Today is our second day in London. We were not rushed to get up early this morning, we have 10:00 AM reservations for visiting Westminster Abbey, but the time has a 30-minute entrance window, and I am sure we could get in even if we were either a little early or late. The timed tickets are mainly for limiting the number of people inside the Abbey at any one time.
We had set an alarm for 8:00 AM so we could get ready and make our bagels for breakfast. We toasted them in the small frying pan, one at a time, split into halves. I made a cup of coffee using the pods for the Nespresso machine, but only after I searched Google to find out which color pod to use. The coffee pods have colors and a name on them, but the names are not familiar to me, so I had to look them up to see which one I might enjoy. I know from the past that some Nespresso pods are really strong, and I wanted a milder choice. I selected the gold-colored pod, but unfortunately, there was only one of those, so I am not sure what I will make tomorrow unless the cleaning staff brings another one of the same ones I used today when they clean the room, but I am doubtful.
We were both ready and finished with our bagel breakfast at about 9:00 AM, and our plan was to leave no later than 9:30 AM to head to the nearby Tower Hill metro station for the subway ride to Westminster Abbey. We only had to take the westbound train for 7 stops and exit at the Westminster station, so it was going to be an easy trek with no changes to another metro line.
We had set up both of our phones with the TfL App, which is the transportation app for London. We had set up credit cards so we could use the contactless feature to charge our tickets to, we just had to scan our phones in and out at the beginning and end of the trip, and it would automatically charge to the credit card on file, at least that was the plan. If this worked, there was not much benefit to trying to make our older Oyster Cards work, we could just use this payment method instead, there was really no difference, and we did not have to load up the Oyster Card with more money to pay for our rides than we needed. There was no contactless world when we visited London before, so the easiest option was to pay by the ride with the Oyster Card versus individually buying tickets from a machine each time.
We headed out a little early, we would just have a little more time for photos outside if we arrived early. In total, with walking distances included, it was roughly a 25-minute trek to Westminster Abbey on the metro.
We arrived at the station, and I used my phone without issue to scan on the turnstile for entry. For some reason, Stephanie’s phone did not work, but we had also brought along credit cards, which will also work on the contactless system as long as the credit card has that feature. It is no different from using the phone except you don’t have to have a credit card out, with the potential to lose it. Stephanie used her credit card and we headed down the stairs to the westbound platform after we verified that was the way we needed to go on the metro map for this line.
Once at the platform, it got a little confusing because there were a couple of different trains lines we could take. Some go to different endpoints, but for the distance, we needed to go, any westbound train line was acceptable, they all split off a few stops after the one we needed, and that was the difference, they ended up in different places, but only after splitting off.
We only had to wait a couple of minutes and the next train we needed arrived. We got on with a little trepidation but soon saw the metro map inside the train and the stop we needed, so we knew this train was going to our stop. We had to stand at first, but as we traveled, seats became available. It seemed longer than we expected, but they announced each stop as we arrived, and we followed our progress on the metro map on the train wall.
We arrived at the Westminster Station and got off the train. We found the exit and headed up several sets of steps, finally arriving at the turnstiles to use our card and phone to check out, which sets the rate we are charged for the ride. In the end, because Stephanie has a small case on the back of her phone for some portable readers, and we have thicker Otterbox cases, we thought the glasses case was blocking her phone from being able to be used for contactless transactions.
We headed toward Westminster Abby, taking some pictures of “Big Ben” and the Parliament buildings as we headed that direction. It was fairly crowded in this area, it is a favorite for tourists. We found the entry line to get into for access to the Abbey, but this initial lone was only for going through security, they were checking all bags and doing a body scan with a handheld metal detector. It was not that long of a line, but it progressed very slowly,, there were only two security persons doing the checks.
As we got closer to the small tent and tables for the security, the line split into two sides, and we got into the shorter line, people seemed a little reluctant to split. Then another security person came by and told everyone there were two lines, so we knew we were good to have changed.
The only issue was that we eventually became aware that we were in the slower of the two lines. On our side, the security person was scanning everyone front and back, but in the other line, for some reason, that security person was only scanning people from the front, no one had to turn around. Of course, that meant it was going faster, but not by that much.
We got checked and then entered the Abbey where they scanned our tickets that Stephanie had on her phone. Then we each got an audio guide and a headset, for some reason, each individual piece was distributed separately. They were quirky. We first had to plug the headphones into the audio device, and at first, Stephanie’s device was playing through the built-in speaker, not through the headset.
