Monday 23 February 2015

The Tower of London - Day Seven


Ok, I'm seriously behind. This is getting real now. I've been in Poland for a little over three weeks now, which means this this blog is behind by about a month. I'm still going to do posts for each day of London (this is the penultimate one, after all) and after that, well let's say I should catch up quite quickly.




Thursday was dominated by a visit to the Tower of London. Like most tourist attractions on this trip so far, it took waay longer than I was expecting. Soon after first entering the Tower (which, as I quickly found out, is more like a fortress that just a tower) I took a tour with a Yeoman Warder, aka Beefeater. "GOOD MORNING!" He bellowed at us, only to be met with a weak murmer. His second attempt yielded him more satisfying results, and helped to break the ice amongst the group somewhat.

Yeoman Warder
Traitor's Gate

The tour lasted an hour, in which time we were shown Traitor's Gate, the White Tower and other features of this place, while the Warder retold their accompanying stories, whether they were imaginary or true. We finished up in the chapel, a modest place which was the burial (or at least memorial) site of some great ancient rulers of England. It was quite a contrast.


From here I made my way over to see the crown jewels. I thought it would literally just be a room with a crown in a glass box in the centre. What I found was a network of rooms that took you through the history of The Royal Crown in english history, the coronation process and the various relics & symbols used in the ceremony.


The legendary Tower ravens

I also visited the White Tower, the central building in the complex. it housed a collection of armoury & weaponry, as well as some wooden horses, known together as the line a kings. On other floors within this building were treasures not only from the Tower's history but from around the world. It was splendiferous.

Armour in front of a wall of breastplates
One of the wooden horses used in the original exhibition of the Line of Kings
Sculpture of a dragon made from objects representing the various roles of the Tower throughout history



After the Tower I rushed to St Peter's to try and get there for a look around before evensong started. On the way, I got some good shots of the city and had fun just wandering around and killing time.



Love,
Addie xoxo

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