Well good grief, now it’s SEPTEMBER 10th, and because of my own busy-ness (read: LAZINESS), I have to try to remember what we did on JULY 22nd.  Fortunately, I have the photos to remind me; I look at them and the memories come flooding back in like it was just last week.

July 22nd was Tower of London Day!  As the trip entered its eighth week, the kids’ devotion to the broad historical significance of these European sites was starting to wear thin.  Alas, the Tower of London, for the three of them, was really just a place to hopefully see INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE AND EXECUTION.  The Crown Jewels?  Um, that might be cool.  The tumultuous history of the Tower as Royal residence, prison, government-building?  Meh.  The entertaining and eccentric Beefeaters?  Only if they’re the ones who used to CUT PEOPLE’S HEADS OFF.

But we had a beautiful day (actually, the weather in London was beautiful all week), and time was on our side, so we were able to linger at the Tower.  We hustled over to the Crown Jewels (smart move, LouAnn; there WAS in fact a very long line later in the day) as soon as we entered the gates.  They’ve recently enhanced the experience, and it was really cool.  Some serious gems.  And QEII’s coronation crown looked HEAVY.  And a quick visual survey of the preceding monarchs’ crowns confirmed my long-held theory that peoples’ heads are getting bigger and bigger these days.

Following our audio tour, we eventually made it to the INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE room, but I’m afraid it was a bit disappointing.  No actual torture going on.  Just a simple display of a Scavenger’s Daughter (the victim is slowly folded into himself, crushing him like a vise), a Rack (the victim’s limbs are slowly pulled from their sockets), and Manacles (the victim hangs from his hands like a prisoner in a Mel Brooks movie).  Yes, it was left to our imaginations to picture the countless poor souls who were so persuaded to confess, or spill the beans, or whatever it was they were trying to elicit.  We also saw the spot where several of Henry VII’s wives were beheaded.  It’s now an elegant glass memorial.  No chopping block, no blood stains on the cobblestones…. I mean, c’mon!

The building in the middle of the Tower grounds is FILLED with armaments and armor; that was pretty cool.  Lots of swords, axes, guns.  And we loved sitting in the shade and watching the always-present ravens.  Overall, a wonderful tour.

From the Tower we made our way to yet another pub for a late lunch.  The meat pies were amazing!  Via bus and tube, we meandered back to the apartment for a late afternoon rest before that evening’s theater outing:  “WICKED”!

And it was, in fact, WICKED.  Georgia was so excited she could hardly contain herself.  Despite being able to sing every song, she had never actually SEEN the show.  At intermission, moments after the curtain had fallen on “Defying Gravity”, Georgia literally couldn’t contain herself.  “That…..was…..AWESOME!!!!”, she squealed.  After the show, we camped out by the stage door and the kids got autographs from Galinda, Elfeba, Bock, Fiero….. They were thrilled.

Outside the Tower, first thing in the morning.  Much to his mother’s horror, Jack had already dumped his morning mocha down the front of his shirt.

The unassuming glass sculpture marking the spot where executions were held.  In fact, very few beheadings were conducted inside the Tower grounds; most were held out in the public squares.

FINALLY, some instruments of TORTURE.  One photo capturing all three we saw – the Scavenger’s Daughter, the Rack, the Manacles

RIVETED by the audio-tour.

Georgia!  Up here!

Ah, the Stumbo dramatics.

In the armaments/armor museum.  I ADORE this picture.

NOW WE’RE TALKING!  This is an ACTUAL chopping block, but a replica axe.  People’s heads were removed on THAT BLOCK.

This supposedly stoic guard bugged his eyes and winked at people.  Hmmmm….

Shepherd’s Pie at the pub!

Show-girl on the way to WICKED.

Poster reenactment #2.

Look how TALL he is!

Georgia, at intermission, very excited.

VERY excited.

After the show, VERY VERY excited!

Fiero!

Bock the Munchkin!

Galinda!

Elphaba!  Emma Hatton.  She had just stepped in as the full-time Elphaba the previous week.  She was phenomenal.

Cab ride home on a post-theatre-high….