Since we spent the day before in "Westminster" we decided to spend this day in "London", ha!
Guess who we saw? The Invisible Man!!
I love this shot. I have no idea what either building is, but it shows the beauty of London's old and new buildings cohabitating nicely.
Our destination for the day- The Tower of London!!
Back in the day the outer wall was surrounded by a huge moat of water.
A few lions greeted us as we entered. And back in the day there were real lions, as well as a whole menagerie including baboons, polar bears, and elephants!
Getting ready to start our first tour.
Here we go!
This Yeoman Warder (aka Beefeater) was a great tour guide and took us along to many prominent features of the Tower.
I love the old board and batten buildings.
I was so surprised after we walked through the gate to see an entire village, complete with a village green inside.
Although its history isn't so charming as it is the site of many beheadings.
The houses were so cute and I loved their blue doors and flower planters.
This is a great shot to show how tall the "Shard" is. It is the tallest building in the UK and EU (now that the UK is no longer a part of the EU).
After our first tour, we stopped for an ice cream break.
Poor Ali was asleep again! She rarely napped in Ottawa, but napped every day in London!
The kids were introduced to chocolate flakes, and they were a hit!
(Notice Noé's earrings, perfect!)
This raven is one of the seven resident ravens. There must be 6 for the kingdom to prosper (so the old superstition goes). There's always a couple of spares too, which is good since poor birdy #8 recently croaked.
Check out this fancy cannon. I wish we made everything beautiful now-a-days.
I love seeing ruins among historical sites.
It reminds me that we don't have the whole story, only what's been preserved.
These tents were set up on the lawn, and soon a little "show/tour" began with actors. We started to watch it, but then got a little bored (or our little ones did) so we moved on to another tour.
We went inside the White Tower.
Love this old painting!
We spied many, many suits of armor. This knight is all ready to slay
the ferocious dragon. He had big jewels in his belly. Greedy beast!
I love finding natural "frames" for my pictures.
Hello bridge!
Hello tower!
Hello tent!
Next we went inside this big palace to view the crown jewels!
Yes, there were that many! I've never seen so many diamonds in my life, wowzers- we were dazzled!
(Notice the Gherkin in the background.)
They are guarded well.
We couldn't take any pictures of the jewels, but we could of the "tower curiosities", ha!
This lion is a little creepy, but he's really old.
The Lion and the Unicorn!
This model shows how ginormous the Tower is!
After that, we toured the Medieval Palace along the wall walk.
I am a sucker for arched doorways,
winding staircases,
and fancy wrought-iron.
This throne room was tiny, but check out its fancy ceiling.
This bedroom had beautifully painted walls that looked like wall paper.
From the inner wall looking out at the outer wall you can see some of the residences of the Yeoman Warders. There are currently 37 of them that live here with their families. How do you become a Yeoman Warder? Only by serving in the British Armed Forces for at least 22 years.
Again, I'm in love with their blue doors!
I had to take this shot to show how close the White Tower and Tower Bridge are to each other.
We took one last tour before we called it a day and that was "Torture at the Tower". Noé and her creepy self ;) couldn't wait, but I was actually nonplussed.
Tower Bridge, just like all the icons of London is simply beautiful!
We took a river bus home and got to see the bridge more up-close and personal.
And got to see the best view of the White Tower.
This wall of stone faces
this wall of glass.
I think they're both beautiful!
I'm not a huge souvenir fan, but there were a million things I wanted to buy from the Tower's gift shops. I settled on this book as it is historical fiction written by Elizabeth St. John about her ancestor, Lucy St. John. It was an enjoyable read to remember an enjoyable day!
