Day Nine - London

The Tower of London

Guarding the Queens Jewels and
Posing With Tourists

Today we headed first to the Tower of London.   This time was to tour the grounds.  Our first stop was the tower with the Crown Jewels.  Those are some amazing gems!  On each side of the display cabinets are moving sidewalks.  We stood on them as we slowly moved by the crowns, the rings and the septers.  They were truly beautiful and it was fun to see them close up.  Somewhere in the tower we lost Ellen.  Janet, Heide, and Carol Jean waited and searched the tower but no Ellen.  We went outside and searched some more, but no Ellen.  Janet sat on a bench in the center court while Heide and Carol Jean checked out more of the Tower grounds.  When Janet was just about to ask to put out an alert, a voice said, "Can you take my photo?"  It was Ellen.  Great relief.  It would not be good to go with your sister/cousin to England and then lose her there!  While we waited inside, she waited outside.  When we finally came out, she had moved on to another section of the Tower.  Ugh...We wasted no more time and all went to see some of the other parts of the Tower.


We then headed back to the hotel to change.  Sunday was the day we were going to Afternoon High Tea at Grosvenor's House, an English Tea Council award winner, thanks to Carol Jean's generosity.  We took the tube the closest stop and headed up Park Lane to the hotel.  The Park Room was a creamy confection all by itself.  Beautiful pale green walls set a soothing tone.  Comfy upholstered chairs and sofas made us feel we were dining in an English manor.  The piano player was just frosting on the cake.  We each ordered Anna's Afternoon Tea.  The server brought us two beautiful silver three tier cake plates with several delicious kinds of tea sandwiches, two different types of scones, and then, on top, several scrumptious desserts.  All this served with your own pot of tea.  Yum!  We started with the sandwiches munching while drinking the delicious tea.  We then moved on to the scones with our favorite jam and clotted cream.  Finally, we moved to the top tier of desserts.  Everything was fabulous.  Beautiful setting, fabulous food, great room and sitting for two straight hours - heaven!  When we had finished, we rolled out and onto the street knowing we would not need dinner this evening!

Back to the hotel and another change of clothing.  Tonight we are going to an outdoor concert in Regent's Park.  Several months ago when checking online what would be happening during the time we were visiting London, the Seth Lakeman concert was listed.  After visiting his website, www.sethlakeman.com, we decided listening to his music in a park would make a great evening out -  though we did think it would be much warmer!  Instead it was quite chilly so we dress in several layers.  We catch the tube and walk through the park to the theater.  Small Christmas lights gave the entrance a festive look.  We found our seats, wishing we had a thermos of hot tea or hot chocolate.  Most of our seatmates came prepared.  Got to love the English's love of picnics!

John Smith at Regent's Park Theater

The warm up act was John Smith who played accoustic guitar and sang.  His music was good and his sense of humor even better.  It was a great beginning.  Soon Seth and the band took the stage and the tempo picked up.  He began the concert with the lead song on his new album, a fun up tempo folk song.  He played the violin and man, could he play.  This was one talented musician and it was obvious this was going to be a great concert!  The evening ended too soon and left us dashing for the CD line to bring home a souvenir of our trip.  Once secured we headed back to the hotel.  Another late night but we can't sleep in too late for tomorrow we have tickets to Buckingham Palace!

Seth Lakeman Concert Regent's Park, London from Janet Sheldon on Vimeo.