London is Calling.....

After waking up obscenely early to catch my flight back to London, I arrived Berlin Airport for check-in.  This is were I decided that Berlin Airport is officially my least favorite airport.  Because as nonsensical as I found Dublin Airport, Berlin Airport is down right idiotic.  I arrive as if I'm traveling internationally (which I am), so about 2 1/2 hours early only to find that you can't actually go through check-in and security until they say you can, which is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before you flight leaves.  So you end up with bunches of people milling about in the entrance to the airport.  Does this sound like a security problem to anybody else?  Because it does to me.  It seems like it would be much safer if you just got everybody through security....  And then once you get through security, they don't tell you what gate you are at, until about 5 minutes before boarding.  So yet again, this leaves people wandering about because no one knows where they are supposed to go.  There are also very few seats around because you are forced to wait in the hallways of the airport, so most people are sitting on the floor.  So then, after another hour, your gate number pops up on the screen and you hurry off to your gate, only to arrive to realize that its 5 minutes to your boarding time, and your plane hasn't arrived yet.  You are then ushered into a room where there are about 30-50 seats for an airplane of 150..... The lucky few that got seats are given dirty looks as the rest of us are standing up and packed like sardines while we watch as 10 minutes later  the plane finally arrives and then another 20 minutes we start to board.... Moral of the story: DON'T fly out of Berlin Airport.

So I finally arrive in London, and I got my stuff back to Ruth's flat, I went off in search of some lunch and then planned on going to the tower of London!  I ended up getting a sandwich to go and went and ate it in the Rose Garden in Hyde Park.  It was beautiful!  Blooms are everywhere! :) 

I then made my way across London to The Tower of London!

Banner Proclaiming the Entrance to the Tower Of London from the Underground

Imposing, isn't it?

The Tower of London

This gate was the main means of transport inside the Prison.  Apparently, they were so afraid that the Ruffians who lived in London would try to set prisoners free and/or steal the provisions of the Tower, that both of these things entered the Tower by boat at the Traitors Gate. (You can kind of see that the Gate is in water.)  I learned this of my Beefeater tour! 

Traitors Gate

I was just walking down the street and then they came.....

Guards Supplied by the Queen to Guard the Crown Jewels

And I followed them to watch their changing of the Guards at the Crown Jewels.  I didn't get any good pictures of that though, so this will have to do.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the Doctor Who Experience!!

Cheers!
KM