Day 6 - St. Paul's Cathedral and The Tower of London

Whew! Another fast and exciting day in the U.K. Off to Farnborough train station for a ride into Waterloo station. This is the rail and tube station that we have landed in each morning in London. Oh yeah, it's Saturday. Weekends are when they perform "engineering maintenance" on the tubes in London. We find our way through the maze of tubes to get us to the Tower of London. Oops, it's raining. The Beefeaters postpone the Tower tours when it's raining. So, we rearrange our plans.

No problem, we'll do St. Paul's Cathedral first. Wow! An incredible place of worship. The ceiling is beautifully decorated with mosaics. Kathy's theory is that since churches in England are used for burial grounds, they decorate the ceilings so that the dead can look up at the beautiful ceilings. Just a theory, but a good possibililty. Nevertheless, this in an incredible house of worship. It has been preserved for hundreds of years and is still a living church today. There was even a wedding there today. We weren't invited. After lunch in the crypt, no I'm not kidding, we are off to the Tower.

Going through any kind of security with the four of us is never boring. As Kathy presented her bag to the guard at the Tower, he spied a new pack of Mentos candy. He pulled them out and told her the guard in the shack behind us would love one of her Mentos. She, of course, told him to give one to the other guard. He did, after he took one for himself. She then gave them the whole roll. They never searched in our bags much. Beth did offer them a "healthy" breakfast bar, and he replied "good for you!". In other words, thanks, but no!

We then followed a great tour with a Beefeater. These men are retired enlisted English military personnel. They apply for this job upon retirement from the military. They and their families even live in the Tower. The Crown Jewels are a sight to behold. Wow is about all we can say for the size and beauty of the jewels that have been used by the Royals for hundreds of years.

Four tired girls rode the fast train home again. Now off to bed to dream about tomorrows adventures at the Royal Mews and more of London!