Day 124, 5 November 2012, London Calling! Train to the city, Tower of London - and the Crown Jewels! Tour with a Yeoman Warder, Tower Bridge Exhibition (pictured), Christmas Lights on Oxford Street switched on (by Robbie Williams no less). Movie in Soho - Tubes, trains and our first red London double-decker bus. Big day indeed! I've always longed to see the Crown Jewels, but we held off heading there immediately and instead joined one of the Beefeaters of the Tower of London (officially "Yeoman Warders") for a fascinating introductory tour. Our fellow was hiliarious, Billy Beefeater by name, and he told so many stories it was hard to keep up. It was however Guy Fawkes day when we visited and he noted that Guy Fawkes was in fact the only man to ever enter the English Parliament with honest intentions, a clear agenda and the means to carry it out. Of course then he was captured, tortured and executed. But perhaps he was on the right track... We also heard that the tradition of throwing an effigy or "Guy" onto a bonfire was originally from the Reformation and in fact symbolised throwing the Pope on the fire. He thought it was hilarious that he'd gone to Catholic school in Ireland in his boyhood and they religiously (!) celebrated Guy Fawkes day in this fashion. Many scary stories were told to frighten the children (brilliant! it's not that we hate them, we just couldn't eat a whole one). Blondes, women, the French (talk like Yoda and have syntax problems), the Germans (they started it), and one or two floozies who played around on King Henry VIII were all taken to task and we even learned how they keep the resident Ravens at the Tower. Firstly they have a wonderful lodging area, secondly they have a superb diet of fresh meat and blood soaked biscuits and finally, their flight feathers on one wing are clipped so they can't get far. It doesn't seem to do them any harm though - in fact lifespans of the pampered birds exceed 40 years - much longer than in the wild. There is an old superstition that "If the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it." This is why they keep one or two in reserve at all times! We even had one interrupt the tour by cawing so loudly our Warder had a stern talk to him to make him quieten down. We visited the Chapel Royal at the Tower, still a place of worship on Sundays (and if one did arrive to go to church then the £20 entry fee doesn't apply. Good tip when you're already there....). With Remembrance Day approaching we took the opportunity to buy poppies at the Chapel and then moved on to the Crown Jewels with Billy's advice ringing in our ears.... "Ladies, don't go comparing your diamond rings to the Crown Jewels. They won't win". His final parting words of wisdom involved him living in the Tower, in Central London, with parking and being single. We suspect that probably works very well with the ladies. Onwards and upwards to the Crown Jewels display which indeed took our breaths away. They've been on display in the Tower since the 1600s and whilst not the peak time to visit London the display was still busy. We hopped on the conveyor belt and were conveyed past the jewels in stately splendour (us, not them). It was so good we took the ride 3 times in a row and my eyes at least were glittering at the end of the tour. We walked the walls of the Tower and saw many suits of armour from the Kings of England but eventually had to move on to our next adventure - the Tower Bridge (pictured). We ventured up to the walkways and had our first aerial view of London, looking each way down the Thames - which certainly helped to orient us. We even visited the Victorian engine rooms in the base of the bridge and saw a stunning display of well known bridges from around the world - including a certain one from Sydney. Now that summer time has finished, it is getting dark by 4.30 pm - and we were entranced with the lights on Tower Bridge. We walked along the Thames and enjoyed views of The Monument (to the Great Fire of London) and the dome of St Paul's Cathedral by night. Eventually we realised London was actually quite a bit bigger than we'd imagined - so we jumped on a double decker to Oxford Street to see the Christmas Lights (proudly sponsored by Marmite - you'll understand when you see the album photos). It was just like playing Monopoly as we passed well known street names on the upper deck of the bus - The Strand, Piccadilly, Bond Street and Liverpool Street station to name a few! Even managed to take in a movie at the Curzon Soho using our London Passes. Our first day in London wasn't complete until around 10 pm - footsore and weary we retired, to gather our strength for the Olympian sightseeing of the forthcoming week.