Tudor Women day 1

Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London The Olympic temperature is rising in London with banners on all the street lamps and rail stations No more so than Westminster Abbey, it was playing host to large groups of troops being guided around this great Church. The troops are there to help protect the Games and just before they have to go on duty they are being shown the great historical heritage that the capital city has. The weather was not too kind, a lot of rain showers, but we managed to dodge most of them going in and out of the separate exhibitions and other towers around the place . Tower bridge right next to the Tower has the Olympic rings logo suspended over the Thames, just to remind people in case they forget.

We managed to get the last Beefeater tour in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula before it closed for a wedding. Not many people are entitled to get married in the Tower and this one was an officer in the Royal Fusilier regiment. Much later on in the afternoon, the sun shone a little bit and as luck would have it the happy couple came out of the church as we were nearby .For the first time I saw a ceremonial honour guard of officers holding their swords up for the couple to walk under. What photos they will have for their wedding album. One of the great new features of the Tower is the animal sculptures around the place, life sized animals just appear all over the place. Just as you walk along there might be Baboons, lions, a polar bear and even an elephant.

Later on after dinner at the George in Southwark, a place that both Shakespeare and Charles Dickens would have known, we had a gentle stroll along the Thames back to our hotel past some landmarks old and new like Southwark Cathedral, the Globe Theatre and the Shard.