The Ceremony of the Keys

Tonight, Dave and I were fortunate to witness one of the oldest ceremonies in history. The Ceremony of the Keys is the traditional locking up of the Tower of London and has taken place on each and every night, without fail, for at least 700 years. The importance of securing this fortress for the night is still very relevant because, although the Monarch no longer resides at this royal palace, the Crown Jewels and many other valuables still do.  I've copied and pasted the info below because it is the exact script of what happens. We weren't allowed to take photos, so I borrowed that, too. 

At exactly 21.53 (9:53) the Chief Yeoman Warder of the Tower comes out of the Byward Tower, dressed in red, carrying a candle lantern in one hand and the Queen’s Keys in the other hand.

He walks to Traitor’s Gate to meet members of the duty regiment Foot Guards who escort him throughout the ceremony. (Our group was viewing this from Traitor's Gate.)

One soldier takes the lantern and they walk in step to the outer gate. All guards and sentries on duty salute the Queen’s Keys as they pass.

The Warder locks the outer gate and they walk back to lock the oak gates of the Middle and Byward Towers.

They then return along Water Lane towards the Wakefield Tower, where in the deep shadows of the Bloody Tower archway a sentry waits and watches.

As the Chief Warder and escort approach, the sentry’s challenge rings out.

“Halt!“
“Who comes there?“
“The Keys“ replies the Chief Warder.
“Whose Keys?“
“Queen Elizabeth’s Keys.”
“Pass Queen Elizabeth’s Keys. All’s well.”

All four men walk to the Bloody Tower archway and up towards the broadwalk steps where the main Guard is drawn up. 

The Chief Yeoman Warder and escort halt at the foot of the steps and the officer in charge gives the command to the Guard and escort to present arms.

The Chief Yeoman Warder moves two paces forward, raises his Tudor bonnet high in the air and calls “God preserve Queen Elizabeth.” The guard answers “Amen” exactly as the clock chimes 10pm and ‘The Duty Drummer’ sounds The Last Post on his bugle.

The Chief Yeoman Warder takes the keys back to the Queen’s House and the Guard is dismissed.

Visitors are escorted to the exit at 22:05.

The ceremony has never been cancelled and only delayed once when during WWII a bomb knocked a couple of warders off their feet.

Between 40-50 visitors are admitted, under escort, to watch the Ceremony of the Keys each night at 21:30 precisely. 

Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance. They now accept online reservations, and I secured our tickets in January. When I checked the site tonight to verify the directions for entry, I noticed that there are no tickets available through November 2015. Anyone interested in seeing this should reserve their spots as far out as possible. I know our Change of the Guard ceremony last Thursday morning got abbreviated due to rain, but I still think this was the more interesting ceremony. It was very cool being one of only a few inside the Tower walls in the dimly lit passageways, even if we were only there for a short period. It was rainy and cold tonight, but it was definitely worth a little discomfort to see this. 

Thornbury Castle

We celebrated our 1st anniversary with a castle suite at Thornbury Castle near Bristol. The castle was built by Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, as a show palace and never was used for defensive purposes. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn stayed here in the Duke's Chamber for 10 days shortly after their marriage. We had the room directly above, the Bohun suite. This name comes from the Duke's wife's family. The suite was about 800 square feet with a large four-poster bed and fireplace. The furniture kept with the medieval theme, but the bathroom was modern. We enjoyed dinner and breakfast in the hotel's restaurant as part of our stay. 

Salisbury and Stonehenge

I'm too tired to write much, but I'll post a few pictures. We left London for Salisbury via train this morning. Salisbury has about 43,000 residents, so we immediately noticed the slower pace (and cheaper prices) when compared to London. We walked to the Cathedral, built in the 1200s, and toured there. The Cathedral also houses one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta, so we saw that, too. 

After touring the church, we went to the market to browse and find lunch. Salisbury's market is open twice a week, and the square was packed with tents and people.  Many buildings throughout the city have been preserved. 

The main reason for the stop in Salisbury was its close proximity to Stonehenge. We prearranged a special access tour with Pat Shelley, archeologist. We were with Pat for just over five hours, and I can't recommend his tour enough. We saw the entire landscape surrounding Stonehenge, and we learned how Stonehenge is just one piece of this mysterious area. 

The altar stone

Dave being silly

High Security Areas

Today was all about guards - foot guards, horse guards, yeoman (beefeaters). We started the day with a tour explaining the Change of the Guard ceremony. Unfortunately, it began raining and the full display was cancelled. We missed out on the music and marching, but since it is a military service, it goes on in some capacity rain or shine. We saw the change occur at Clarence House (Prince Charles' residence) and watched the guards marching down the Mall. Speaking of Charles, we did see his motorcade go by while we were waiting for the guards to change outside his home. 

