London, The Tower Of

The second installment of my London Adventures With Catherine White begun the next day, with our visit to the Tower of London. I had been putting off visiting the tower until Cat arrived, so was chomping at the bit to get in the gates.

It was an absolutely frigid London Morning, with a cruel wind whipping off the Thames. We were very cold as we crossed the little bridge into the tower. I couldn't feel my face at that point. We were both very excited at the promise of a tour by one of the Yeoman Warders (aka Beefeaters), and were somewhat dismayed to have just missed one as the prospect of waiting 20 minutes in the arctic climate of the bridge was not a happy one. After 3 minutes, the cause was lost and we wandered on our iceblock feet into the tower grounds.

However, all was not lost as we noticed a large crowd of people about 50m ahead crowded underneath the "bloody tower", and as we drew closer realied that they were the group from the "just missed" tour. So we assimilated ourselves and focussed our attentions on the Warder, in his blue and red splendour.

This warder was pretty much the coolest guy ever. He told his stories with such drama, and so many hilarious asides, and mock-distainful promises of doom to individual audience members that he was absolutely riveting.

We toured around the tower, and learned its gory history. I especially enjoyed the lawns.. in the knowledge that possibly on the very spot we were standing Anne Bolyen or Lady Jane Grey was executed!

Once the tour had reached its conclusion, we left the tundra-style conditions in the courtyard into the warm building that housed the crown jewels. It was nice to see all the royal insignia and watch videos of the Queen's coronation on the way to the jewels. I assume all this has been set up as a distraction for people queueing for long hours to see the jewels in the high season, but we simply breezed through. The main jewels were situated on a long podium, beside which ran two airport style travelators at a low speed. You simply rode the travelators until you got bored of looking. They were spectacular. Especially spectacular was the amazing "star of africa" diamond, and it was fun to pick which crown/sceptre/ring was our favourite.

There were also an array of stunning golden kitchen utensils that were amazing on their own, but paled so in comparison to the jewels that they were mostly ignored.

When we emerged from the jewel enclave, we stepped out into an extreme blizzard. Seemed like a good time to go into the White Tower.

The White Tower was filled with amazing armourments from accross the centuries. It was very cool to see - and i think my favourite suit of armor was that of this "giant" 6foot 8 inch knight. He would have been terrifying to meet on the battlefield. The building is undergoing renovations, but it was interesting to be able to track (through many exhibts) the number of renovations the castle had seen in the past - it has been constantly changing throughout the centuries.

After this, it was time for a lovely roast lunch in the restaurant. We happily sat down in some strangely empty seats near the door, and hastily moved when we realised that every time the door opened, we would be recieving arctic blasts to our faces.

FInally we stopped by the Bloody Tower to see the implements ot torture. The rack and other horible devices were all layed out in a horrible, cold and damp dungeon. I only wish there had been more!

following this, Cat and I went our separate ways - I had to get ready for Friday evening Fun at the Ministry of sound.. coming soon...