We then visited the Tower of London... a huge castle finished around 1250. All of England's kings and queens lived there until the 1700's. Soldiers even used the tower during World War II. The tower is filled with armor from the years that the English were a great empire. It also has many, many prisons with engravings from the enemies of the monarchs over the years.
After lunch at an amazing Indian food restaurant (very authentic said Kate who just visited India) I went to my hotel (The Hoxton at Holbourne - great place) to meet Sarah. We walked all over the city through Trafalgar square and over to Piccadilly through St James Garden near Buckingham Palace.
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| Dinosaur in Trafalgar square |
On our walk we found Goodwin's Court. Some locals told us it was the location of Nocturne Alley in the Harry Potter movies. We were so excited.
Then Sarah went back to the hotel to sleep and I stayed in Piccadilly to see a play: 39 Steps. It was very clever. There were only 4 actors playing many roles. There were almost no stage props or decorations. It was a funny and light thriller.. great fun.
This morning Sarah and I woke up early to head out to Florence. We took a train to Gatwick airport, then an airplane to Pisa, then a bus to Florence. Long day but always fun to travel. Easy jet was easy!
We just arrived at our apartment. This is the view in the front:
And we are off! We'll be going to a restaurant that serves gluten-free pasta and pizza because Sarah has a horrible intolerance. She spent 50% of her life in Florence in pain because of it 20 years ago. When I tried out my Italian on the host at the restaurant, he told me many Italians don't eat gluten. Things have changed here. In some ways, they are similar but there are many new things and the people look different than they used to.. or rather, everyone looks the same now. Globalization has removed so many of the different looks that used to exist before everyone bought their clothing at the same stores. More to come!
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