A trip to the Tower of London: Two Aussies wander the world

A citadel to defend or command the city, a royal palace, a state prison and torture house, an armoury, a menagerie, a place of execution, and treasury housing the ornaments and jewels of the crown...The Tower of London has, at one time or another, been all of these things and much more.

Today our vacation continued with a visit to one of the most infamous and iconic attractions in London, The Tower of London. Over 1000 years of history is contained within it's walls, and since William the Conqueror decreed that the White Tower be constructed in the year 1066 it has been modified, added to and adapted to suit the varying purposes it has been put to. A thousand years earlier than that the Romans under Emperor Claudius had constructed their settlement on the same ground the Tower now stands. They called it Londinium. A full-height section of the Roman wall can still be seen standing by the Tower Hill underground station. The main image above also shows a Roman wall-construction (right side) and part of the White Tower built by William the Conqueror and all throughout the Tower one can find Roman constructions integrated with the more modern structure.

We had expected to spend around 2-3 hours at the Tower however 5 hours later we were still wandering around, reading plaques and poking our noses into any crack and crevice we could find. It was incredibly interesting. History abounds in a place like this; It's impossible to avoid it. Three Queens of England were imprisoned and executed (by beheading) here, all ex-wives of King Henry VIII: Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey were all executed on henry's orders for various reasons. The Tudor Court 1536 - 1601 was well known to be dangerous and debaucherous indeed. But the Tower played host to many others and their graffiti is still in evidence scratched into the walls; Of course, it is nothing like the ugly, uncouth graffiti of these days. It was carved with great precision and care and is preserved expertly for all to see today. History is still being made at the Tower to be honest, every day.

Naturally there's been a long-standing military presence at the Tower and one doesn't need to look too hard to see that the Tower was built primarily as a defensive fortress. I found the armoury, housed in the White Tower fascinating; Arms and armour of all kinds are kept inside and once really gets a sense of how barbaric and yet chivalrous our past could be. As per the picture you can see that the Tower still has a strong military presence and it is run with great pomp and ceremony with those entrusted to guard it taking their work very seriously.

I plan to do some posts about the Tower and it's history and will focus them on varying aspects because there's too much information to pass on in a post like this one and, besides I'm on vacation and don't want to spend hours posting to steemit.

After leaving the Tower we decided to go on a little cruise on the Thames which was great! As you can see, the Queen dialled in some bloody awesome weather for us and we made the most of it. We didn't realise she had the power to affect the weather but when she heard Faith and I were coming over she pulled some strings and bibbety bobbety boo; Great weather! Thanks Queeny.

Below you can see a picture of the London Eye, a big wheel thing standing some 450m over the Thames. For about 27 English pounds one can get into one of the cabins and spend 30 minutes going around. Views are spectacular I'm told.

The next image is one that many would identify with as being a truly iconic London landmark. This is Tower bridge. It's a pretty impressive thing to be honest, quite imposing, and the road over it is still sometimes opened to let tall vessels through. Apparently there's a website one can go to check the schedule and opening times up to two weeks ahead of time. I would have liked to see it open with a ship passing but alas we don't have the time. It's really quite a beautiful structure and I took many photos of it; Just could stop for some reason. You'll see more than the one I posted here I'm sure.

Now, Tower Bridge is not to be confused with London Bridge. Since the Romans arrived there has been a bridge over the Thames. In fact there were three London Bridges. The first three were either washed away or sank into the Thames mud and so the one you see in this image below was opened to traffic in 1974 and is pig-ugly if you ask me. If you look carefully you can see the majestic Tower Bridge in the distance. I think many people confuse the two thinking the Tower Bridge is actually London Bridge. It's not.

Ok, so there you have it, some images from todays escapades and a brief introduction to the Tower of London. I'm going to do some more in-depth posts on some of the events and interesting facts about the Tower but they'll have to wait until I'm back home.

I hope you enjoyed my images and post and that you continue to follow our travels in the UK!

Faith & Galen x