Ahhh, day 2. We woke up refreshed! We didn't get up and moving around until about 9:00. We asked our hotel concierge where a good breakfast place was and walked to have breakfast (eggs, toast, omelets, etc.)
After breakfast we made our way to the Tower of London. This was the one thing that I wanted to see the most in London. I love the Tudor era and learning about King Henry VIII and his wives including Anne Boleyn. So I HAD to see the tower.
Here it is when we spotted it for the first time:
We picked up our tickets and went right in.
The first thing that we saw was the Traitors Gate. This is where all of the traitors came in by boat to be imprisoned (including Anne Boleyn).
Here's the white tower, which sits in the middle of the tower walls:
It's had various uses throughout the years, but now it serves as the large museum in the complex.
Here is a Yemen Warden (or a 'Beefeater'). They are basically the tour guides of the Tower of London. In order to be a tour guide, they have to have 22 years each of outstanding military service. Their tours are funny, enlightening, and they are very nice!
They all have the privilege of living on the complex as well, and we caught one leaving his house and most likely getting ready to report for duty.
There's an excellent PBS documentary on Netflix all about the Tower of London. I highly recommend it!
Then we saw the scaffold site where Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and many other notable people were executed within the Tower walls. A monument now marks that place:
We then visited the rooms where people were tortured. Yes, this was also one of the main things I wanted to see. I am morbid.
The two main torture methods were the 'Rack' (basically a stretching machine):
And then just the opposite....basically a machine where they crushed you all together into a little ball:
It was delightfully creepy! And when you're in the room they have sounds playing of the rack being stretched.
After that bit of morbidness, we walked the outer walls. There are some great views of the Tower Bridge from both inside and outside the Tower:
Then we saw the Crown Jewels and the guards guarding the building:
The main feature of the Crown Jewels is the robes and crown that Queen Elizabeth wore at her Coronation in 1953 (I think it was 1953....). Beautiful stuff. No pictures allowed in there though unfortunately.
We also went into the chapel there where Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard are buried, but no pictures were allowed in their either.
We headed out after that. There was tons there obviously and we took hundreds of pictures, but those were a few of the highlights.
After that we walked to London Bridge and took some more pictures. We caught Tower Bridge rising to let a sailboat pass:
I had my husband take pictures of these on the street. They are EVERYWHERE thank goodness. At ever intersection it tells you which way to look for cars ha ha. Our natural instinct as Americans is to look the wrong direction:
Very helpful!
We then found an Italian Place to eat dinner, then went to a local market to pick up some ice cream and headed back to our hotel to repack. And that was Day 2!!
I think we've done London pretty well considering we only had 2 days. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, had some decent beer and fish and chips, rode the tube multiple times, and accidentally walked into a protest. I mean, what more could we ask for?
Tomorrow we leave for Paris!
