Oct 20 - Tower of London & Tower Bridge

I had only booked the Tower beforehand as I wasn't sure how long I would be there.  So, I hoped to be able to walk into the Bridge. 

I'll start the Tower from inside and show it from the outside later.  Huge lineup as I arrived at 10:30, but they process the crowd pretty well.  First I headed for the White Tower.

A view of the White Tower as I walked toward it.  William the Conquerer started the Tower soon after he arrived in 1066.  You can see the entrance stairwell on the left side.  

A couple of the Tower Ravens chatting with people as we climbed the stairs into the Tower.  We were warned that they bite.

The first big gallery was full of armour of all kinds.

The Giant and the Dwarf Armour.  The description below is from the Internet.

 "The giant armor is a German suit from around 1540, traditionally but likely incorrectly, associated with John of Gaunt, while the small armor is either a child's armor made for a young Charles I or was made for the court dwarf Jeffery Hudson."

One more armour example. Armour made for Royalty was usually highly 

decorated with accents of different metals.

There is a tremendous amount of armour on display, dating from the entire history of the White Tower.  Too much for me to even attempt to coherently summarize.

The Chapel of St. John, built by William the Conquerer, still being used today

The Valasse Cross, from the 12th Century

Here's the view from the second floor, looking into the coiurtyard. This is as high as you are allowed to go in the White Tower.  Above would be the roof battlements and still higher corner towers.

Further along is this display.  The book is the "Ledger of Receipts, Returns and Issues"  from 1675 to 1679.  It's 914 pages list the items in the Armouries and Spanish Weapon House.  My photo doesn't sow the leather binding straps on the spine of the book.

The next pictures are various cannons on display.  Some were very ornate; 

there was one in the display that was badly damaged in a fire.

There were also many swords, pikes and other nasty weapons on display.  A lot of the swords belonged to various kings and other royalty.

Leaving the Tower and on the way to the Crown Jewels was this rather fancy cannon, a bronze 24 pounder.  The cannon is probably Flemish, from the 1600's, and the carriage is British, made in 1827.

Here's the Entrance to the Crown Jewels ...

.. and that's all, as no photography was allowed inside.  They certainly are impressive.  And of course, I was impressed by the fact that there was this huge, thick-walled steel vault in this very old building, the Jewel Tower, built around 1365 by Edward III.

Wandering around the Tower grounds, there are a number of displays with large numbers of ceramic Red Poppies.  These are part of a project to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Second world War.

A view of some of the private residences on the grounds (others are in the outer walls).  There are about 150 people who live within the walls of the Tower including the Yoeman Guards (Beefeaters), a garrison of soldiers, Resident Governor, a doctor & chaplain.  

There are a number of smaller towers to visit within the Tower of London.  Here is a sample.

The Beauchamp Tower - used as a prison.  

On its walls are graphiti left by some of the prisoners.

Inside the Bloody Tower, where 12 year old Prince Edward and his 

brother Richard were before they mysteriously disappeared.

There are a lot of other towers with interesting histories; many used as prisons at various times.   I'll add 2 pictures of one more (guess why I included this one)

The Martin Tower has its own interesting history; it once held the 

Crown Jewels and now houses the Yeoman Wardens.

I found this interesting link that tallks about 

many of the towers: Tower of London Battlements

It's getting late.  I have a few more photos of the outer walls of the Tower, and I need to add my trip to the Tower Bridge.  I'll do that tomorrow morning, while I'm doing my laundry (or, more correctly, while the machines are doing my laundry).

Good morning - it's 23:30 your time, 07:30 mine.

Before I leave the tower - a shot of the Battlements.

Two photos of the Tower as I'm leaving.   This the non-river side of the moat which was expanded and filled with water under Henry III

Off to the Tower Bridge

Short bit of history:  The Tower Bridge was completed in 1894 after 8 years of constuction, by over 400 workers.

Looking at the amount of steel on tjhe bridge and inside the towers I asked one of the guides if the stonework added anything to the bridge's structure.  He said no; Queen Victoria was worried  that an all steel bridge would not fit esthetically with the London Tower behind, so the Cornish Granite & Portland Stone were added for a more pleasing appearance.

Not a great shot of the bridge - lots of better ones on the web

Inside the north tower.  These lovely curved stairwells had to be designed 

to avoid the steelwork and the original lifting equipment (since removed).

In the gallery halfway up, some facts

There were short videos about construction and events over the 

tower's history.   One of my favourites, in 1912, which I managed 

to capture off the video.  The pilot was fined.

Reality interlude:  I went downstairs to check on the Laundry Room,  One of the washers was free so I raced upstairs, stripped the bed and raced back down to get it going.  Remind me to check it when it's done.

Back to the blog:

At the top of the tower now.  The walkways across were designed to allow pedestrians to cross while the bridge was up.  Most apparently decided to wait the 5 minutes for the bridge to raise & lower.

Surprise!  Glass floor - those are my feet.

If you have a spare $360 million or so (US) you 

could own the Kismet

It arrived October 10.  It is 400 feet long.  

The largest BC Ferry is about 550 feet.  

Steam Engine time:  A nice picture of one of the original steam engines, 

now replaced with electric motors  & hydraulics

And a diagram of the original steam / hydraulic lifting system.

That's it for the Tower Bridge tour.

My washing still has a half hour to go before drying.  I'll have another coffee and do some touring research before my noon Entrance Time at the British Museum.

Greg