six wives of One King day 7

Day 7 Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. Just a short ride on the tube to Westminster Abbey and see inside the Nations’ Parish Church. The Abbey holds many treasures and more sovereigns than anywhere else. There is Elizabeth I and her half sister Mary in the same tomb. Mary Queen of Scots lies opposite the Lady Chapel in a much grander tomb. Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Henry V & Edward the Confessor are all in suitably grand or venerable tombs. Anne of Cleves is the odd one out she just has a simple epitaph written in gold letters in a wall near Poets corner. We travelled by river boat on the Thames from Westminster to the Tower of London along the same route to traitors’ gate that Elizabeth I and Catherine Howard travelled. The Tower is not just one Tower, everybody thinks that the White Tower is the Tower but there are a number of others that hold significant items if history. Prisoners form the Tudor period created elaborate graffiti whilst awaiting execution or freedom. The Jewel Tower holds an exhibition of the making of the Crown Jewels, but there was a little bit missing so I asked the staff member on duty where the Cullinan diamond was, he took us up a closed staircase to have a private look at the copy of the largest rough diamond ever found and the one that provided the largest ever cut diamond that lies in the state Sceptre on display in the Crown Jewel. That diamond has the power to mesmerise, I think it’s almost alive and twinkles away under the glass. We had dinner at the Globe theatre overlooking followed by an experience that will live long in the memory. As part of the Globe to Globe festival, w were here to see the Merchant of Venice....in Hebrew!!. by an Israeli theatre group. The security was intense, huge numbers of Police and security guards were present just in case there was any disruption. Full baggage search and x-ray machines were in the foyer and also stewards were inside the theatre, big chaps that I wouldn’t like to tangle with. In the event there were 12 ejections during the performance but that didn’t halt the flow of the play. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t understand exactly what was being said there was a couple of message boards that kept you informed of the gist of what was going on.