Tower of London and Other Area Sights

18 August, 2014


Waterloo Block of the Tower.


On Monday, we left the convention site, far out in the Docklands, and moved to a much more central AirBnB place in Picadilly Circus. It was an enormous struggle moving all of our luggage, first on the Docklands Light Rail and then on the Underground, and frustration was increased because we were late and having trouble communicating with our host because my phone lost its network connection. We were very grateful for the assistance of Frances, a fan from Ottawa, who helped us and kept us company and provided material and emotional support. It turns out, of course, that Frances knows our other Ottawa friends.

By the time we got to Picadilly Circus, we were hot, exhausted, and thoroughly sick of the Tube, with its Byzantine stations, gigantic track/platform gaps, and lack of air conditioning, escalators, elevators, and cell phone signal. The host who met us was very nice and forgiving of our tardiness. The place is a fourth-floor walkup, so there was more carrying of luggage up stairs, but our host helped us this time. The room is nice and clean, but we have to share a bathroom with three other guestrooms.

Entrance to our AirBnB place in Picadilly Circus.


Our room. Small, but the wi-fi was good. Photo by Eric.


Of course, we had to get on the Tube yet again, although it was better without the luggage.


A street on the way from Bank Station to the Tower, with the Monument in the background. I haven't been able to identify the more modern building behind it.


Tower of London

Tower of London.


Main entrance to the Tower.


Construction of the Tower began in 1066 under William I, but that temporary structure was demolished. Construction of the existing structure began in 1075.

We took the tour with the yeoman warder, Chris.


The yeomen warders make a lot of jokes, and tell you all sorts of stories about bloody deaths at the tower, plus the famous story about Anne Boleyn not really dying after they first chopped off her head. In order to qualify to give these tours, you must have served 22 years in the military, and have been decorated for good service. If you look at the picture closely, you can see all of the yeoman warder's ribbons. If you do the math, you can see that all of the yeomen warders are at least 40.

Parts of the Tower were built during the Tudor era. They have been preserved as they were when they were constructed, and stand as excellent examples of Tudor architecture.


The royalty and their guards at one time lived in these buildings.


There is a legend that, if the colony of ravens ever leaves the Tower, the kingdon will fall. Thus, one of the yeoman warders is appointed to make sure the ravens are very well cared for. Our yeoman warder, Chris, was the current Ravensmaster.


Waterloo Block.


The Crown Jewels are stored here, and are one of the most popular attractions at the Tower. The Crown Jewels were first shown to the public during the reign of Charles II, and the Tower has been a tourist attraction since that time. The line to see the Crown Jewels, however, was an hour and a half, so we skipped them. There was also a long line for the "Torture at the Tower" exhibit, but I think I would have skipped that, anyway.

More of the Waterloo Block


This structure marks the Scaffold Site, where Anne Boleyn and many others lost their heads.


Monkey sculpture on the North Walk.


Martin Tower.


Eric admired one of the gargoyles.


Faces carved into the wall. I didn't find out whose faces they were.


This area, between the inner and outer walls of the Tower, was once the moat.


Eric took my picture next to a real embattlement. Eric figured out that, other than Hearst Castle in San Simeon, this was my first castle!


Eric took a picture of the Tower Bridge with the Tower in the foreground.


Part of the Tower has a display of medieval architecture and artifacts. Eric took a picture of a kingly bedroom from this exhibit.


Traitor's Gate, through which those condemned to death entered the Tower.


We were in luck! As we were talking along the east wall, we got to see the Tower Bridge opening for the passage of a tall ship.


Looking at City Hall through the Tower, an interesting juxtaposition of the classic and modern.


The Tower has a display of artificial poppies, one for every British soldier lost in World War I. There are of course quite a few of them, making an impressive display.

Photo by Eric.


Closer-in photo by Eric.


Honestly, the experience of the Tower didn't feel all that real to me. The yeoman warder tour in particular seemed Disney-like. I kept feeling like I was in a Disney reproduction of a place, not in a real place. I had to keep reminding myself that this was the actual place where all those executions happened.

Monument

Next, we went to the Monument, a column designed by famous London architect Christopher Wren. The Monument was closing at 17:30, so we had to hurry. We got terribly wet in a drenching London rain. Do not believe the London weatherman when he says it will not rain today.

The Monument commemorates the Great Fire of London of 1666, after which Wren designed most of the reconstruction of the city. The column is 62 m (205 ft) high.


The guidebook said that the views from the Monument would be spectacular, but look what they did in 1842 after a suicide! There is no reason for the holes to be this small, no reason!


Eric uses a pocket camera and could poke his lens through the wires to take pictures.


He took a picture of the Shard.


By opening the aperture way up, and getting very close to the evil wire, I was able to take a couple of acceptable pictures.


I hear they're going to put up a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. I hope it doesn't look like this!


The Monument has 311 stairs, all going up to the right, with no landings. This wasn't easy on our bodies.

Eric took a picture of the stairs.


The other attraction I had wanted to see the first day was St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately, it closed at 16:00, so we could only see the outside.

St. Paul's Cathedral is a late 17th c. masterpiece by Christopher Wren.



The dome was a particular masterpiece, 110 m (360 ft) high, the second-biggest in the world after the one at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.


A literary park bench.


We had dinner at a place called Côte Brasserie. It turned out to be a chain, but they had good early bird specials and I liked the food very much.

On our way back, St. Paul's was lit in beautiful light.



The Tube stations are buried very deep. Getting out of the station at Picadilly Circus requires a stairwell, two long escalators like this, and then another stairwell. I can't figure out why London did this. The station at Covent Garden was buried 15 stories deep.

But I do wish they had signs like this on the escalators on BART, where people stand on the left all the time. I just can never stand to get on a BART escalator.


On to Hampton Court.


Last updated: 20/08/2014 by Eric and Beth Zuckerman