Tower, Hard Rock, the Eye and Hamburgers

Today we went to the Tower of London -- in the pouring rain. We saw the crown jewels and the golden coronation items which have been used in ages past and the crown which the current Queen uses and the Imperial Crown of India which the Queen will use when she travels outside the UK -- she's not allowed to take the real crown jewels out of the country. They were spectacular. We saw the Koh-i-Noor diamond which is 105 carats and the Cullinen Diamond (Greater Star of India) -- almost 600 carats and the Lesser Star of India at about 300 carats. Unfortunately they wouldn't let me play with them. Then after that Tom and I came back to the hotel and we took off on the tube by ourselves to Hyde Park Corner to the original Hard Rock Cafe and we went the wrong way and ended up in some super posh neighborhood in Knightsbridge and then had to turn around and walk all the way back -- we had a super informative waiter who for some reason singled us out to tell us the entire history of the Hard Rock Cafe which was way interesting. Then after that we went to the Vault to look at Jimi Hendrix's guitar, Sting's guitar, some original lyrics from John Lennon, an original outfit from BB King -- it was wonderful. Then after that we took the tube again to Waterloo station and got to ride on the London Eye. Tom got some super great pictures from it and I sat in the middle so that I couldn't see over the side. Somes acrophobia is very inconvenient. Then we found our way back to the hotel on the tube -- we have this down now just in time to leave London -- and then we walked over to Wolfe's and had a really yummy cheeseburger. We sat and chatted with our friends Len and Lisa and laughed until our sides ached. Then we came back here and are now going to have to pack and get ready for Paris tomorrow morning. They are picking up our luggage at 7:15 AM and so we have to get up really early. So goodnight and Bienvenue Paris!