What an amazing day via Free Tours by Foot, London All-In-One

Because of Steve and I had such an incredible experience with "Free Tours by Foot" on our US Tour, I decided to book us for and All In One day tour of England and what a great decision that was! I'm a little bit intimidated about trying to capture everything that happened today but I'm going to try!
I'm going to do it via pictures with captures below each.

We started our tour at Buckingham Palace. This was actually a pretty modest accomodation. George III started staying here and they called him Farmer George because he was "lowering the standards" by wanting to live here. So, they improved the quality of the palace. Queen Elizabeth stays here on occasion but much less over the last couple of years. That said, this is where the Changing of The Guard" takes place. We didn't see that, but did see the Palace Guards at Prince Charle's house, not included in pictures here. 

This part of the tour was all about King Henry VIII. We know him for his 6 wives but our guide shared with us that he spoke five languages, started college of surgery, astronomy studies, women (upper class women) attending school and was generally well liked the first part of his reign. He played several different musical instruments, including composing music. He also fortified the English Navy, making the Navy a major Power of his time period. 

This was my favorite early part of the tour. This is the door to St. James Palace, King Henry VIII built for Ann Boleyn, his second wife. The building is now used for specific business of Queen Elizabeth, mainly conferencing with those who will meet with her in terms of proper protocol when meeting with the queen. So it is a waiting room of sorts. 

King Henry VIII came into his regency in 1507 (I think). He married Catherine of Aragon. They had a daughter, and she miscarried several times. Due to the fact, he only had one child, Princess Mary and not a boy, he looked for a way to get his marriage annuled. The Pope at the time said "No"; so he dissolved his Catholic relationship with the Church and that of all England. He started the Church of England and named himself the head of said Church. He was so angry with Catherine that he sent her away from him to live in modest means for the rest of her life and forbid her to ever see his daughter again. His second wife, Lady Ann Boleyn (1533-36) also did not produce a male heir. She knew her fate when she had a stillborn son at 6 months in utero. She was subsequently charged with being a witch (who bewitched the king), had five affairs one with her brother. It is said none of these allegations were true, but off with her head! Her husband, in his mercy, contracted with a special swordman in France to ensure a swift death. She was made to write King Henry a thank you letter for his mercy. By the way, all royalty who were sentence to death had "private executions" within the Trump Tower, everyone else of upper class sentenced to death were executed outside of the tower as a public spectacle and deterrent. Those of means were beheaded, most everyone else was hanged (or subjected to specific means of torture/death, which we won't go into here) 

King Henry had three more wives, he divorced Ann of Cleves, beheaded Catherine Howard (13 or 14 when he married her, short lived, she couldn't have been more than 16 when he had her beheaded) , then outlived by Catherine Parr. He had an ulcer in his leg, that was an open wound for years, so bad that his wound wreaked from odor of his infection to the point no one wanted to be in same room with him. He couldn't get in and out of bed due to his infection and his immense size. He died from this infection. 

Another view of St. James Door. 

This is the horse color guard that guards the gates that lead into Buckingham Palace on the other side. It is also where the Queen's Official Birthday Party is held each June and where the 2012 Volleyball portion of Olympics were held. (The Queen's actual birthday is in April, but the celebration is held in June) 

This is Westminister Abby. Several royalty are buried here, most notably Queen Elizabeth the First. 

Big Ben! Built by Augustus Pugin. He started having serious mental issues late in his life; he would not use the Roman Numeral X because he thought is was demonic, he replace with an "F" for those numbers. Hmmm. 

We had a fantastic lunch at the Princess of Wales Pub. 

St. Paul's Cathedral, built by Christopher Wren. He built seven churches and several other buildings. in the 1600s. AMAZING!

This is an example of an original building from 1600s I think that survived time and represented the tax structure. You were taxed on the size of the land on which you built. So they would build on as small a piece as possible, each floor upwards was bigger, leading to the top floor which allowed for refuse including toilet refuse to be thrown right onto fleet street below! 

This is Cat Hodge, said cat of Samuel Johnson who wrote first dictionary. He fed his cat oysters. Oysters were seen as food for the low commons, and shameful for those of his stature to buy. Yet he bought it for his cat because he didn't want to shame his servants by sending them to buy oysters. He created a scandal for himself over this behavior. Seafood was plentiful and seen as food for the poor. Exotic fruits, vegetables and spices were food for the rich. 

The proper City of London is one square mile wide and denoted by this insignia everywhere. 

This is another Christopher Wren Church that actually survived the Blitz of WWII. Most of Eastern London was destroyed in the Bombing of London (referred to as the Blitz) much of Western England was destroyed. After the war, priorities were given to rehouse the homeless, then decide what could be repaired/replaced. This church survived with evidence of war intact. Thousands died in the Blitz, which I don't recall learning about in my History classes. The East suffered the most because that is where the factories and armories were. St. Paul's Cathedral was spared because it served as a landmark for German Air Force to bomb the rest of the city! 

NOT London Bridge but Twin Tower Bridge. 

The Infamous Tower of London. Interesting story about this. The Beef Eaters, famous for being on Gin Bottles in US, main job was to guard the royal family jewels. The king would send leftover food to the guard, mainly meat, which no one else in the land got to eat, so hence the name Beef Eaters. The other interesting story is the Raven Master. After the Civil War between Parliament and the King, King Charles the 1st was beheaded (having lost) his son, Prince Charles the II, lived in France for over 15 years. Parliament decided they needed a King afterall and invited him back. He subsequently arrested everyone involved in the higher ranks of the civil war and had them executed. He was also lived in great fear that he would be killed. He heard of a witch who could see in the future. He summoned her to the Palace. She told him that to ensure the longevity of the monarchy he needed to  keep  a flock of Ravins in the tower from this point forward. He appointed a Raven Master, specifically for this duty. To this day, Ravens are kept in the tower with a Raven Master to care for them. 

There was so much more to this tour, I can't even begin to capture it all. Many, many very interesting details. The whole city of London burnt down in 1666; the same Christopher Wren built a monument to that event in the next subsequent years. 

Needless to say, Free Tours by foot did not disappoint. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/london-tours/walking-tours/london-in-one-day-tour/

Just a great day. Tomorrow, we will do a little more sight seeing in the morning then on to Oxford!