The Thirty-Sixth Day, Part One: Tower of London

Saturday, March 15

Weekends are awesome, because that's when Chris and I get to go exploring together. In the morning, we went to check out the Tower of London.

First we walked around the Thames on the Jubilee Walkway. It's an awesome place to see the skyline.

That's the Tower! That's where we're headed. 

Walking across Tower Bridge is still a surreal thing. Heck,  living in London is still a surreal thing. 

Once we crossed Tower Bridge, we got to the Tower of London. It was so interesting to be at a place where SO MUCH HISTORY HAS HAPPENED! William the Conqueror, first Norman king of England? Built White Tower and lived here. King Henry VIII, famous spousal beheader? Yup, lived here. Anne Boleyn, ill-fated wife of King Henry VIII? Beheaded and buried here. Jane Grey, 17-year-old Queen of England for 9 days? Beheaded and buried here. Guy Fawkes, instigator of Gunpowder Plot? Tortured here. Thomas More, author of Utopia, refused to accept the King as head of the Church of England? Imprisoned, beheaded, and buried here. Insane.

Sneaky, sneaky archer.

Traitors' Gate. The name Traitors' Gate has been used since the early seventeenth century. Prisoners of the Tudors were brought by barge along the Thames, passing under London Bridge, where the heads of recently executed prisoners were displayed on pikes, and brought through the Traitors' Gate to to Tower for their imprisonment.

Bloody TowerSo called during the mid-16th century because it was believed to be the place where the Princes in the Tower were murdered by their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in order to secure his place as King of England (Richard III).
That spiky cast iron gate is original to the tower. Very old. And scary to walk underneath.  

Finished a tour given by a Beefeater (who was also the Raven Master, more on that later),
just in time to see some kind of Royal Guard inspection!

Legend has it that the monarchy and Tower will fall if the six resident ravens ever abandon the Tower.
Since the reign of King Charles II, the tower has employed a Raven Master (our tour guide!) to ensure the residence of the six ravens, plus an extra two. Just in case.  

Me and my love (and some super speedy kid) in front of White Tower.

This guy isn't the Raven Master. But the raven loved him all the same.
He was petting the bird earlier, but I missed it. 

Chris could be Raven Master.
(No, he couldn't. All warders are retired from the Armed Forces of Commonwealth realms and must be former senior non-commissioned officers or petty officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal.)

NEVERMORE!!!
 (I'm creeped out by ravens. They're so big and so loud. I'm just glad this one didn't quoth at me.)

This one's for you, Bryan! Check out this trebuchet.
(My nephew just built a trebuchet for his science project. Thought he'd like to see this historical one.)

My favourite part of the tower, I didn't even get a photo of! Shame on me. And no, it wasn't seeing the Crown Jewels (even though they were AMAZING)!  My favourite part was seeing the prisoners' inscriptions on the walls of the Beauchamp Tower. Check them out here. 

Then in the evening, we took a ride on the London Eye!! I've been waiting for this since we moved here. More about that in another post.

Cheers!
Kami & Chris, the Pseudo-Londoners