Tower of London

18 December 2012

This would be my third visit to the Tower of London and hopefully it would be just as interesting as in my previous visit. Once again, we took the subway to the Tower Hill station and walked to the Towers from there. We were just in time to join a Yeoman Warder's tour (Beefeater's tour.) These hour-long tours by the Tower's special guards are usually offered every half-hour during the day. 

Telling the history of the Towers in an interesting and amusing way.

Figurine on the castle wall.

In this visit, I got to see some of the sights I missed in my previous two visits. We took a walk on the castle wall and also saw some of the Tower’s “animals”. The Tower used to hold exotic animals that were given as royal gifts and these animals were kept at the Royal Menagerie for the entertainment and curiosity of the court.

Wire mesh monkeys and elephant.

Animals include lions, elephants, and even a polar bear. Story was that the polar bear even went for swim in the Thames and obviously did not survived very long.

Once again, we went to the Jewel House to view the Crown Jewels and also went to the Royal Armoury. The suits of armour were still as interesting as the last time. I am never tired of seeing suits of armour, weapons and of course, we got to see some things we missed in the previous visits.

“Toilet” used by the castle occupants. The waste was carried by pipes and discharged into the moat surrounding the castle. Talking about living in a cesspool!

After lunch at the cafe, we went to look for the ravens but there were none seen wandering about the grounds on this day. They were probably somewhere in the castle ground as there is the belief that if they be absent the kingdom will fall.

White Tower and the story of the two princes that were murdered by their uncle who became king. Skeleton remains of two children, believed to be of the princes, were found buried in the white tower.

We ended our visit at about 3 PM. We exit at the gate leading to the River Thames and took in some of sights of the Tower Bridge and then found out way back to the Tower Hill station.