After we left St. Paul’s Cathedral, Greg and I headed down the embankment to the Tower of London. We arrived at the ticket booth at around 3:15 to discover the attraction closed at 5:30 AND tickets cost 16.50 BP per person–our most expensive outing yet. We decided to go for it anyway; we were so tired we didn’t think we could do more than two hours anyway. So we purchased our tickets, joined the masses of people entering and exiting main gates, guarded by the famous “Beefeaters,” and made our way directly to the Crown Jewels. The jewels are housed in their own part of the Tower complex (the entrance is underneath this clock tower), and visitors have to go through an elaborate system of rooms, lines, video productions, and a two-foot thick steel safe door before they are herded quickly through the exhibit itself. Of course, you are not allowed to take photos of the jewels, so once again–I got nothin’. There are some images available on the web, but they do not do them justice. Any visitor to London MUST see them in person for herself.
After being herded through the complicated mazes and hoops to get to see the crown jewels, Greg and I made our way back out to the courtyard and determined we would visit the White Tower which holds an armory museum. There were ornate displays of pistols, rifles, and spears, but our favorite item was a set of Henry VII’s armor, seen here. Methinks the king doth protest his virility too much? We also stopped in the beautiful Tower chapel on our way out.
By the time we exited the armory, it was getting dark. We wanted to visit the famous “Bloody Tower” where all the famous prisoners were kept, including Anne Boleyn; however, since it was near closing time AND Halloween, there was a line extending outside of the building with people waiting to get in, so we decided to spend our time in touring the remaining towers and battlements. We were able to get some great photos of some of the White Tower and battlements, the famous Tower Bridge on the Thames, and Traitor’s Gate where they used to bring in all of the Tower prisoners by boat.
We were so exhausted from our day (Leicester Square, Tate Modern Museum, St. Pauls’ Cathedral, Tower of London) that we had to sit outside the Tower to rest awhile before we could even begin the travel back to our hotel (ah, old age). Once there, we crashed in our room for a while then ventured back out for dinner and home again for an early night’s sleep. Just eight more hours to prepare the next big day in the ‘citay.’
On Saturday, we had another full day planned. We started off visiting Westminster Abbey, another of my favorite sites in London. It is the place where almost every single monarch has been crowned since William the Conqueror in 1066. Since it’s a church, that’s right–no inside photos. But we were able to get this perfect, very “British” short of the Abbey when we arrived. We toured the Abbey, especially the famed “Poet’s Corner,” which holds the resting places of such famous writers as Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spencer, Percy Shelley, Charles Dickens, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Also buried in Westminster are several English kings and queens: Edward the Confessor, James II, Henry V, and Mary I and Elizabeth I who, ironically, share a tomb room together even though there were terrible rivals during life.
After leaving Westminster, we traveled to the Tate Britain Museum, where we saw the Francis Bacon and Turner Prize exhibits. I absolutely loved the Bacon exhibit, but those Turner Prizes… I feel like I can talk art with the best of them, but I didn’t understand any of them.
We then traveled to the Imperial War Museum in the south of London to see the new Ian Fleming/James Bond exhibit that had opened in honor of the new movie. We got to see original manuscripts of several James Bond novels, saw photos from Fleming’s life, learned about his background in the British service, and even saw props from specific films. The building itself has a fascinating history, as it was the original site for the famous Bethlem Hospital, commonly known as ‘Bedlam.’ We had lunch in the cafe, toured the WWI and WWII exhibits, and Greg took some excellent pictures of the building, including this one of the ceiling.
As the museum was closing, we made our exits and decided to head back to the airport for our flight. Our travel back to Limerick went smoothly, even if we didn’t get back to my apartment until 12:45am. The following day, Greg and I went to see the new Bond film in Limerick–we recommend it! Before we knew it, his visit was over and we were back at the airport again on Monday morning. It was a busy visit and we had a great time.
