Let’s see….
I’d bought the tickets online the night before to avoid queuing, and so I had to pick them up from Tower Hill. This meant that I ended up walking around the entire periphery of the Tower of London site. But I didn't have to queue. So entire wall of Tower of London from outside. Tick.
Weird torture contraptions, including propaganda that England didn't really conduct a lot of torture on its prisoners, tick.
Visit to the Tower Ravens, tick.
Beefeaters and changing of the guards, tick.
Henry VIII’s armour, tick.
Tales of hangings, beheadings, and prisoners being locked away in the tower for years and years, tick.
Anyway, enough of that. This place was actually really fantastic, and I can’t believe I was thinking of not bothering to go. I totally loved every minute of it: from being in the midst of the history of it all, to hearing the tales on the audio tour and the guided tours run by the beefeaters. The highlight was the Yoeman's tour of the chapel where the bodies of those beheaded lay buried, including Anne Boleyn. The Beefeater tour guide was a hilarious character.
So. Some interesting facts and stories I learnt:
Nobody actually knows where the term Beefeater originated from.
If the raven’s leave the Tower of London, then England will fall. Apparently King Charles II got annoyed with them and started to get rid of them before he was reminded of the old prophecy. So he got rid of most of them, leaving just 6. Now a days they keep a few extra as spares, just in case. Oh, and they also have their wings clipped so they don’t choose to fly off, resulting in the demise of Crown and Country.
This amazing day was finished off with a walk through St Katharine’s Docks, and a couple pints of cider at Simon the Tanner’s pub, and some takeaway cod and chips.
Some more pics from the Tower of London.
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