Tower of London

Windsor Castle was very impressive in a museum sort of way but at the Tower of London you really feel the history.

The spiral stairs are very claustrophobic and it is easy to imagine how dreary and cold these places must have been. The primitive chimneys could not have worked well and the rooms just had to be filled with smoke. We did get to see the guarderobes (toilet, loo), just a hole that empties out the side of the caste wall. I always wondered about that. Well at least it had a door on the tiny little room.

White Tower and older wall

Waterloo Barracks, White Tower and Inmost Ward wall (remains)

Kathy in the arch under "Bloody Tower"

The Yeoman Warder tour was informative, our guide was quite humorous. These are the guys known as the beefeaters. Very colorful both in their uniforms and their story telling!

Our guide explained you had to have 18 years of good conduct service in the Army, Air Force or Royal Marines (no Navy) to be considered for the Yeoman Warders. You also had to achieve the rank of Sargent Major.

Once you get the job it's for life. They live in the barracks within the Tower with their families. Which has got to be creepy since this is reported to be one of the most haunted places on earth. I believe it.

The grass area is the old moat. Connecting with the Thames provided it some tidal "flushing" action, but apparently not enough.

The center building is White Tower [43]. White Tower is the oldest part of the complex. William the Conqueror began it in 1076. Its name refers to the period during Henry III's reign when it was whitewashed. We felt this gave the most feel of what the old castle must have been like to live in. Especially on cold dreary winter days like we had. Be sure to visit the garderobes!

Tower Green [33] is the notorious site of aristocratic beheadings, however only seven people actually were executed on Tower Green. Our Yeoman Warder did a "nice" job of detailing the more interesting (gruesome) cases. Most of the non- aristocratic executions took place on Tower Hill [34], which is outside the complex.

The nineteenth-century Waterloo Barracks [40], north of the White Tower, contain the celebrated Crown Jewels, the centerpiece of which is the Imperial State Crown, set with a 317-carat diamond.

South of the White Tower is Bloody Tower [3]. It was here in 1483 that the 12-year-old Edward V and his ten-year-old brother were incarcerated by their uncle, the future Richard III. Subsequent Tudor propaganda asserted that Richard had the boys murdered - and the skeletons of two children were discovered in the tower in 1674 - but the true fate of the young princes remains one of history's great mysteries. A hundred years later, Sir Walter Ralegh was imprisoned in the tower on three separate occasions, the last being for six weeks in 1618 before his execution at Westminster.

On the waterfront, south of the Bloody Tower, is Traitors' Gate [35], by which prisoners used to enter the Tower, having been ferried down the Thames from the law courts at Westminster. The gate is part of St Thomas's Tower, which, with neighboring Wakefield Tower, has been converted to resemble Edward I's medieval palace [35, 36]. This is an interesting display as they have left the uncovered remodeling providing insight into the historical changes which have occurred during the over 800 year history of the site.

circa 1100

circa 1200

circa 1270

circa 1300

circa 1547

Tower Bridge from the medieval palace

Just another of the ubiquitous tourists. This place was the most crowded of the places we visited.

The Crown Jewels were more interesting than I thought they would be, and nicely displayed, starting with a couple of videos to explain what it was you are going to see. And not just crowns, oh no, we're talkin' scepters, orbs, dinner ware,...

St. Edwards Crown

Had dinner at the Mexican restaurant that Annie wanted to go to on Saturday. And it too was pretty good.