Epic Vacation Part 1B

Tower of London...and I pull a stupid that nearly gets us kicked out of the castle.

So it went something like this. You're pretty much able to take pictures everywhere around the entire attraction, inside and out, with the exception of the room where the Crown Jewels are kept.

Just before you enter the Crown Jewels room, you walk through another room first with writing on the wall that states basically "you are about to enter the room where the Queen's Jewels are held..." or something like that. Also on the wall is a sign that states "no pictures in the Crown Jewels room". Okay, so I kind of knew that you're not supposed to take pictures of the Royal Bling, check. So I thought I'd take a picture of the sign (IN A DIFFERENT ROOM) that stated we were about to enter the Royal Bling room.

Bad move.

Two...(I don't even know what the hell you'd call them, Tower of London employees, Royal Bling guards...whatev) sprang out of nowhere to very nearly confiscate my camera. Oops! The one said please delete the picture(s) you took. ?? I only took one of words on a wall.

So technical gadget illiterate me hands the camera over to hubby cuz I don't know how to delete pictures. He deletes the picture all the while one of these vultures is hanging over his shoulder, pulling at the camera, demanding to see before and after shots and generally making a public scene with us as the main stars.

"It's a picture of words on a wall", hubby says "I don't see what the big deal is, we haven't even hit the Bling room yet."

Vulture is still tugging on the camera trying to get it out of hubby's hands. My god, what a scene and SOOOOO embarrassing. We managed to convince the vulture that there was only one picture and it's now gone and we put the camera away and continued on our way with her evil eyes lasering holes into the back of our heads and turning our brains to mush.

Holy crap, my entire body was the colour of a red rose from embarrassment and I was actually shaking. The rest of the tower was cool and I managed to refrain from making any other moron moves.

I manged to get a few pictures tho...

Attack in the fortress is a real danger. This is where you might be stabbed, impaled or slashed if you wear a speedo

This is Henry VIII's armour. It's hard to see in the pic but his peepee had it's own protector that juts straight out at crotch level. It was kind of funny

Inside the Tower of London fortress

Epic Vacation Part 1

Vacation is now over and it's kind of a bummer. This was a pretty epic one - 5 weeks away. I've never done this before and truthfully felt a bit guilty taking this much time off work at once. This one was about three years in planning. But thanks to my parents for taking care of our round trip flight from Vancouver to Europe and back, and the two weeks in St. Andrews, Scotland, we had ourselves a fabulous trip that took us to 5 different countries (once you're over there, inter EU flights are dirt cheap with Ryan Air and others).

So yours truly, along with hubby and boys, started our trip in London, England, my birth place, to do some sightseeing. I also wanted to show the boys where mother dearest was born.

So we did the usual touristy stuff - St. Pauls Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Covent Garden, Underground rides, Trafalgar Square, Double Decker bus ride, and trips to the local Tesco Express for food (£2.50 for a sammich, chips or chocolate bar, and drink - seriously can't beat that!).

Tower Bridge

The boys at the Olympic Countdown Clock in Trafalgar Square

The best part, tho, had to be the city squirrel being chased down city streets by vehicles (refer back to Frogger for additional proof that squirrels are dumb). Where the heck he came from in the middle of the concrete jungle I don't know, but amusing he was. He headed down one lane being chased by a VDub, only to turn around and get chased down another lane followed by a Black Cab. Was able to make a sharp left only to be met by a bus, did a phenomenal 360 flip two feet in the air to avoid said bus, and bolted in the opposite direction down the street and around a corner, being chased by the bus, never to be seen again. The whole time, we're standing at the bus stop with three other people, and we're all watching this action unfold and exchanging "oooh(s)", "aaahhh(s)", "watch out(s)", "run little squirrel, run(s)" wide eyed to each other.

It was awesome.

*I like to think the squirrel got away

**I tried to pay a visit to the Queen but she didn't accept my call

***I very nearly got kicked out of the Tower of London cuz I took a picture "near" the crown jewels...faux pax!!

Quick update

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been traveling and will be writing all about it when I get home. Currently in Ibiza Spain and it's so hot.

Out for now.
MummyChronicles