London 2

I chose to spend my first weekend in London exploring the city a little more. Being a history nut, I made my way directly to the Tower of London.

It was fairly crowded but I don't think there is any way around that. It was pretty easy to find, take the tube to the Tower Hill station and follow the crowds. Luckily I was able to get into one of the Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters) tours which were included with the price of a ticket. They start at the entrance to the Tower every hour.

It was a good one-hour tour which provided a lot of info and, most importantly, gave you your bearings in the Tower (which is a fairly big complex). He also gave tips on what to see and in what order to avoid the crowds.

To the right is the White Tower, the oldest and (to me) most interesting part of the Tower. The setup inside had an exhibit on Henry VIII'th armour and weapons. It was fairly interesting to see how he progressively grew fatter, but I was more interested in the earlier history of the place.

After the White Tower I jumped onto the second half of another tour so that I could go into the Chapel (my original tour was cut short for a baptism). It was pretty interesting. In front of the Chapel is the spot where executions of important people took place, most famously Anne Boleyn. People who were less important were executed outside the tower, on Tower Hill, so that they could be viewed and ridiculed by the crowds. The last execution was an 80-year old Scottish nobleman, Lord Lovat, a Jacobite rebel.


To the left is a guard in front of the Queen's House with one of the famous Tower ravens in the foreground. The legend says that when the ravens leave the Tower, the monarchy will collapse. Although I don't foresee this happening as the ravens are chained to their perches.

The final thing I saw inside the Tower was the crown jewels. They were pretty amazing and well worth seeing. The below picture is of the famous Tower Bridge, taken from the ramparts of the Tower of London.

Finally, of interest to any fan of Bedknobs & Broomsticks, I made my way to the antique market on Portobello Road. It was pretty interesting and lively, but I can't say that I found much worth buying.

The next day I took the tube to the Lambeth North station and walked over to the Imperial War Museum. For a history buff such as myself, it was amazing. I could have wandered around for hours. The audio guide is not necessary as everything is labelled very well and in any case, there is so much stuff you are going to have to pick and choose what you look at.

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