Hilary's Adventure: Tower of London

We both slept in and missed breakfast this morning. Neither of us had a very good night’s sleep. One of our roommates talked, coughed and snored in his sleep. The other was just a very bad snorer. I wasn’t sleeping very well because of this chest cough, running nose and being in a room with strangers. Kyle just doesn’t sleep very well so having the noises and strangers didn’t help.

Once I was up I decided it was time to try the showers. I had a cold shower so I was not very pleased! I think I’ll try showering at night to try and get some hot water.

After the shock of the shower we decided it was time to head out and do something with the day. We always wanted to do the tower of London so that is what we went off to do. It was easy to get to because it was on the same line as the hostel so no messy changing of lines and such. Once at the station we found the tower of London easily. The ticket price was more than we expected but there is no way round it and unfortunately we are not students so we can’t even play that card anymore. It was about 12pm and a Yeoman Warden tour was about to start. This is a free tour that comes with the price of your ticket so off we went to join in. These guys are the men that have served in the English army for more than 22 years and reached a certain rank. They have retired from active duty and are now here to protect the crown jewels and give tours. I think they are more commonly known as the beefeaters or something like that. They have a lovely outfit of navy blue pants and jumper thing with red trim. He also had a giant H II R across his chest to signify that he is serving the queen.

The tour he gave was very interesting. He out lined the history of all the buildings and what happened in them. Some where there to hold prisoners before they were taken to tower hill for their beheading. One famous prisoner was Guy Falks, who was the leader of the plot to blow up parliament. They tortured him till he gave up his fellow plotters. Once they got all the information out of him they didn’t take him to tower hill, they instead hung, draw and quartered him (how pleasant). Another purpose was the royal mint of England. It was housed here up until 18 something. Isaac Newton had a job working in the mint either before he ‘discovered’ gravity or after, can’t remember which it is. The main purpose of the fortress was to be an armoury to the royal family and their armies. Another thing this fortress held was a zoo. All the dignitaries from around the world used to give animals as gifts. They had a polar bear, lions, tiger, elephants and many more other exotic animals. In the 1800s the zoo was moved to Regents Park and expanded to include many other animals.

After he gave his tour we went exploring ourselves. We first went and had a look at the royal jewels. They were spectacular to see in person. They had everything from the crowns to what the royal family was baptised in. Everything seemed to be solid gold and over the top. They had a punch bowl that could hold over 150L of wine for a party. Now I know where the world supply of gold has gone, into the royal family’s things.

Next we went and looked inside the white tower. This was a fascinating building that held the history of weaponry and armour. They had suites of armour that was made for Henry the VIII and his horse. There were also suits that were made for the king’s children and horse. The children’s armour was made for them at about aged 6-8. The thing looked very heavy and painful. So it isn’t all pain free and easy going for the royal children. Inside the building was also the history of swords and who owned them at what time. Everything was well laid out and labelled. I think it also helped that it is winter so not as many people as summer. It took us about an hour to do all the levels and look at everything in this building.

We next decided was the medieval building and the wall walk. The building was interesting and had people reacting what life would have been like in those days. These buildings led onto a walk around the walls. This was interesting to see everything from up high. Each of the towers on the corner told a different story about life in the tower of London. One corner had the dismantled crowns and jewels from past kings and queens. They had been dismantled so the gems could be used in something else for a new king or queen. Some were remodelled because the monarch complained about the weight on their heads.

After the wall walk we went and had a look at one of the building that was used to hold prisoners. While the prisoners were being held some of them graffito the walls with their names or something in Latin about god and king. Some of the prisoners even hired stone masons to do the inscribing for them. While held there some prisoners had to pay for their food, water and rent as part of the punishment. Different prisoners were given different privileges; some could see friends and family and walk the grounds others were not allowed out of the room. It seemed that rank mattered to what you were allowed to do and not to do.

It was getting dark by now (it was only just after 4pm) and we had seen everything so it was time to go exploring elsewhere. Neither of us had walked across the Tower Bridge so we went to do that. The bridge was interesting but unfortunately it would not separate for us to see so we will have to try and see that another time. On the other side we caught an underground to leister square to look around there and maybe have some dinner. We ended up down Regent Street (green property for those playing monopoly at home). The street was all lit up for Christmas. That is one nice thing about it being dark at 4pm is you can appreciate all the Christmas light display on the streets. Also in our wonderings we found a pub called Shakespeare’s head. We wanted to know where the rest of his body was so in we went. We didn’t fine his body but we managed to find a place to get out of the cold windy day. We sat and had a very expensive drink and then went wondering more. Next we decided it was time for dinner. We found a nice Italian place in Soho for some dinner. We both felt like something hardy after a bitterly cold day of sightseeing. After dinner we headed back to the hostel for some warmth and bed.