A person came over and told her to unplug the headset, then plug it back in and then it started working correctly. Mone worked at first, and then it did the same thing, so someone came over to tell me to do the same thing.
The tour was nice. It was not crowded because of the timed tickets, but it was also not that large of a space in certain areas, so it seemed more crowded at times, especially for photos in the smaller rooms. I will not add a lot of detailed information to this post, I will add a link to the Westminster Abbey Website for more details on what is there.
I can say that there were a lot of people buried there, and some for quite a long time. There were also many special and famous people buried there who were not part of any Royal Family. Sir Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking are a couple of examples.
It was pretty inside, but also a little dark in some areas. It was amazing to see just how many people have been buried there over hundreds of years.
We also had purchased separate tickets for something called the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Exhibit. It was on the upper floor of the Abbey. Luckily for me, there was an elevator so I did not have to climb all 180 steps to get there with my bad hip.
It was interesting, but the best part were the views down into the Abbey from above. It was also interesting to see some of the exposed timbers that the Abbey is constructed from. The only drawback was that for some reason photos were not allowed, and it was closely monitored by staff, especially in the areas where we could get a great view of the length of the Abbey below. There were signs posted at all of these viewpoints, so it was virtually impossible to get a photo on the sly with a phone.
We headed back downstairs and the tour of the Abbey was over for the most part, at least for the inside areas. There was a side exit that went to a courtyard and to a couple of other areas, one being a restroom. Then we went back inside at the very end of the Abbey, which was really the main front entrance. We had not yet seen the “Coronation Chair”, which has been used for every coronation since the 1600’s. It was right near the exit, and was inside a glassed-in area off to the side. It was not that spectacular looking, but you could tell it was quite old, and really pretty plain.
This was a little bit of a change in plan. We had originally planned on heading back to the Tower Hill Station near the hotel after visiting Westminster Abbey and go to The London Tower in the afternoon. However, it was still early and so we decided to go to St. Paul’s Cathedral first.
We had a little difficulty finding the main entrance to St. Paul’s, it was on the other side of the Cathedral from where we were walking to it from the metro station. Of course, we went the long way around the entire Cathedral to get there. Once there, we went past a much more relaxed security station, they did not even inspect our bags, and headed inside to purchase tickets. We can say that most of the sights to see in London are quite expensive to go to, they average around 30.00 pounds per person, which is about $37.00 per person in USD.
We paid the entry fee and I got a slight discount since I am over 65, about 3.00 pounds. It is called a “Concession” ticket and is available at most places. We entered the Cathedral and walked around. I was not that happy about our change in plan, this was adding a lot of walking to our day and my hip was starting to get sore, and we still had 2-3 hours of walking to do at The Tower of London later on. We did not stay long, there was not a lot to see inside, but we had missed out on seeing the inside of the Cathedral the last time we were here in London, it was on a Sunday, and the Cathedral was closed for Sunday services, we only got to go into the very back and get a glimpse of the inside.
Of course, we did not climb up to the top of the dome, which we would have been able to do the last time we were here if it were open. It was cloudy outside, so the photos of London from the top would not have been that great, at least I tell myself that to justify not going to the top. It was listed as being 580 steps each way!
The tour ended in the Crypt area underneath. There were several tombs underneath the church, no Royalty, but some famous people like Lord Nelson from the British Navy.
There was a sandwich shop at the end of the Crypt area before we exited, as well as some bathrooms. We stopped off and had lunch. It was not bad food, but mostly it was easy, convenient, and quick. We each got a different sandwich, some chips, and a drink.
We headed back to the Mansion House metro station and rode a few stops to the Tower Hill station, which was near the hotel. We exited and headed to The Tower of London ticket office and purchased two tickets for entry. It was about 2:00 PM, so we had about 2.5 hours before it closed, which we thought would be enough time to see what we wanted to see there, the main goal being to see the Crown Jewels, which are kept there in a highly secured area.
We had just missed the guided tour that left a few minutes before we entered, so the guide told us to look around some and then come back here in 15 minutes for the next guided tour, which lasted about 45 minutes. We headed inside and saw the tour ahead of us, and I told Stephanie we should just join that tour, there was not a set number of people, it was just small groups every 15 minutes. She did not want to intrude into that group, so we walked around a bit and waited for the next tour time.
It was a little bit of a walk back to the starting point of the tour, so I told Stephanie I would just wait at a bench we saw inside, and catch up to the tour when they all entered and passed by. She headed back to the tour meeting point and I waited, and waited, and waited……..
