Today we started out at the Natural History Museum. Ben was excited to see the dinosaur exhibit.
We had planned several other activities for the day, but I was surprised to find that we ended up spending 5 hours in the Natural History Museum. After that, we planned to have lunch in the Cafe in the Crypt at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church. Naturally, due to the long time spent in the museum, we happened to get there at a period when they weren't actually serving food. They did have some desserts on display, though, so we were able to refresh ourselves with lots of chocolate cake.
Next, since we were already in the area, we had a quick look through the Tudor Gallery area in the National Portrait Gallery. I wanted to find the portrait of the Duke of Monmouth that we had been told about on an earlier London Walk. He was executed in 1685, after attempting to overthrow the current king and claim the crown for himself. The story goes that after he was executed they realized no portrait existed of him, so his head was sewn back on his body and his portrait was painted, and this portrait hangs in the gallery today. Of course, looking for a specific painting in a huge building full of them was not an easy task. We never did see it. Could this have been what we were looking for?
Of course, no visit to London is complete without a visit to Harrods department store. Naturally, just about everything was out of my price range, but it was fun to look around, especially in the extensive food halls. There was counter after counter featuring all sorts of delicious looking chocolate. Luckily, after the chocolate cake overload at the Cafe in the Crypt, it was fairly easy to resist more sweets. We did have a late lunch at a pizza restaurant in the store, though, that was very good.
Our last activity of the evening was to attend the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. This ceremony has taken place every evening for 759 years. Approximately 140 people still live inside the Tower of London, but every evening the outer gates of the tower must be locked. There is a group of soldiers that accompanies the Chief Yeoman Warder as he goes around locking various gates. I did take a video, but as it was dark by the time the ceremony took place, there's not much to see!
It's good we did the Tower Bridge Experience a few days ago, because today an elevator accident in the tower and injured 6 people. It will be closed until the elevators can be repaired and checked for further problems.
Tomorrow it's off to the Imperial War Museum, the Mousetrap, and a Jack the Ripper Walk!
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