The Crown Jewels

We spent a good deal of time in the Tower of London- Joanna gave us a great history lesson (better than the fake Beefeater guide) on our tour of the famous tower.  The events from 1066 were both enlightening and tragically brutal.

One of the tower buildings

Tower bridge to the south bank

A couple of Beefeaters

No pictures were allowed in the Crown Jewels Room -just believe me when I say those diamonds, sapphires, rubies, etc. are “yyyuuugggee!

One of the more interesting dishes in our forays was called crispy sprats- they’re little fishes, deep-fried to a pleasant crisp and served with aioli.  I had them for starters, but could make a meal out of them.  

Crispy sprats

The following day was a sick day for Susan- we told her to stay in bed so she can go out for our theater night at the Lyceum. Joanna and I went out to the London Transport Museum which happened to be crawling with kids and their cousins.  It’s a modern interactive museum that showed the beginnings of the under- and above-ground evolution of the transit system.  The most interesting part was provided by Joanna’s personal experiences riding them when she was a child.  

A few yards away is Marc and Spencer where we drooled over the food display in the Food Hall.  

After determining that Miz Susan was well enough to stay vertical, we all got dressed to see the Lion King.  It was a good production, the sets and costumes were genius and the cast was well-suited.  A big letdown was the atmosphere in the theater itself.  We were in the Royal section, which we assumed to be proper and civilized.  What we found were people carrying buckets of popcorn and beer to their seats and vendors selling ice cream along the aisle at intermission. Did they think they were going to a baseball game?  And for management to allow such foolishness, my word!

So here we are, commiserating at post-theater dinner at Balthazar’s