I walked over to an area where I could see the tour starting point and saw that the tour had already actually started there and the tour guide was doing a presentation at that location. I had thought that was just the gathering point, but they were receiving some explanation of the outer area of the Tower Of London they were standing in, and the moat, which was also in that vicinity, but was now dry.
That was why it was taking too long for them to get to where I was waiting. They finally arrived and I joined the group. It was odd because our group went to a different spot from here than the group ahead of us had gone to, so I guess each tour is done differently, depending on the guide. The guides were all dressed as the famous “Beefeaters”.
We made a few other stops as we headed into the grounds. It was interesting to hear some of the presentations and to learn more about the history of The Tower Of London. At one point, there was a small guard change, there are guards here because of the Crown Jewels. We also learned that there are strict qualifications to be one of the beefeater guides, they all have to have been in the military for about 25 years, and have achieved a minimum rank, and of course, have been honorably discharged. They all live within the walls of the Tower Of London with their families, and we saw what appeared to be housing along the outer wall.
The tour ended near the entrance to the Crown Jewels exhibit, so we walked there and headed inside. Of course, it was a No Photo area, which was disappointing.
At first, the exhibit was disappointing. The first display was of some of the older crowns, but all of the jewels had been removed. This was not part of the main exhibit but it was a little misleading to see it first.
Then we entered through some really thick steel doors that looked like doors to a giant safe, and inside that area were the real crown jewels. It was very impressive to see how large some of the diamonds were, one being a diamond that had originally been over 130 carats that had been cut into smaller diamonds and set into several crowns. There was a moving walkway on each side of the display cases for all of the crowns on display to keep people moving, and there was also an elevated walkway behind one side of the moving sidewalk with detailed explanations of the items on display. We rode by once, walked back on the walkway, read about the items in the different cases, and then rode by again.
After the crown display, there were a lot of silver pieces on display in large glass cases from past realms, some of them were quite large pieces. There were also gold pieces in another display case, the most impressive being a giant golden bowl that would hold about 100 bottles of wine.
There were a few more displays on the way out once we passed through another set of heavy steel doors. It was all very impressive.
From there, we just spent time exploring the grounds, and at one point, there was a Raven on a bird stand sitting by some steps. You could get really close to it for photos, but Stephanie got too close and an attendant asked her to step back, she did not know he was talking to her at first, so he had to ask again for her to move back.
We walked along the top of the rear wall and went into a lot of different areas, but there were a lot of narrow and winding steps and our legs were getting tired from all of the walking today. We headed back to the side of the grounds closest to the river, trying to find out how to get out to the riverwalk. We had seen people going there when we entered. We headed up some steps thinking it was a way there, but it was another set of passages through different sections of the Tower including what is called the “Bloody Tower”, where a lot of famous people were held prior to being executed.
We never did find a way out to the riverfront. We thought it might have gotten closed off because it was nearing closing time for the exhibit, and we were now being directed to exit at the same area where we had entered, which at that time, had a sign stating it was “not an exit”, which was confusing to us now. We were tired and now had no option but to exit.
We headed back to the hotel to rest some. We had made plans to meet Stephanie’s Cousin Michael and his wife Rachael later for dinner at 6:45 PM. They were meeting us at a Pub a short walk from our hotel. Michael is in the Navy and is attached to the Embassy here in London.
They live on the other side of the river in an area near the Battersea Power Station, which is a famous area. We were originally going to stay with them until we learned it was a little more difficult to get to this part of town to see the sights we wanted to see, and it generally involved more travel time and walking to get to the sights from their apartment.
We headed out at about 6:30 PM for the walk to the restaurant. It was drizzling a little, and the forecast had been for rain showers this evening. We took umbrellas, but it never rained hard enough to use them on the walk over. They sent us a text that they were already there when we were still a few minutes away, just letting us know they were at a table right inside the door to the right.
Dinner was fun, we heard a lot about things they get involved with through the Embassy and generally just caught up. Stephanie had fish and chips and I had a meat pie for our dinners, and we enjoyed two Lager beers with them.
We were there for about two hours and it was getting late, we had a full day of sightseeing today and were tired. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel for the night, and took some much-needed and relaxing hot showers after our long day of touring.
We relaxed with a glass of wine before calling it a night at about 10:30 PM.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to meet at 9:30 AM for a tour that will take us to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. We booked the tour online through Trip Advisor.
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