The Tower of London

After being deposited on the banks of the Thames after our morning cruise, we embarked on our next adventure - exploring the Tower of London.

The very warmly dressed guards of the Tower are affectionately called Beefeaters. They couldn't actually explain the origin of the name. They were certainly suffering in their uniforms in the uncharacteristically warm temperatures!

Tom is quite impressed by the construction of one of the earlier wings - hardwood timber beams, with straw and bricks and plaster in between.

I really love these chairs!

This is the little personal chapel for the royal resident of that bedroom...

A few stairs to climb...

This is another slightly fancier chapel, where King Henry VI is rumoured to have been murdered while he knelt at prayer. The truth of this is still in question.

Gorgeous door.

There's the Tower Bridge again!

Tom just barely escaped being beheaded...

I tried out my archery skills... not on Tom, you'll be pleased to hear.

Tom pretended to be a monkey... don't ask.

I honestly can't remember what Tom (or the statue man for that matter) is doing in this photo. Something to do with reloading some kind of weapon?

We got an interesting little glimpse at some neighbour's washing line...

Tom helped this guy to reload his bow...

Next stop? The Crown Jewels!

No photos inside, so you'll just have to go yourself to see them, I'm afraid. Again, we were so fortunate about our timing. We had heard that there were usually very long lines to see the jewels, but we somehow managed to waltz right on through. Phew!

They keep ravens in the tower. There's some saying that if the ravens leave the tower the tower will crumble, so they're very well taken care of!

There's a very pretty little courtyard in the centre.

All that stair climbing and jewel-gazing had our stomachs grumbling. How about some Devonshire tea?

Next we visited the armoury...

Is it just me or are these empty suits of armour a bit spooky?

Tom, typically interested in the construction of the buildings, was busy marvelling at the giant wooden beams holding up the ceiling.

Another chapel - this one a tad larger than the others.

I almost got slayed by a dragon...

We moved on to the torture museum - the part of the Tower's history that's a little bit more gruesome than the rest. This is the lopsidedly grinning executioner's mask. Now that's definitely spooky!

Tom found more guns for his future daughter-courting-prevention plan. And got a 007 imperssion in to boot.

Back out into the courtyard again...

Tom found a winged, golden, haloed lion to scratch (actually for any sticklers out there worried that we're touching precious things we're not supposed to, I just took the photo from an angle that makes it look like he's scratching it - crisis averted).

 

We had a look at the very impressive drawbridge gate thing on the way out...

And the very impressive wild cat statues made similarly to Tom's monkeys from earlier. They're to do with an exhibition about animals kept at the Tower, to explain why there are random animal statues all over the place.

And with so much still to do and the day wearing on, we moved on! With our bus pass now expired, our transport for the rest of the day became very interesting. More soon.