We usually steer clear of obvious tourist traps while traveling, but some places, like The Tower of London, are world-famous and perpetually jammed with visitors for a good reason.
I had visited the Tower in the late 90’s, but Josie had never been, and since we both have an interest in history it was an easy decision to visit again.
One thousand years of colourful and gory history is an easy sell.
To make sure we actually understood what we were seeing, we began our visit with a Yeoman Warder (aka “Beefeater”) tour.
All Yeoman Warders have to serve in the military for a minimum of 22 years before getting this role, and they live in residences inside the tower with their families. Most of them are quirky characters. Our guide was named Shady, and he had more than enough personality to fill his role.
The guided tour is about 50 minutes long. Much of the history revolves around those who were beheaded inside or near the tower, imprisonments, heads on spikes, and similar cheery tales. There are few happy endings at the Tower of London.
The Tower Green is where private executions of royalty took place, in contrast to the public area outside where the commoners were beheaded in front of crowds of spectators. The most famous execution at this spot was that of Henry the VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.
After the Yeoman Warder tour we wandered on our own for several hours and still only saw about half of the areas. We skipped the most popular exhibit, the Crown Jewels, because for us it’s actually the least interesting part.
The Tower of London was also where the royals kept the exotic animals captured or gifted by dignitaries from other parts of the world. These are represented by wire sculptures of the animals scattered around the site, such as this elephant, which would have been there around the time of Henry VIII.
The outer walls consisted of multiple towers, most containing narrow spiral staircases and multiple small adjoined rooms. This one was next to Traitor’s Gate.
The White Tower is at the very center of the Tower of London, and is the first part that was constructed, beginning around 1080. Everything else surrounding it came later, often centuries later. The White Tower houses the collections of armour, weapons and model horses.
One of many model horses in the White Tower, showcasing the armour and other technology used by the kings through the centuries.
This guard was standing ram-rod straight for hours in front of the Queen’s House. Then as soon as I took a photo of him he suddenly started stomping and marching towards me. Assuming this was a coincidence, I took one last photo and then walked quickly away.
