Tower of London - June 24, 2010

We took the Tube to the Tower Hill station so we could visit the Tower of London, but made a short detour to nearby All Hallows by the Tower Anglican Church (London's oldest church, 675AD), a frequently missed site near the Tower of London.

After visiting All Hallows by the Tower we took the short walk to the Tower of London, where we arrived at the visitor plaza.  From here we were able to skip the line and go straight in to the Tower. The views are quite extensive, and we saw a Eurasian Kestrel perched on top of the Tower Wall (from there he flew into the bushes just a few feet from us and caught something to eat).

Once inside the tower we went to see the Crown Jewels. Conventional wisdom says you have to get to the Tower of London at opening time (9:30am in Summer) in order to avoid hours long waits to see the Crown Jewels. We arrived about noon and had no wait at all!

The Crown Jewels were stunning and we rode the moving walkway many times to get repeated close-up views of them.

After viewing the extensive Crown Jewel collection we went over to the site where Anne Boleyn (and many others) had their heads cut off.

The spot, in front of the Royal Chapel, is marked by a sculpture of a pillow, and has inscribed all the names of those who were executed at this spot.

We took quite a lot of pictures of the Grenadier Guards. They don't talk because they are active duty soldiers who are "on parade".

Mom enjoyed taking pictures of them.

We also saw the Yeoman of the Tower. These guards talk. And crack jokes. And make faces.

The Yeoman of the Tower seem to have much larger girths than the Grenadier Guards, probably due to the fact that the Yeoman of the Tower aren't also active duty soldiers.

Here I am with mom as we enter the Crown Jewel exhibit at the Tower of London.

As we exited from the Crown Jewel exhibit we had an excellent view of the White Tower. This is the original building constructed by William the Conqueror in the 1070's.

Ravens! The Tower of London's famous ravens are on display and hop around the castle keep. The Yeoman of the Ravens is by the cage to the right.

Raven, Rock Doves, and a gull (center right in flight). Please identify the gull for us.

Inside the White Tower was a fabulous exhibit on Henry VIII's suits of armor.

At the end of the exhibit one enters a display of the horses of all the Kings of England.

This was a very full day of historical exhibits. And it wasn't even over as we still had the Tower Bridge to visit! Details on the Tower Bridge visit, including mom's climb to the top of the bridge, are in a separate post.