Tower of London

We set out in the morning with the agenda to visit the Tower of London and one of the many museums around the area. Our trusty guide book said that the Tower of London was a good way to spend 3 or 4 hours. I will save the suspense and just say it now. The guide book easily underestimates all time by at least 50%. By the end of the day we spent closer to five hours and didn't even see all there was to see. So stay tuned for Tower of London II - The Bloody Return!!! Anyway, back to our visit. I can't say it enough, just how mind blowing it is to visit places where so much history has taken place. I will point out some of the bigger items here, but if I gave a full run down of the day and the Tower it would take pages to write and hours to read.

Ok so here we go...The Tower dates back to the eleventh century and has held just about every royal and government role imaginable in its time.

Looking out over where the moat used to be.

When we arrived we killed some time till the tour with the Yeoman Warders. (Beefeaters, or guards of the Tower of London. 22 families of Warders actual live within the Tower walls today. So we wandered through the majority of the outer ward, which housed many prisoners and occasional royalty. Strangely with all the stories about torture and prison, the only prisoners that were actually put into the Tower were those considered upper class, and were given what appeared to be some pretty nice accommodations. Scratched into the walls in all the rooms were the names and other religious remarks from the prisoners.

Next we visited the oldest tower, or castle, and the centerpiece of the entire Tower of London. The White Tower was initially built to strike fear into would be attackers, and I can only imagine how imposing it would have looked at nearly 100 feet, nearly 1000 years ago. This is where the history really hits you and makes you think. Originally it was built by William the Conqueror. I can't stress enough the value of taking the guided tour within the White Tower. Our guide was great, and as a side note she brings her two dogs to work with her everyday. One of the main attractions in the White Tower currently is the royal armor from 5 centuries of Kings. This suit was made for Henry VIII toward the end of his reign. Needless to say he was a big boy. They say the cod piece was grossly exaggerated, but when you are the King I guess you get what you want.

Upstairs in the White Tower were the residences of the Royals, including the Royal Throne. I tried it out, but can't say I was very impressed with the accommodations. Funny though because it was open to the ground below, and I can only imagine people always dodging Royal poo.

Also upstairs is the Chapel of St. John. Probably the best-preserved interior of anything within the Tower of London. The Chapel has seen Royal weddings, and was where Henry VII's wife was laid in state for days before her funeral. While we say in the little Chapel and heard the stories from our tour guide, it was hard not to feel a little overwhelmed. The way it looks today is probably similar to how it originally looked, however little discoloration in the top of the picture is actually unrenovated and is the only part of the Chapel that contains traces of the red paint which is thought to be from Henry VIII's reign.

It was time for our tour by now, and we joined our Yeoman for what turned out to be more of a comedy show than anything else. Kristen really like him, because he didn't like children and said we could push them over if they got in the way. He shared some of the more colorful facts about the Tower, and was very adamant about the fact that the Tower was a castle first and foremost and not a dungeon. With that said we stopped off at traitor's gate, which was the entrance for many of the prisoners and those on their way to the gallows. This entrance used to open directly to the Thames, but like the moat the water has pushed back since. Sorry movie fans this is where the Hollywood history of the Tower meets fact. In Braveheart William Wallace was led through this gate on his way to being hung drawn and quartered, but since he was considered a commoner the Tower of London was out of his league, and he was actually killed at Smithfield. The Tower did however have its share of executions, and standing in the courtyard where queens where beheaded was surreal.

Speaking of those that were beheaded, within the Tower is also the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Buried within the crypt of this church are the remains of three queens of England Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Jane Grey, and two saints of the Roman Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and John Fischer. Again pretty mind blowing.

Even though we didn't get to see everything, Kristen was surely not going to leave without seeing the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately they don't allow photography but long story short it was all pretty amazing, even for me. I am sure Kristen could describe it much better, but I will just say lots of gold and shiny.

Probably won't be back till the spring as its mighty cold out now, but we bought season tickets so I am sure we will get the full experience before we leave.