T-T-T-Tower

Today I did the last of the truly touristy things on my Must Do London list - the Tower of London. I'm sure if I had been fifteen years younger I would've loved it, but I found the whole experience fairly tacky today.

There were bored looking actors dressed up in Restoration getup, so-called 'reconstructions' and lots of giftshops. Even the Crown Jewels failed to interest me a great deal (I only got a little bit excited when I thought about the Sherlock episode where Moriarty steals the Crown Jewels). Plus, I could only think about how if they sold off one of those gaundy septres that we'd probably be able to feed a starving village somewhere. Republic of Australia anyone?

Ever the history nerd, I was quite looking forward to the Bloody Tower but found it decidedly underwhelming. I really wished I could say I was creeped out. But I wasn't. I was hot, and flustered by too many tourists and just kinda annoyed by how they'd handled the whole history thing when it could've been made so much better.

Anyway, next was lunch at Wagamama. I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was (or maybe I was just really hungry) because previous experience with this chain has not been good. Anyway ordered some chicken gyoza and salmon/soba:

So, it's now 3 o'clock and I have nothing to do. So I went shopping in Kensington. You know me well enough by now surely.

Despite my resolution just to window shop, I bought some sexy shoes and my first long skirt. Warning - quite a bit of leg:

Today just goes to show that doing the tourist thing can sometimes be painfully empty. There are so many wonderful things about London, and I've found it's more about experiencing the energy of the city than the various tourist traps I willingly walk into. Either way, at least I'll have good shoes on.