Day 6 - London (continued)
We got to the
Tower of London, which has been many things over the past
1000 years, but is probably most famous for being a prison.
We were stuck at the end of a really long line for tickets when
some semi-official college-aged guy came up and started chatting us up.
We were waiting for a scam, but after asking how we were enjoying our
time in England, he then told us of a place nearby to buy the tickets
with no wait at all. And it worked! Weird.
Here is Traitor's Gate, where prisoners were brought in by
water to be locked in the tower:
From here you had a good view of
Tower Bridge:
Here is the White Fortress, built by William the Conqueror:
You can also see
The Gherkin from here, a recent addition to the London skyline:
Another view of the White Fortress:
We went inside to see the Crown Jewels. No pictures allowed there,
but here's a picture of the guard standing outside:
The famous Ravens were around. Legend has it if they leave the Tower,
then England will fall. Be careful, they bite:
I tried to get a picture of one and of course it chose that
exact instant to take a bath:
Here is a clear shot of one:
We went in to view the Spanish Armory. It was just like it sounded like:
weapons everywhere.
Two of these are weapons and one is Henry VIII's walking stick. See
if you can tell which is which:
There were Yeoman Wardens around (AKA, Beefeaters):
It is annoyingly difficult to find water to drink in England. We
were reduced to gathering water of questionable potability at
various restroom sinks. Here we finally found some water fountains
(oddly, near the site of the gallows) but they were under construction!
No water for us.
We were finishing up with the Tower. It's now time to catch a boat
to Greenwich.
Continue on to the rest of day 6 in London