A supposedly fun thing we'll probably do again

We thought it would be a good idea to go to the Tower of London on the holiday weekend.

Thousands of other people had the same idea, and the place was packed, though perhaps not more than normal.

We did get a look at the crown jewels before the lines got too long (no pictures allowed), and we made our way through the suits of armour in the White Tower and wandered the ramparts.

Charles I's Armour

And then we left, feeling as though we didn't quite get our money's worth, even on a two-for-one deal.

s. thought the Tower Ravens were the best.

We will probably do something like this again--paying too much for an underwhelming visit to a major tourist attraction that has been dumbed down for the masses--but for now it is nice to be able to cross the Tower of London off our bucket list, and move on.

Fortunately, the outing picked up from there. After some coffee we left the crowds behind, and wandered through part of the core of old London.

The bombed-out ruins of St. Dunstan's Church

Our first goal in "The City" was the monument to the great fire of London:

And by that point we were close enough to St. Paul's Cathedral that we decided to press on despite protests from our junior member:

A double-decker bus ride got us back to Kings Cross in time to make a last-minute stop at the British Library to view their freely accessible Treasures of the British Library exhibit--easily the highlight of the trip. (No pictures allowed again, so you'll have to imagine priceless manuscripts, or click here for a virtual tour.)

The crown jewels are nice, but they don't compare to Codex Sinaiticus and the Magna Carta.