After strolling through the park, having dinner and walking along the Thames, the 3 of us headed off to a very special event. The Ceremony of the Keys.
It is a Ceremony that has been going on for over 700 years. Same time, same place every night come rain or snow or whatever the element might be. It takes place at The Tower of London. To get tickets, you have to order them online, I give a good 2-3 months notice, they are free, minus the international postage coupon they require. Order tickets from the site below.
Years ago, perhaps 700 or so, it seemed like a good idea to lock up the Tower of London every night.
http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/ceremonyofthekeys.aspx
Now I think it is just out of habit that this is performed. What ever the reason they still lock up nightly, it is something that I highly recommend if you can fit it in your schedule.
There are about 50 people who witness this pomp and circumstance nightly. After presenting our ticket, we where ushered into through the West Gate, we waited for the rest to be admitted and gathered at Traitors Gate. From there, the ceremony was explained to us by Allen, our Beefeater guide for the ceremony. He was great, had amazing stories to tell and told them in a way that mesmerized us all. One of things I learned that I never knew is that the Beefeaters actually live on site at the Tower. There are, if I remember correctly 70 families residing there. All this I learned from Allen. If granted special permission by the Queen, is family members may also be married at the Chapel on the grounds of the Tower.
As our tour procedded, Allen kept us laughing and the kids quiet by joking with them. A very nice thing he did was call all the little kids to the front so they could see what was about to happen. (An awesome map of the Tower)
http://www.hrp.org.uk/Resources/Tower%20of%20London.pdf
Once we where all gathered at the Traitors Gate, the ceremony began. We knew what to expect since Allen explained it all to us beforehand. Unfortunately they do NOT allow pictures or video to be made of the ceremony. Once the guards came down the walk with keys in hand and where allowed to pass by the guard on duty the Keys procedded past the Bloody Tower and we where escorted towards the stairs near Coldharbour Gate.
While the Ceremony was happening, everyone was very quiet, waiting in anticipation for the pomp. We where not let down. Seeing something so full of tradition was an experience definately not to be missed. After the Ceremony was over, we took the famous double decker back to Trafalgar Sq and the tube from there back to the hotel. We plopped into bed once again just around midnight.
