Monday, June 1, 2026
We stopped in at St. George's Cathedral, the final resting place of several notable figures from history, including Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Philip. That was neat just because it's modern history, but of course, because I apparently have an interest in the dark traumatic parts of history, I was just as thrilled to find the grave of King Henry the Eighth. Yes, that King Henry. The one with six wives that were systematically done away with in one way or another.
St. George's is also the home of the Most Noble Knights of the Garter, the most prestigious knighthood founded in the medeival period. Both Prince William and King Charles are members of this order. It was interesting to see the crests of all the different knights displayed there. A couple notable names would include Tony Blair and Andrew Weber.
I also ran across a plaque above the grave of a particular Master John Schorn, who passed away in 1313. He had been a priest and was remembered for his supposed miracle powers which included healing, producing water, and trapping the devil in a boot. This last one produced more questions for me than answers.
After exhausting St. George's we got in line for Queen Mary's Dollhouse. I was very enthused about this as I have always had a great fascination for miniatures of any type. When the house was first constructed, it had not only electricity, but also running water. The decor is a collection meant to showcase British craftsmanship. Everything is made on a scale of 1:12. There are tiny bottles of wine that contain real wine.
One of the proudest features of the dollhouse is the the library. The library contains a collection of books that are rotated, and has recently been updated to include modern authors. The books were sent out to authors who hand-wrote and/or illustrated stories in them. There is, for exmple, a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes mystery in there that was written especially for the house and cannot be found anywhere else.
After the dollhouse, we proceeded into the State Rooms. These are a series of rooms ranging from the bedroom of a king, to dressing rooms, dining halls, and receiving rooms. Somehow Lindsay and I were trailing behind the others yet again.
A couple of things of note might by the Henry Van Dyke paintings absolutely everywhere and the china collections, one set which contains a total of 550 pieces. There was also a suit of armor which belonged to King Henry VIII. I was also intrigued with some quite ancient firearms. I don't know enough to appreciate them fully, and there were not proper cards to explain everything, but I did notice one had a date of approximately 1535 on it.
Lindsay and I were on our way out when we noticed something happening down by the exit. It was the Captain's Inspection. There wasn't a lot of explanation, but there was marching around and flashing of arms and such things.
As entertaining as the ceremony was watching the castle officials dealing with the tourists. They told everyone numerous times to stay behind the barriers because some of the guards were going to be marching by. One elderly gentleman completely refused to listen. The lady was getting quite exasperated with him. She told him that if the guards hit him when they went by she would laugh. Someone tried to tell her that he didn't understand English, and she responded by saying that she had made it clear to him with motions and he refused to listen.
Another tourist offered an umbrella to whack the fellow with, and she responded she would gladly take the offer except her manager was right there watching. The man never did move, but neither did he get hit, either, perhaps to the disappointment of the onloookers.
When we finally exited the castle grounds, everyone else was nearly finished eating. We elected to grab some fast food at Great British Fish and Chips. I do believe I roused some controversy when I bemoaned the need to eat as a waste of time when there were so many other interesting things to be doing.
We poked our noses just around the corner here to view the crooked house. Go ahead and search The Shambles. It has a fascinating history. Apparently one person involved in the construction refused to add columns like he was told to do because he said the load bearing wall was strong enough. Correction: He added columns, just made them short enough they actually don't support anything.
The current building was made of wet timber which warped as it dried. It is one of the most photographed buildings in Britain. In 1828, the buildings on either side were demolished, casuing The Shambles to lean further. Public opinion was that it would soon fall over, but to the surprise of all it just settled into the posture in which it rests today.
We then ambled down the street to Eton. We stopped at the Mainly Books Antiquarian Bookshop, which was a mentally pleasant as well as aesthetically pleasing stop, although naturally we did not stay long enough.
The eclectic collection of vintage books was well organized. If you ever get the chance, do definitely stop in!
On down the street is the College where both William and Harry attended school. It was impressive to see the streets full of the schoolboys, ages 13-18, just out of studies for the day, striding about in their dignified suits.
After lollygagging about a bit, we headed back to catch the train to London. We stopped for a bite at Tortilla, which promised us authentic California tacos. It seemed like a British version of Chipotle.
After supper we walked down to the River Thames and watched humanity stream by for a while. It started getting cool as we waited there. Finally it was time to head to our appointment at 9:30 to observe the Ceremony of the Keys over at the Tower of London. We had a bit of trouble finding the gate, but after some huffing frantically about, fearing we would be late, and walking nearly all the way around the tower, we did find our meeting point. We waited there for a bit in a small drizzle. It was honestly not super pleasant. And because I'm optimistic and hate carrying extra things with me, I had neither jacket nor raincoat. I accept full responsibility.
Nonetheless, we eventually entered to observe the ceremony. This is considered the oldest military ceremony of its type in the world, having been performed every night for somewhere in the vicinity of 700 years. They have never missed once, though the ceremony was delayed a single time during WWII when a bomb struck nearby.
At the appointed time, the Chief Yoeman Wardee came from his tower carrying a lantern in one hand and a tingling set if impressive keys in the other. He was met by an armed escort, who surrounded him and walked him to the outer gates which he locked. As they came back, a sentry appeared around the opposite corner and bellowed out, "Who goes there?"
The Yoeman answered, "The Keys."
The sentry responded, "Whose keys?"
The Yoeman said, "King Charles' keys!"
The sentry then proclaimed that they were free to pass and all was well. As our guide said, "Everything's been well for seven hundred years. We have no idea what we'd do if it wasn't!"
There were then a few more official things, including the playing of the last post on a trumpet. We exited the castle and headed back to the tube with the lights of the Tower Bridge reflecting on the Thames behind us.
