I'm Henry the 8th, I am
It was over 500 years ago, in April, 1509, that Henry the 8th ascended to the throne of England. The great king was known for his excesses, including too many wives, too many religions, too much weight, and not enough patience, so we have decided to honor him with some excesses of our own.
Will is reading too many books. In fact, we were spending a disproportionate amount of our weekly allowance at the fine bookstore around the corner, Daunt Books, until we fortunately discovered the Marylebone branch of the London libary. Andie is walking too much, her legs getting longer, leaner, more strong, as she puts on several miles per day. All of us are having too much ice cream, although I'm sure in Henry's time, just like today, too much ice cream is a contradiction in terms, even if Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard said I scream. The best is the gelato place called Scoop in Covent Garden. It is completely decadent. Henry would most definitely have approved.
Off with their cones!
We started our Henry excursions with a trip to the Tower of London last weekend. The trick to the Tower is to get there early. We walked through the gates promptly at 9 and made a beeline for the crown jewels. They rest in cases behind a very thick steel door and a maze of ropes designed for the very long queue that, at 9am, has yet to form. We could take our sweet time gazing at the many diamonds and emeralds, the wealth of a rich and glorious nation right there on display. There's a conveyor belt to keep the crowd moving past the crowns in an orderly fashion. It's sort of like the cool exhibits they have at the United terminal in SFO which you watch as you glide by on the conveyor but never take the time to walk around and examine more closely. Except it's the opposite of that, since you really want to take the time to examine them up close, but the conveyor keeps whisking you away. Since there was no one there with us, I walked backward on the conveyor. This means I got to look at the greatest treasures of the kingdom and pretend I was ten years old at the same time!
From the jewels we zipped over to the famous White Tower, the center of the complex, where there was an exhibit of Henry's armour. Henry loved armour, it turned out, and since he had a new suit made every few years you could practically watch him get fat as you walk through the exhibit. The armour was spectacular, especially the horses' outfits. It's hard to see how either horse or rider could ever get hurt in battle with all that protection. Of course, it's also hard to see how they could even get to the battle.
(Later that night Ava and I watched a show called the Tudors via iTunes. It's about Henry's reign, and there was a scene where he is in his armour at a jousting match. What a cool sense to have seen the actual armour earlier that day! The rest of the show Henry was wearing considerably less!)
Having hit the most touristy things, we spent a few hours touring the rest of the Tower at a more leisurely pace. We posed for pictures with the executioner, who delighted in telling any scared children that there was "nothing to be afraid of. I'm just a man in a mask with an axe." He killed with that line! And should you wonder where said pictures are, some rogue decided to abscond with our camera somewhere around the time the executioner was entertaining us. That's right, a crime in the Tower. Is that ironic, or does it just suck?
A week later we resumed our Henry celebration by taking the train out to Hampton Palace. It was pretty cool to visit the council chambers where the King met with his advisors, and to visit the special exhibit on Henry's women. I liked the parchment announcing the birth of Edward - a Tudor press release the description wryly notes.
The favorite part of the palace for us was the wine cellar full of barrels and the kitchen with its huge fireplace and very fashionable rough wood furnishings. I had to get Ava out of there before she got any ideas about redesigning our house again.
An appropriate punishment in Henry's kitchen.
Today we returned to the British Museum so that I could see the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian relics that Ava and the kids had already visited. They have been there four times now and have it down to a science - "first we go to room 4 and then we hit rooms 7 and 12. Don't bother with the Assyrian era - why did you go there?" I was rescued from my wrong turn and escaped to the light and beautiful courtyard, now covered by skylights. We snapped a photo and headed to Covent Garden for lunch and ice cream.
British Museum pros know just where to go.
Then Ava and Andie went shopping in Covent Garden while Will and I went to the London Transport Museum. Boy, is that a lot of fun. The history of the underground and the photos of the men digging it with pick axes and shovels was fascinating; the stories of heroism during the blitz inspiring. And best of all: Mind the Gap t-shirts!
Big Will
Will let me drag him from there to the Thames, then to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, through St James and Green Parks, and finally home, a 6 mile round trip. Maybe next time I'll let him get a bottle of water.
