2 years Already!

Man how time flies! Bill and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary this past weekend by taking a "city break" to London.

I've really been wanting to see "Rock of Ages" and it just came to London's West End (their version of Broadway) this fall.
To Bill's credit, he actually remembered me saying this and made arrangements for us to see the show this past Saturday night.

We got to town in early afternoon and made our way to a sports bar in London where the Wisconsin Alumni Club meets to watch the Badger games. We met some great people and were able to enjoy the first half of the game. Bill was a good sport and even wore his Wisconsin t-shirt and cheered along with the rest of us. Luckily the Badgers (not surprisingly) were waaaay ahead of Indiana so I didn't feel so bad missing the rest of the game.

The Shaftesbury Theater.

The show was FANTASTIC!! I highly recommend you see it if you have the chance...just don't bring the kids. The music was amazing. It is all classic 80's rock so of course it was!! During the first act I felt the baby kick for the first time!! It was so cool! Like she was dancing along with us :-) She has good taste already.


The next day we got up bright and early to head over to the Tower of London for a tour. My friend Lisa was in town from California and she met us there so we could spend some time with her. I was so surprised because I thought the Tower was just a prison. Turns out it is that as well as the home to England's monarchs for over 600 years!
The prisoners kept here were typically of noble or upper class status. Famously held and executed here include a few of Henry VIII's wives.

The Royal Crown Jewels are housed here as well and very impressive. The most extravagant of which is this.
The Sovereign's Scepter with the Cross, it was remade in 1910 to add the world's largest and finest diamond, the Cullinan I, weighing 530 carats. That is some serious bling!!

The Tower is just next to the London Bridge on the Thames River.

There are a group of men known as: Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman of the Guard Extraordinary who preside over the site. Got that? Quite a mouthful. These Brits love long titles, that is for sure! They are more commonly referred to as Beefeaters. No, not the gin, but these are the guys they got their name from :-)

The Beefeaters historical role was to guard the prisoners of the Tower back in the day and protect the Crown Jewels, but now they provide historical tours of the grounds and actually all live there as well. Beefeaters were first appointed 1485 in the time of Henry VII. These men and (one woman, the first of all time) must have served in the military for 22 years or more and spend 3 years training on the history of this site and pass several tests before they are given this illustrious title.
This is our Beefeater guide telling us the history of the White Tower.

It was a great (and exhausting!) weekend. London is such an amazing city. I think we could go there every weekend and never run out of new things to see and do.

I am a very lucky gal to have a husband like Bill. Happy Anniversary and I love you babe!