Tits, Titian and the Tower

Day Four – London

Up early(ish), we were breakfasted and onto the Underground by 9:30am. James and Anna are fast becoming the kings and queens of the full English. They'll both be in shock when we hit the road and three or four(!) course starts to the day are things of the past.

Another trip on the Underground got us to Bank. Rather than change for one more station we got off and walked the 10 minutes or so down to the Tower of London. Getting there nice and early was a good thing as it meant there were no queues at all and we went straight in.

Less than two minutes had passed before Jenni, James and Anna had cornered a couple of Yoeman of the Guard for a photo opportunity. They were very friendly and apparently we were their first "customers" of the day.

Knowing things would pick up quickly we headed straight for the Crown Jewels. Having seen them before and knowing a fair bit about them I was able to answer a fair few basic questions. Even so, Jenni cornered a (very) young attendant and milked him for a good 15 minutes of Q&A. He was brilliant and knew his stuff inside out. You got the feeling he was an enthusiast as much as worked there. It was still like talking to the work experience kid though and he had a thick cockney accent which was hilarious. At the end he insisted we call the Yoeman by there more common name of "Beefeaters" because it really bugs them. ;-) You can't fail to be impressed by the jewels. Even if you're not into taht sort of thing the size and number of gemstones and the amount of gold is just mental. Anna was particularly impressed and spent the majority of the time with her mouth wide open.

From there we headed for the Fusiliers Museum which I was very keen to see as they have a French Eagle from th 82nd Line, captured by the regiment on Martinique. They have a great collection of material from both the Napoleonic and the Crimean wars, plus some neat modern stuff too.

Next up was the White Tower which unfortunately is undergoing restoration on about half the exterior so was covered up in scaff and fabric. Inside was right up to spec though, with a special exhibit on armour of various kings on display. Downstairs the artillery room is also chock full of cannon and assorted other firearms related stuff.

Unfortuatnely at that point James' back started to play up. It's been bugging him for a couple of days now and whilst it isn't a major problem he gets quite sore after a few hours walking. I think over the next few days it will ease off as he gets used to the walking. Not wanting to push things we packed up and headed back via lunch outside the Tower and a souvenir shop. Jenni managed to completely confuse the guy behind the counter with the coins but they sorted it out. She was happy to get called "darlin" in a proper geezer accent and I almost had to go outside to laugh when he rolled out a "lubbly jubbly!".

Back at the hotel I took advantage of Jenni's good nature and made a break for it on my own in the arvo. We're only a 15 minute walk from something I've always wanted to see – The Wallace Collection. I fully admit I was so excited I just about ran there rather than walked.

I simply *cannot* describe how cool the collection is. It's like half the stuff you ever saw in books is there and it's free to get in. There are three very large galleries of amazing armour and weapons from Asia and Europe and the stuff is so packed in you strugle to pick out individual items at times.

Despite that being something quite special, the Wallace art collection blows it away. OMFG, the stuff they have in there. Titian (tits out for the lads!), Vermeer, Delacroix, Boucher (more Titian than Titian), Rembrant, van Dyck, Rubens, etc, etc, etc. I swear my head almost unscrewed trying to take it all in. I got to see Boucher's "Madame du Pompadour", Hals' "The Laughing Cavalier", Fragonard's "The Swing" and Rembrandt's self-portrait amongst piles of other stuff. I had a brillaint conversation with a gay couple who couldn't understand a straight Aussie guy almost passing out from excitement every time he turned round. When I got back I near drove Jenni out the door so she could go too. When she got back she was just as excited as I was.

We finished off the day with dinner at a local pizza place. Like pretty much everything in London it was good quality but pricey. James and Anna bent the waitress' ear with all sorts of craziness. The poor girl was very understanding without understanding anything if you know what I mean.

Tomorrow we meet up with ex-Adcorp Steve and family. I haven't seen Cara or Bonehead (Eddie) for years and never met Millie at all. Really looking forward to it...

Cheers,
Millsy