every hour or so they switch out with 3 new guards.
My sister was the one that would bring the three new guards out.
She would supervise as the new guards join the current guard at the post.
She watches as the switch out.
The new guard takes there place on duty.
My sister checks everything is ok.
Then repeats the whole thing at the second post.
The last post is down in a different part of the tower so she escorts the new or replacement guard to his post.
She has to shout "make way" or "clear the way" so then can march straight to the last post and change out the guards there.
What a tough chick!
I was so proud of her I got a bit choked up.
We watched the whole process then we went to the little cafe they had there to get some lunch.
I got a few things - it was super expensive and it wasn't any good.
Except my tomato soup which I did like.
Mom tried a couple of funky looking salads.
She said she liked them ok.
My brother had the pasta.
Of course I had some dessert.
It was ok.
My sister was going to be off duty around 2 pm and then she had the rest of the day off so we hung out and waited for her.
We saw the beef eaters come out so that meant they would be taking over the shift from the Canadians.
They followed the same process with a more senior officer escorting the new guards to their posts and inspecting to make sure all is good.
I just love how they look!
Those hats make them look so tall.
I wanted to get a picture with one of the yeoman warders - I love their uniforms too.
Finally my sister was off duty and we had the rest of the day to spend with her.
It was another gorgeous day here in London so we decided to take advantage and go on a cruise again even though My Honey & I had gone on one yesterday.
Honestly if I could spend my whole day on a boat I would.
My Honey & I, cruising again!
It was really busy on the boat so we weren't all able to sit together.
It was a hop on hop off tour too so at one stop, pretty much everyone got off and we had our pick of seats then.
My mom was so happy to be able to spend the day with my sister.
My brother in front of the London Eye.
Kind of looks like that seagull is sitting on his shoulder, ha ha!
Yup, being on the water makes me happy and it never gets old.
Here is the Walkie Talkie building again.
The glass part at the top there is a viewing gallery or "The Sky Garden".
You can go up there for free and eat and enjoy the view.
You have to make a reservation though and there wasn't anything available for the rest of our stay so we weren't able to do it.
It really does look like a walkie talkie.
Just one of the cool buildings along side the river.
We got to see the bridge open up to let a large boat through.
That was pretty cool, it happens really fast too.
After the cruise, we took a cab to Piccadilly Circus to find somewhere to eat.
Every thing was crowded and busy so we had a hard time.
Mom was looking tired and even though she said she was fine, we scrambled to find a place quickly.
We settled on Garfunkel's.
My Honey said that we'd been there before and hadn't liked it but sometimes when you give a place a second chance it works out.
My sister had to head back at 6:30 to make her curfew of 8:00 pm so that was a deciding factor as well.
We got calamari for an appetizer, it was ok.
My sister ordered mushrooms in a cheese sauce which seemed like a weird combo to me but it wasn't that bad.
My brother just went for the garlic bread, he isn't into mushrooms or calamari.
The appetizers came quick but that's when things went down hill.
Our food took FOREVER!
Killing time, waiting for our food.
It's weird, you are just waiting and not thinking too much of it then suddenly you realize an hour has passed and then suddenly it's like, what the heck?
It did finally arrive, I had ordered a chicken, leek and ham pie with veggies and potatoes.
The veggies were cold but the pie was ok.
I ended up sharing with My Honey as he'd ordered Shrimp Scampi but when it finally arrived it was horribly overcooked and essentially inedible.
I had been looking forward to ordering Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert but because the food took so long we were kind of put off and just skipped dessert.
Plus it was time for my sister to leave anyway so we said our good-byes to her and she headed off.
We headed over to the TKTS booth to look at tickets for tonight but there weren't that many choices so we decided to just head back to the room and have an early night.
We could all use a relaxing evening in.
Also, we wanted to book tickets to go to Bayeux, France tomorrow to see my great uncle's memorial and we wanted to get that done.
We cabbed it back to the hotel and checked out the prices to travel to Bayeux.
They had tripled since we looked at them last week, guess that's what happens when you leave things until the last minute, so we decided against going.
That was just way more money that we wanted to spend for a day trip.
We stayed in for the night and watched some tv.
We watched some 8 out of 10 Cats, that show is just hilarious.
I have been feeling so fat on this trip, the FATTEST I have ever felt in my whole life.
I really need to get it under control when I get home.
Cabbing it around sure makes a difference on that step total.
That is all for today, until next time, be happy!
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