¡Buen Viaje!: Bling, graffiti, and prison: A rap video, perhaps? Nope. Tower of London!

We saw all that and more today at the Tower of London! Without anything specific scheduled in the a.m. we were able to sleep in a bit, then get breakfast downstairs here at the swanky Novotel. It was a buffet included with the room, so I got what I would have had at the Oakley for the "full breakfast" (sausage, tomatoes, eggs, etc.) and, of course, tea. Yum!

Rested a bit, then departed for our afternoon excursion to the Tower of London! Had a great guide (again!), Derek (Derrick? Sp.?), and the same driver from last night, Steve. They were awesome, and we had a nice time. Checked out the crown jewels, then Bloody Tower, etc. A pretty grim history to the Tower of London, but fascinating nonetheless!

Afterwards we came back to the hotel and then had dinner here, downstairs at the Artisan Grill. Shared some bruschetta, then had goat cheese and spinach tortelloni (Meredith) and steak with mashed potatoes and green beans (Michael), followed by vanilla panacotta (Meredith) and tiramisu (Michael) and a couple bottles of wine. We wanted to finish off the rest of our cash money (since we leave England tomorrow) so it worked out nicely.

Now to pack up and get our bags ready for tomorrow -- the porter picks them up outside the door at 06:30 (so nice and convenient!) so we need to have our act together. Plus, we really want to secure some front-of-the-bus seats so we'll need to get there early and scout out our competition, sidle up next to the guide, etc. You know the drill. :) We WILL have the best seats... you can count on it. :)

Next stop... Brussels, Belgium!!

The Tower of London!