Tower & Around Town

Moving on to Day 2 of our jaunt around London. We got a bit of a late start on this day, considering we slept until 12pm. It was helpful that we did, because that sleep seemed to get rid of our jet lag pretty effectively.

After giving myself 3rd degree burns in the shower from an un-regulated water heater thermostat, we hit the town and started our day at the Tower of London. Wow. I think this was by far Steven's favorite site, and definitely way up there on my list of "awesome."

So, we headed via metro to the Tower, and had another go at the fish and chips (awful) before beginning our peregrination. It was a HUGE compound, so it required 2 pictures to see how long it is.....just on one side.
















For your viewing pleasure, I have included a site map of the Tower, mostly so (if you care) you can see where all the photos below are situated. There's only so much I can try to explain. The photos above would be a view along the outside of the left portion of this map.

Here is the main entrance into the site, also called the Middle Tower. That dude's head should help give you a sense of scale. I'd say it was 2 or 3 stories tall.

This is the Bell Tower. It was right inside the entrance. It was even taller....5 stories?

Another tower. I don't remember which one. Let's just say the "Tower" of London should be pluralized.

My history-loving heart skipped several beats about this:

The Traitors Gate. *sigh* My love of English history---especially Tudor era history---made this particularly exciting. This is where they brought all the, well, traitors, or people that were thought to be traitors, into the Tower to be detained. It's all very dramatic. I did find that despite the British facade of stoicism, they seem to have many dramatic customs. But, anyway, both Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I were brought in the Traitors Gate---Anne Boleyn would eventually be beheaded (picture to come!) and Elizabeth I would eventually be released. Yes, it's supposed to be a water entrance, I guess that adds to the drama or something. It was scary-looking even in broad daylight, with no fear of impending doom on my part, so I can imagine it was not the most encouraging place to find oneself back in the day.


Moving on, I took a ton of pictures, many of which would be very uninteresting to anyone but me, so I did not include them in today's narrative. We went straight towards the far end of the complex, heading in and out of all the different exhibits along the way. We got to see the crown jewels, which you weren't allowed to take pictures of (darnit), but they were amazing! I have seen pictures, but to see them in person, especially the Imperial State Crown, blew my mind. Since I couldn't take any pictures in the exhibits, I took a picture of the outside. How lovely.

This next photograph has a bit of a funny story behind it.
These handsome fellows are called Yeomen Warders, and they are the ceremonial guardians of the Tower. Their nickname is "Beefeaters" and judging by the size of their guts, they eat plenty of beef (not that I have any room to talk).

But anyway, I thought they were pretty cool, so I skipped my way over to them, smiling and asked very politely, "Excuse me, could I please get my picture with ya'll?"

"Ya'll?" grumpypants beefeater (on the left) growls.

Because I'm a Southern girl whether I like it or not, I reply through my smiling yet clenched teeth, "Yes sir, I'm from the South."

"Clearly," he sneers, whilst rolling his eyes.

Still smiling, with narrowed eyes, "Can I put my arm around you in the picture?"

"No, lady, we are Her Majesty's Royal Guards! You can't put your arm around me!"

Well, this lady had had about enough. But, hey, I still have to represent for the South and all.

"So, I guess that means I can't slap you on the ass then, honey?"

He didn't know what to say. And he shouldn't. He's the one wearing the dress.


We finally got see the changing of Her Majesty's Royal jerk-offs a few minutes later. I had a pretty good picture of the guards being relieved while they were marching away, that is, until this guy ran right in front of my camera. Geez.

I took this photo of the Tower Bridge. Steven and I both agreed that the blue paint was a bad decision, especially when you consider how many committee meetings must have been held to choose it.

We can now take a brief moment from my diatribes to enjoy a few photos that I took while walking around. It really was a beautiful place.

Below is the Queen's House, which would be in the final corner of the square, if you go straight around from the entrance. It was very nice, and reminded me of Charleston----or I guess, Charleston reminds me of it---but I think "Queen's House" might be the wrong description. More like, "The Queen's Smallest House."

So, our last stop on our tour a la tower was at the center of the complex, the White Tower, which is the picture that usually pops up if you were to google this particular site. It had some amazing exhibits inside, and (hooray!) you were allowed to take pictures. This is Henry VIII's jousting armor, in his younger, thinner days.














Here is his armour when he got older and larger....and apparently more insecure. The two dimensional nature of this photo does not accurately represent the, um, crotch. So, say you were to take a pint glass and stick it over a certain portion on one's anatomy....yeah, now you get the picture. It takes the phrase "protect the family jewels" to a whole new level of seriousness. I would like to note that if I was to stand next to this suit of armour, Henry the VIII would have only been a few inches taller than me. I'm 5' 3" by the way.

This was Charles I's armour. I took a picture of it because he was shorter than me. And skinny. I definitely would not have fit in this, even the helmet. It was like a child's costume, except for the fact that the picture does not do the details in the metalwork justice. So beautiful.

I thought these guns (from the 1600's, if I remember correctly) were so awesome. I love old guns. And people just don't make things this beautiful and intricate anymore. It's a shame, really.

Permit me a moment of morbid fascination. I took this picture below after I read the little explanation of it, and then proceeded to further stare at it for at least 5 minutes.

It's the executioner's mask. It's smiling. Wow.

After our trip to the tower, which took several hours, we went and had a pint and a pizza, did a little souvenir shopping, then headed towards Parliament again. Here is another view of Parliament, from the bridge heading to the south side of the Thames.

Here is an up close view of the Clock Tower. I love the Gothic revival style of the Parliament buildings. Such a beautiful piece of architecture. There is really nothing else like it in the whole world.

The sun was setting as we headed away from Parliament and the Clock Tower.

Here is another view of Parliament from the other side of the river as the lights were beginning to turn on for the evening.

And another view from farther down the river as we crossed back over to the north side again.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to put it up higher in the post, but as we were walking over the bridge, this crusty Scottish dude was playing his bagpipes. A version of street performing I have never witnessed. Nor do I think I will again. I think he might have been about 3 sheets to the wind. If it's not Scottish, it's crap.

Right across the Thames from Parliament is the London Eye. It is this amazing ferris wheel-looking thing. Apparently each pod on the wheel represents each of the burroughs, or sections, of London. We went to get in line to ride it, but the line (and the price to ride) was ridiculous, so Steven and I decided that maybe some pictures of it would be good enough for us.
















Again, another amazing landmark. I took a photo of it after the lights turned on too.

After walking around this area until the sun was completely down, we headed back to Victoria Station and went to a recreation office to see if when they had the Jack the Ripper walks, because that is yet another avocation of mine. We found that there was a tour happening that very evening, like 15 minutes later. So, we rushed to the starting point, ironically enough at the same metro stop as the Tower. It was soooo cool. This guy leads the tour, and you can actually go on YouTube and see all his videos. I love this kind of thing, and I've read several books (including Rumbelow's), so it was surreal indeed to be able to walk to all the places that I have read about.

After this we headed back and hit the hay, resting up for Day 3....a post soon to come!