The Tower of London is our send-off before our side-trip, and it is magnificent. The White Tower was skyscraper of its time, and the turrets loom imposingly.
Aside from housing prisoners of high rank, the tower was reserved for royal guests. The lodgings were luxurious, a show of English power and wealth.
Alas, it's only remembered for the executions, a process that started by boat, through the Traitors Gate.
To the Bloody Tower, with its mystery of the princes, and beneath a bizarre but heavy-hearted memorial to the women beheaded on the tower green.
The Crown Jewels are a breathtaking relief from all the heavy history, and they alone are worth the price of admission. No photos allowed, but it's not a site you'll soon forget.
Outside, you see Tower Bridge, London's Golden Gate, a working, functioning piece of history. It's living proof of an age when things were built to last.
Even the graffiti was better quality back then, though I suppose the prisoners had no TVs to distract them.
The Tower is a morning well-spent. We move onward to the Ledbury for lunch, and after that our journey to Paris begins.
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