Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Tower of London

The day after the wedding we headed back to The City to continue our 2 year sight-seeing adventures. This time we hit the Tower of London.


Of course, the best part was seeing the Crown Jewels held in this building..


Royalty just amazes me. The precious jewels and traditions carried down for centuries is not only so extravagant, but so unique. There was a video of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953 when you first enter the building. I'm so tuning in to watch the next coronation. I wonder if I'll be lucky enough to see it while I'm living here...

I overheard someone saying that the crowns could weigh up to 5 pounds each. I imagine you can't wear that on your head very long. The jewels are really hard to explain unless you see them in person. Words like stunning or magnificent is almost an understatement. Even Marisa couldn't keep her eyes off of them.
Royal dinnerware and utensils that, if I remember correctly, were even used in the Medieval times for Kings and Queens and their quests were also on display. There was a pure gold wine bowl the size of a bathtub that was so intricately ornate was probably the most amazing to see. The laddle for the punch bowl was probably the length of me, literally. It was unreal. The amount of gold, fine linens, jewels, swords, and orbs in those rooms were breath-taking.

No pictures are allowed where the Crown Jewels are obviously, but I did get a picture of the guard outside. He wasn't very still as I heard or imagined them being.
He kinda smiled when Natalie approached him to stare at him and his eyes kept moving all over the place.


The armour and weapontry held inside the White Tower was really neat to see too. Again, no pictures allowed, but I got one of the tower outside.


There were a few other things to do and see there as well. Random towers and rooms with stories to tell of what happened there.

I don't remember who was tortured here, but we are smiling next to the cell he was apparently held in. Odd...?

Marisa got to make a coin the way they would have back in medieval times as well as spin wool. We even watched a small version of a catabolt type thing toss a cabbage pretty far. Living during the medieval times seems like such a drag.


After an afternoon at the tower we walked across the Tower Bridge and ate dinner from a little cafe outside on the plaza.




Europeans really take advantage of the outdoors when they can. People just sit and chill outside in public parks, plazas, cafes, all the time. I wish Americans did that more because it is so relaxing and peaceful.

1 comment:

Jenny Hart Turk said...

So fun! I love the Tower of London and all the great history that has taken place there :) That's a great place to start the sight seeing I'm sure! You definitely need to visit St. Paul's Cathedral and climb to the top of the dome, you get such an amazing view of London from there.
I'm sitting here reading this, and saying to Drew that we really, really do need to come visit you guys while you are there! I'm always so jealous of Steve & Cookie when they visit every April! Hope guys are having fun!

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