Barbara Feldman: Tower of London: Ceremony of the Keys

Tower of London: Ceremony of the Keys

After booking our flight to London, I immersed myself in finding hotels. To aid in my travel planning, I went to the library, the bookstore and, of course the Internet. I really like the Frommer books and the travel site Trip Advisor where you can read reader reviews on everything from hotels to tourist sites.

For London, I finally decided on a small apartment that is part of a very small (just eight rooms) bed and breakfast. One of my criteria was wireless Internet access, and I found the Geek Tels worldwide listing of hotels with Internet to be quite useful.

Although I've been to London half a dozen times, I've never visited the Tower of London, and I was very excited to learn about the Ceremony of the Keys, a colorful nightly ritual that has taken place for 700 years. Tickets, although free, must be ordered several months in advance. Mine just arrived.

Okay, so maybe this a tad bit touristy, but heck, we are tourists! Here's more info on ordering tickets and a review of the ceremony.