Todays post is brought to you by Jenise....
Today we went to the Tower of London. This was our first look at a real castle. As we came out of the underground The Tower was right in front of us!
As Jason and I walked around The Tower we realized we needed to by tickets to go in and look around. Of course there were "loads" (one of my new British words) of people already in line! I didn't know you could purchase the tickets online and we wasted half an hour waiting just to get ours.
We walked through the Main Entrance and immediately saw the Yeomen Warders. The Yeomen, or Beefeaters, live in The Tower and serve as guards so they make wonderful guides as well. They are quite interesting characters (that's "report card talk" for loud and obnoxious). He told us about how the executionor would become friendly with the the prisoner's but not "San Francisco friendly" for us Americans. He also had lots to say about the French and gave the audience a hard time for being bloodthirsty (since we all wanted to hear about the prisoners and executions and whatnot). Like our trip to Westminster Abbey, the tour was pretty awesome.
After the tour we explored the towers, turrets and palace. Our first stop was to see the Crown Jewels in The Jewel House. Of course there were diamonds and other jewels there but the most beautiful thing was Elizabeth II's coronation robe made from spun gold.
Next, we made our way to Traitor's Gate. This is were most of the prisoners entered The Tower of London. Fun factoid: it was initially called "Trader's Gate" because it was first used as an entrance for traders.
We walked through Beauchamp Tower where many important prisoners were kept. These included Lady Jane Gray, one of Henry the VIII's wives, who was beheaded. The people who were kept here often did "graffiti" on the walls which we were able to look at. Then we went to The Bloody Tower. This tower is notorious for the disappearance of two princes in 1483. This tower has set up a sort of "who done it?" on the disappearance of the two boys. The suspects backgrounds and motives are presented and evidence is given, then you get to vote on who you think killed, or kidnapped the princes. A substantial majority holds Richard III responsible as the popular accounts by Thomas More and William Shakespeare.
We then moved on to The White Tower where the royals lived long ago. This later became an armory.
In The White Tower we were able to look at weapons the British used throughout history along with many suits of armor. This is a picture of the infamous Henry VIII. Our yeoman said to make sure we took a look at it: "It is the first use of psychological warfare in history!" You may need to enlarge the photo to understand...er maybe not!
While we were there we had to watch the ravens for a bit, which are very important to The Tower. There is a legend that says that if the ravens ever leave, the entire kingdom would fall. Those are high stakes so what do you think they did? Clip their wings!
We meant to go to St. Paul's today but ran out of time. Instead we went to Tower Bridge, the former site of the London Bridge.
Only one day left in London then its back to sunny California!
Today we went to the Tower of London. This was our first look at a real castle. As we came out of the underground The Tower was right in front of us!
As Jason and I walked around The Tower we realized we needed to by tickets to go in and look around. Of course there were "loads" (one of my new British words) of people already in line! I didn't know you could purchase the tickets online and we wasted half an hour waiting just to get ours.
We walked through the Main Entrance and immediately saw the Yeomen Warders. The Yeomen, or Beefeaters, live in The Tower and serve as guards so they make wonderful guides as well. They are quite interesting characters (that's "report card talk" for loud and obnoxious). He told us about how the executionor would become friendly with the the prisoner's but not "San Francisco friendly" for us Americans. He also had lots to say about the French and gave the audience a hard time for being bloodthirsty (since we all wanted to hear about the prisoners and executions and whatnot). Like our trip to Westminster Abbey, the tour was pretty awesome.
After the tour we explored the towers, turrets and palace. Our first stop was to see the Crown Jewels in The Jewel House. Of course there were diamonds and other jewels there but the most beautiful thing was Elizabeth II's coronation robe made from spun gold.
Next, we made our way to Traitor's Gate. This is were most of the prisoners entered The Tower of London. Fun factoid: it was initially called "Trader's Gate" because it was first used as an entrance for traders.
We walked through Beauchamp Tower where many important prisoners were kept. These included Lady Jane Gray, one of Henry the VIII's wives, who was beheaded. The people who were kept here often did "graffiti" on the walls which we were able to look at. Then we went to The Bloody Tower. This tower is notorious for the disappearance of two princes in 1483. This tower has set up a sort of "who done it?" on the disappearance of the two boys. The suspects backgrounds and motives are presented and evidence is given, then you get to vote on who you think killed, or kidnapped the princes. A substantial majority holds Richard III responsible as the popular accounts by Thomas More and William Shakespeare.
We then moved on to The White Tower where the royals lived long ago. This later became an armory.
In The White Tower we were able to look at weapons the British used throughout history along with many suits of armor. This is a picture of the infamous Henry VIII. Our yeoman said to make sure we took a look at it: "It is the first use of psychological warfare in history!" You may need to enlarge the photo to understand...er maybe not!
While we were there we had to watch the ravens for a bit, which are very important to The Tower. There is a legend that says that if the ravens ever leave, the entire kingdom would fall. Those are high stakes so what do you think they did? Clip their wings!
We meant to go to St. Paul's today but ran out of time. Instead we went to Tower Bridge, the former site of the London Bridge.
Only one day left in London then its back to sunny California!
6 comments:
We've made sure it will be very sunny (read: HOT!) for your return. ;-)
Hot. Not hot. I think I'm going to be in bed for a few days when I get back....I'm not going to be on my feet, though. That's for sure!
This would be the one place I think I would like to see, the crown jewels. We are kind of concerned with the rain and flooding, yes, we are dry and going to be hot when you get home. Puppies are OK, in to everything and still digging holes. Love ya a lot, Mom-Mom
OK could not stand it another moment, have to say it, even Henry VIII was a braggert about the male anatomy! (You will have to explain me to your friends.) Love ya Mom-Mom
How was the Tower Bridge? I'm very jealous that you got to see it, as you know bridges are my favorite architectural structures.
Tower Bridge was neat. It's sort of silly looking to tell you the truth--like a kiddy bridge, only really big.
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