April 7: Tower of London, Wok Box, and Dorris Day.

So before I forget: On my way home today I sat next to an older man on the tube, probably like mid 40-50s, who was reading "Dorris Day: Sentimental Journey."

It is very odd to be sitting next to an older gentleman in a leather jacket whilst he is absorbed in a bright pink book about Dorris Day.

In other news, today was my first time getting to know the English health care system. Not sure I like it much. I woke up this morning having difficulty breathing, but it seemed to get better with my old inhaler and no way was I going to miss seeing the Tower of London. But I'll get back to that part of my day.

Hmm...okay, I'm just going to cut to the main stuff, details will probably be remembered or left out in the retelling. Basically after a moderately difficult time finding the walk-in centre I filled out a brief form and was warned that I would have to pay a service fee repeatedly by a somewhat exasperated/frustrated/distracted reception lady. After an hour I was taken to a small room to discuss where I was from, where I got my inhaler, what I was allergic to, and what I was doing in the UK. Then I was directed out into the main hall again, I fell asleep for about an hour, waited a half hour more, and eventually got called into a different room by a nurse who asked about my symptoms, checked me out, and said that she could hear/see nothing wrong with me even though I have no voice and was wheezing while in her office. Also, apparently they don't carry the inhalers we do here- it's a different brand, and differently named drug. Looks the same, but the inhaler is blue and the mouthpiece is slightly larger than ours. Weird, right?

Odd things from being in the waiting room: there was a guy who I'm pretty sure was crazy, kept talking to himself and hand waving, which would be cool except that he did it the entire time I was there. Then there was a lady who couldn't stop moving or shivering. I remember her because she was wearing a Love Your Body Week 2007 t-shirt and I thought of Maisha and the Womyn's Centre. Next up was the woman I saw when I woke up and freaked out because she looked EXACTLY like Mahaffey except maybe in her early 30s, but same hat, same style dress, same smile...it was really, really weird. There was also a man in a turban, and a guy named Matthew Robins who was nothing like Matthew Robins...it was a really strange day in that green-walled reception area.

As for the Tower of London: for some reason I was actually expecting a boring tower, maybe even a skyscraper or something. Man am I silly. As such I did not think to bring a camera, which is really quite sad. Turns out the Tower of London is the old medieval fort/palace where King Henry VIII kept and killed his wives, some royal children were murdered (I'm sure Emdowd can give details, I'm worried I'll get them wrong and she'll cry and/or go crazy from thesis stress if I try) and a bunch of other stuff. I saw all the armor of Henry VIII and Charles' I and II (which was AWESOME) and the weapons (I have new respect for the mace) and discovered that if you put all the current pence pieces together, the design creates sections of the royal coat of arms.



See? How cool is that? (Click to make it bigger, the picture is not mine.)

So I saw all the armor, and stood in the area where several queens were decapitated, and sat in the chapel where Lady Jane Grey, Ann Boleyn and Catharine Howard are buried. I listened to the stories of the Yeomen Warders, who apparently have to have served in the Queen's military forces for over 22 years, achieved a certain military rank, AND won at least one medal in order to even apply to become titled as the Queen's bodyguards and tell stories and answer the inane questions of massive tourist groups. My yeoman was hilarious, made some great jokes and was a very dramatic figure. I enjoyed it, and discovered I've learned way more history the past three months than I previously thought I did. I wandered through and saw all of the crown jewels, and walked the walls and turrets learning about the various famous prisoners, tortures, and kings who ruled from the fortress when life was too dangerous to rule from Westminster. I got to see actual ravens, which are giant slightly scary birds, but no longer on my list of giant everyday birds (thanks swan for taking that prize) I walked through too many towers to count including the bloody, the white, the salt, the something, the something...and was going to do another one, but by then I had been there for a good 3.25 hours and it was time for fish n' chips. With Ketchup!!

For dinner tonight I went to Wok in a Box. Yup, that's what it's called. It's like a panda express met fast food, which makes sense if you look at the title. I got noodles, sweet sour chicken, and a spring roll (which for some reason has a hint of cinnamon in it. weird!).

Uhh, I just wrote a paragraph and I'm beginning to drabble on needlessly. Guess that means its time to do work/procrastinate/other things.

Check in tomorrow!