London Part I

i spent my first night in Europe in Canary Wharf (London's financial district). i had a couple of hours before my flight to Madrid today, so i decided to go see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. The Tower of London sits in front of London Bridge along the Thames River. The Tower is famous for being the site of royal executions, torture, and diamonds. The crown jewels were spectacular, unfortunately I couldn't take a picture of the 534 carat diamond known as the 1st Star of Africa.

romance has new meaning in an old country. i'm loving the final words of King Henry VIII's fifth wife, Katherine Howard, upon the scaffold..."I die a Queen, but I would rather have died the wife of Culpepper." [Culpepper was her humble lover with whom she had an affair while married to the King.]