Day Out: Tower of London

I've been scarce, it's true.  I've been studying really hard for my Health and Safety course.  Vocationally, it is usually figures and accounting that drive my passion and I have been really surprised to enjoy this course as much as I am.  Of course, with me attending college every Friday, I'm finding work is exceptionally busy as I try cram my working week into four days.  I barely find 5 minutes to eat lunch anymore, nevermind checking my email and blogging. 

Last Sunday, I finally got to meet my old friend Jude for the first time.  We figured out that we met at least 6 years ago on Livejournal and we've been friends ever since.  I got off the train on the south side of the river and was under the mistaken impression (thank you TFL) that I could catch the riverboat across to the Tower by using my Oyster card.  Nope, it costs an extra £7!  Anyway, I was late but finally made it past the mayor's office and over the Tower Bridge and I met up with Jude and her lovely Sicilian boyfriend Leo. 

      

A little bit about the Tower of London - I have never wanted to go there before and I have no idea why not. It is absolutely steeped in English history and at £16.50 entry for a guided tour and features such as the Royal Arsenal, dungeons and instruments of torture, Crown jewels and so much more, it is worth every penny. I personally will definitely be going back there, hopefully in December when Stephen's parent are out from South Africa.

We were taken on a tour by a Yeoman Warder.  The tour was excellent and thankfully the guide was too busy insulting the Australians to notice he had a South African in the group! 

I wish I could do justice to what I saw on the tour and everything that left an impression on me.  I found it fascinating that the original White Tower was built in 1078 by William the Conqueror after he invaded England and won the battle of Hastings in 1066. 

Many of the portcullises in the tower have their original machinations that are therefore hundreds of years old, if not closer to one thousand!   A portcullis is a drop down gate and one is just visible in the picture above. 

This is the Bell Tower where Elizabeth I was held by Mary I before she became queen.

Traitor's Gate and Sir Thomas's House, the latter name after Sir Thomas More.

Named after the Princes in the Tower that were murdered here.  They say it was a legend, but gorgeous young princes just don't disappear.  It's a really interesting story - later on when we saw all the suits of armour, I'm sure we saw the little princes' suits of armour and it just goes to show that they really did seem to disappear as there is no trace of them after a certain point. 

We walked under the Bloody Tower into the inner circle - the grounds surrounding the White Tower.

Okay - how awesome is this?  We were told that these are the last remaining original Tudor houses in London, the rest having been destroyed in the great fire of London in 1666.  I can't find any verification of that so I will have to try find out next time I go there.

There is a memorial between Queen's House and The Chapel Royal of St Peter and Vincula. 

These people died hundreds of years ago and I was wondering whether the deaths of people so long ago could have any bearing on my life.  Well, this memorial is amazing.  You have to walk in a circle around the memorial to read the inscription and this is what it says:

Gentle visitor pause awhile, where you stand death cut away the light of many days. Here jewelled names were broken from the vivid thread of life, may they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage under these restless skies.

Wow. That left such an impression on me.

Well... I am going to have to continue this entry a little later.  X Factor is on!!