I guess I'm pretty lucky because this year I got to spend my birthday at the Tower of London! I thought it was so cool, especially since I was only expecting one tower- not an entire castle. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to see that I wouldn't be wandering around in the same tower all day long.
The first thing we did when we got there was run over to see the Crown Jewels before the place filled up with tourists. Our group was the only one in there so we got to take our time and drool over the jewels as long as we liked. It was amazing! I couldn't take pictures inside but here are some that I downloaded. My favorite thing was seeing the giant diamond in the sceptre thing. It is 530 carats...and so pretty and sparkly. I wish I had taken better notes...but that's really all I remember about it.
All of the tours at the Tower of London are given by Yeoman warders, also known as "beefeaters." These warders used to be in charge of guarding the Crown Jewels and keeping an eye on the prisoners but now they are more of a tourist attraction than anything else, although they take their responsibilities very seriously. Our guide was really funny, he put on a good show.
This is a picture (courtesy of Elliot), of the infamous Ravens. The Ravens have been there since King Charles II and according to legend, once the Ravens are gone the tower and the monarchy will crumble. I think there are about six of them there right now. They all have names, their wings are clipped so they can't fly away, and there is a Yeoman designated as "Ravenmaster" whose sole responsibility is to care for them and feed them raw meat. Sounds like a pretty cushy life if you ask me (for the bird and the Ravenmaster).
The Tower of London as a whole is a fortress, but back in 1028 when William the Conqueror came he built the White Tower which is the main tower that people refer to today.
Before we entered the complex our guide showed us Tower Hill which is where public executions took place. He said that everyone in town would attend the beheadings, bringing children, picnic lunches, and making a whole day out of it. However, only the lower class criminals would have been beheaded in public. Characters like Anne Boleyn, for example, got to be beheaded on "Tower Green," a private little lawn inside the complex. This is the spot where Anne Boleyn was beheaded. I thought it was interesting that rather than having her head chopped off by an ax, which is the usual practice, she got to be beheaded by a Frenchman with a fancy schmancy sword. I guess that's what you get for being royalty.
This is the White Tower. While we were here they had a huge display of King Henry the VIII's armor. It was pretty cool to see, and interesting to note how his suits of armor got bigger and bigger. Near the end of his life he got so big that they could hardly squeeze him into armor at all...I can't imagine anything more uncomfortable. The royal family lived in the top floors of this tower and sometimes prisoners were kept in the basement.
It was an amazing day in an amazing place!
Not only did the Tower of London serve as a royal palace and a fortress, it was also a prison. Many famous historical prisoners were held captive here, including Guy Fawkes, Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I (before she was the queen), and Sir Thomas More. The prisoners where held in the "Bloody Tower" and when you go in there you can actually see where they carved stuff into the wall. Most of it is in Latin so I couldn't really read it, but it was amazing to see. I don't know what kind of tools they had but I imagine this took a very long time.
Before we entered the complex our guide showed us Tower Hill which is where public executions took place. He said that everyone in town would attend the beheadings, bringing children, picnic lunches, and making a whole day out of it. However, only the lower class criminals would have been beheaded in public. Characters like Anne Boleyn, for example, got to be beheaded on "Tower Green," a private little lawn inside the complex. This is the spot where Anne Boleyn was beheaded. I thought it was interesting that rather than having her head chopped off by an ax, which is the usual practice, she got to be beheaded by a Frenchman with a fancy schmancy sword. I guess that's what you get for being royalty.
This is a section of the original Roman wall. As you can see most of the wall didn't make it, but I was fascinated by thinking of how much history this little piece of wall has been witness to.
This is the White Tower. While we were here they had a huge display of King Henry the VIII's armor. It was pretty cool to see, and interesting to note how his suits of armor got bigger and bigger. Near the end of his life he got so big that they could hardly squeeze him into armor at all...I can't imagine anything more uncomfortable. The royal family lived in the top floors of this tower and sometimes prisoners were kept in the basement.
The fortress was surrounded by two concentric walls and a moat. Being located right on the Thames River, this was a main entrance for awhile. It is called Traitor's Gate because it became a convenient place to bring the prisoners in from Westminster.
It was an amazing day in an amazing place!
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