The Family Jewels

at The Tower of London

As a male who has played with legos, I must say that checking out a real castle is quite a thrill. I actually may qualify to be a certified castle architect given the amount of hours I have trained in this field (also an expert in pirate ships).

This castle in particular - The Tower of London is quite impressive. The White Tower (in the center) was erected by William the Conquerer in 1078 on the site of an old Roman fortress. It used to be surrounded by a moat (the grassy part in the picture) that would wash out with the rise and fall of the tides of the Thames river.

Still protected by beefeaters (the guy's from the gin bottle).

Also, on a side note; for current events in the UK, we are in the midst of a Prime Minister campaign. The campaign period here is only about a month long, compared to the year and half in the states, so that is quite different. Last week was the first live broadcast debate in the UK between candidates.

Trivia (don't wikepedia this): who participated in the first general election presidential debate in the U.S.?

Answer: JFK v. Nixon (I wikipedia'd it)

That is Gordon Brown on the right, perfectly at ease wearing a pink tie, David Cameron in the middle (not sure what he's famous for) and Nick Clegg on the far left (literally & figuratively, I think) whose children are named Antonio, Alberto & Miguel. He must be far left. I think this makes him interesting enough to be elected, but we will see on May 6....

Something else they do here: you can get an ice cream cone with a 'flake' in it, which is pretty much just shoving a kit-kar bar into your ice cream, brilliant!