We next took the tube over to the Tower of London.  This area is under the care of the Queen's Guard. The guards even live onsite. Here, we saw the Crown Jewels, lots of suits of armor, Traitor's Gate, and the rooms that were once the Medevial Palace (before the Tower was a prison to so many). We learned that Henry VIII ordered more than 86,000 people beheaded during his reign, including two of his six wives. Most beheadings took place on the hill just outside the tower, but beheadings of six high-rank individuals happened on Tower Green.  Their bodies were buried in the chapel on-site, but since they were considered guilty of crimes, they did not receive any kind of significant grave or markers. Paper records noted who was buried where. Now, there is a glass monument on the green to commemorate those people. Also, the three queens' remains were later moved to places of honor under the altar where tiles serve as grave markers.  Roses are still delivered to Anne Boleyn's grave each year on the anniversary of her death, May 19. 

Our final stop of the day is secured by magical charms rather than Yeoman, and one must know how to pass through the enchantments in order to make it aboard the Hogwarts Express. Dave had some trouble :)

Tomorrow we will leave London for a couple of days. Our first stop of the weekend will be Salisbury with an evening tour inside the stones at Stonehenge. The next night we'll move on to Thornbury Castle, where we'll celebrate our 1st Anniversay. Updates may be delayed in the next couple of days, but I'll post when I can. 

It's Only Rock 'N Roll, But I Like It

This morning started early with a walk to Picadilly Circus to meet up with our Rock 'N Roll Tour. Bob was our guide, and he drove us all over London pointing out sites that were once recording or performing locations for popular acts. Highlights included

1. Soho, the melting pot of rhythm and blues. Multiple styles collided here and collaborated. Lots of important connections were made here in the '60s. Paul McCartney's office is still located here, simply called MPL. 

(MPL is the gold building.)

2. The Saville - a club promoted by Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles. Anyone who wanted to play the London circuit went through Epstein and played the Saville. The Beatles watched performances at the club every Sunday, and it was here that Paul first heard Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix did a cover of Sargent Pepper's. He, to this day, claims Hendrix was the best guitarist he ever heard. 

3. Denmark Street - Regent Sounds Studio. Many big names recorded here, including The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon), The Who, The Kinks, and The Yardbirds. This studio was later overshadowed by new technology at Abbey Road. 

4. Islington Public School - the school that produced the singers for Pink Floyd's "We Don't a need No Education." The schools receives royalties from the song, and is quite well-off for a public school here. 

5. Hope and Anchor - an important club even still today. U2 played here in the early days. 

6. Camden Town - an eclectic area where all of the creative types come to celebrate their creativity. Prince is a frequent visitor. 

7. Primrose Hill - A wealthy housing division near Camden. Many celebrities own homes here, including Chris Martin of Coldplay. He wrote one of their albums in a nearby park. Harry Stiles just purchased a home there. 

8. Abbey Road Studios - The studios were not always named that, but after the Beatles made the area famous, the studios changed the name to avoid confusion. The famous crosswalk is actually in a heavy-traffic area, so we literally played in the street to get some photos here. 

After the tour, we had lunch at the original Hard Rock Cafe and then visited the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum when we realized we wouldn't have enough time at the Tower of London.  We'll hopefully make it there tomorrow after the Change of the Guard ceremony in the morning. 

Classic London

Today was our first full day, so we used it to visit some classic London attractions.

We slept in a little (well, I did), and this worked in our favor. As I was getting out of the shower, I heard horses' hooves outside on the street.  Looking through the window, we saw a lot of movement at the Royal Mews, where all of royal carriages are kept. Soon, we saw a ceremonial procession leave. After checking the royal diary of scheduled events, we learned that the Queen was set to open Parliment today, a rather big deal here. After dressing, we walked by the palace and were able to see the recessional of the Queen and other royal family members back to the Palace. We weren't too close or in the best viewing spot, so this is the best shot of the carriage I could get. 

Next we continued on toward Westminister Abbey, but stopped at a pub for lunch before touring. No photography was allowed inside the abbey. :(

Next, we visited the Churchill War Rooms. Many of these rooms have been preserved in the same setups since the end of WWII. This area served as the Prime Minister's underground bunker and strategy center. 

After the War Rooms, we walked across Millinium Bridge to Southbank before deciding to visit Harrod's Department Store. We had dinner in Harrod's Food Hall before heading in for the night. 

Tomorrow we'll be up early for a Rock n' Roll tour of London with plans to visit the Tower of London in the afternoon.

London Calling

We made it! We had an uneventful flight and even landed a little early. Immigration took a good deal of time, but luckily, our room was ready when we got here. We'll be the Queen's neighbor for a few days at The Rubens Hotel. Our room looks out over the Royal Mews where all of Her Magesty's coaches, carriages, cars, and horses are kept. 

After a few minutes of rest and some showers, we headed back out to explore the area and to grab a bite to eat. There's a lot of construction on Victoria Station right now, so maps and things aren't totally accurate, and the first two places we tried for food were closed since it was between lunch and dinner hours. We eventually took the Tube to Paddington Station (where we picked up a pocket wifi device I pre-ordered) and settled on fish and chips at Garfunkle's next door. 

Unfortunately, even food in our bellies couldn't offset the fact that we were TIRED from our overnight flight. We made our way back to room and crashed super early. Party Animals, eh? Oh, well. We'll make the best of tomorrow after we're rested and adjusted to London time. The weather has been beautiful, and tomorrow is expected to be another nice, sunny day.