| Jun 22, 2006 - Trent's Castle aka Tower of London
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 | Almost to St Pauls
| | OK we're here, but we have to go again.
| | OK, we need practise
| | Shakespeare's Globe
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 | Hobbit's eat chicken sandwiches too
| | Nice buildings
| | Self Explanitary
| | Tower Bridge in sight
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 | And the Tower of London
| | Tower Bridge
| | The Bridge is cool
| | Near the tower
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 | Outside the Tower
| | The Traitors Gate
| | The Entrance
| | Yeoman Warder Tours
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 | Welcome to the Tower of London
| | They take their doors seriously
| | King Edward III's house
| | The White Tower
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 | Where the Crown Jewels are Kept
| | Ravens Green
| | Some Locals
| | Yep, its pretty old
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 | Some mean weapons
| | Ancient Plumbing
| | How it used to look
| | Armoured Cavalry
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 | Henry VIII was precautious, and probably arrogant
| | The Chopping Block
| | The Scavengers Daughter
| | Almost Giant
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 | Henry VIII 'Divorce' Green
| | The Rack
| | Another Scavengers Daughter
| | More locals
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 | On the Walls
| | Getting Better
| | Time to head off
| | Bye Tower
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| So we set off to find St.Pauls Cathedral which we found and took some really nice exterior photos of before being told that it was only open from 1.30pm til 4.30pm today because of services. It was 11.20am. So we got our 2 for 1 ticket off the man and set off for a leisurely stroll along the South Bank to Tower Bridge...yeah right a leisurely stroll my foot!
It was quite nice though and we happily walked across the Millenium bridge, turned left at the Tate Modern Museum (at which point Trent assured me we didn't have time to visit...some how I don't think he's any kind of art buff our Trent)down along the river and through lane ways where ancient little pubs hid in the cobbled stone walls, past Shakespear's Globe Theatre past the new London Bridge where we sat and ate some more chicken sandwiches and finally to Tower Bridge.
Tower bridge was awesome. It just looks so cool. So we walked over and took lots of pictures and then we saw The Tower of London. Ok. This is definately a good day.
We went around to buy tickets and made it just in time for the next Yeoman Warder's tour of the tower. Which is actually a bunch of towers and looks like a medieval castle...funny that...cos it is!
The tour was great and it really helped us to understand the place. The prison, the towers, the torture, the stories of the people who had been detained here including the two young princes who were supposedly murdered by their uncle, King Richard III. We went to the Tower's chapel where Henry VIII married Anne Boylene and passed the site where she was beheaded.
We visited the Crown Jewels and saw some amazing tableware including a giant punchbowl made of solid gold.
After the Crown Jewels we decided it was time for the White Tower...the main tower/castle of the place. We alked down the cobbled road past a surviving part of the roman wall that had once run through here and an amazingly decorated spanish canon and past the tower green where some of the resident ravens were pecking away. The legend is that if the Ravens ever leave the tower then it will crumble to the ground and the monarchy will fail, because of this, one of the kings (possibly Henry VIII) made a law that there must be 6 Ravens in the tower at all times, therefore there are six resident ravens who have their wings clipped.
We ascended the medieval stairs to enter the White Tower which William the Conqueror built in 1066 and where most of the Kings and Queens of England had lived.
Once inside we were absolutely amazed at the weapons and armour and the fact that all the rooms had been kept or preserved so well. There were just rooms and rooms of armour and weapons that had been used throughout the centuries. Henry VIII's full armour and his horses armour were on display and I think he had his own ideas on how to protect the Crown Jewels (and obviously thought alot of himself)!
After wandering for a few hours through the White Tower we visited Edward III's tower residence that had been recently restored. We wandered through the Bloody Tower where the two princes,Edward V around 10 and Richard Duke of York 9 years old, were supposedly killed by Richard III, and it was where they lived until they disappeared.
We visited the torture room where we saw a device called the Scavenger's Daughter and the infamous Rack. However, apparently the Scavenger's Daughter was worse than the Rack because it essentially crushed you to death slowly and it only took an hour or so before the prisoner would start talking.
We walked up onto the wall and decided that it was probably not a good idea, and too late, to rush back for St. Pauls as this was far too exciting!
Fiona met us after the Tower and we headed over to a pub called The Camel at Waterloo for the Australia v Croatia game in the Fifa World Cup. It was an Aussie pub and just around the corner from Waterloo station so Jay could join us after he arrived home from Paris on the Eurostar.
Needless to say we had an awesome night as Australia tied with Croatia sending us through to the next level. We met Fiona and Jay's English friend, Donny, that night. He's another muso. Plays clarinet and seems very cool.
What an awesome day! |
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