Execution and Excitement!

• June 23, 2009
• Rated 5 of 5 by Sonia3 from London, United Kingdom

From journal Historic Places in London

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Tourist Must Do

• May 1, 2009
• Rated 4 of 5 by artslover from Calgary, Alberta

Tickets for entry and tons of souvenirs are sold in a two story shop on the southwest corner of the Tower. You can also buy them online http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/, where you will find them cheaper, but we hadn’t done that. At least we found no queues so had no problem or delay buying our tickets and walking straight into the Tower. Gate price: Adult £16.00, Child(under 16)£9.50, Family £47.

We toured ourselves around rather than join one of the many organized tours which are included as part of the admission. There were a fair number of tourists even in February.

This is a must do for every tourist since it so defines much of England’s history. The ancient fortress was founded by William the Conqueror and almost 1,000 years of British history have been played out within its walls. It was here that Anne Boleyn, among many others, was executed, so we had to look at Traitor’s Gate where many of the unfortunates would have entered.

We spent most of our time in the White Tower where there are displays from the Royal armouries including original armours worn by Henry VIII and Charles I plus a reconstructed display of the massive collection of weapons once housed in the Grand Storehouse. The 'Spanish Armoury' contains the Tower's historic instruments of torture, including the infamous block and axe.

Of course, we looked at the Crown Jewels to be dazzled by the world's largest, top-quality cut diamond, Cullinan I, set in the Sovereign's Sceptre and learn more about the history of the Crown Jewels in the Crown and Diamonds exhibition in the Martin Tower.

We also visited the ravens who have lived within the Tower walls for hundreds of years and legend has it that, if they leave, the kingdom will fall.

From journal A Day of Walking Off Jet Lag in London

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Tower of London, Lots to See

• March 5, 2009
• Rated 4 of 5 by tvordj from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

One of the star attractions in London is also one of the most expensive. At 17 pounds per adult (16 online) and 47 for a family entrance fee (2 adults, 3 kids) it's steep. The queues for tickets can be quite long and can stretch back to the tube station. We did find that the queue moved fairly smoothly and quickly. I do think that buying tickets online or from the kiosks a day or two ahead of time might be good if you're going in "prime time" (summer, school holidays).

It's not difficult to get there. The Tower Hill tube station is very close, the DLR station just around the corner from that and many busses stop along Tower Hill. Tour busses will stop nearby as well. If you arrive by train, go to the London Bridge station and then you can walk over historic Tower Bridge!

There are organized tours with the Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters) as tour guides and these are usually pretty crowded. We didn't bother and just followed our noses. First stop was the old medieval palace where there were a few reconstructed rooms from the 13th century, Edward I era. The throne room was most impressive and in the King's Hall which might have been used for dining, there were also a man and woman dressed in period costume. We went into a few of the towers and along parts of the walls and went to see Traitor's Gate and through the queues to see the crown jewels, set in a new exhibition. There are videos on the walls of the jewels and the coronation of the current monarchy while you wait in the lines which move steadily, and then in the jewel room, there are now moving conveyor belts along either side of the cases that you stand on. You can get back on again if you want to go through again or just have a look from a few yards away on the main floor. It keeps the crowds moving rather than them standing there and looking even though they were supposed to keep moving. All the other gold and silver pieces are in separate cases and you can look at your leisure at those.

We wandered the grounds, made friends with the ravens (who could pick a fight with a small dog and probably win!) and went into the Royal Chapel, St. Peter ad Vincula where the poor beheaded queens of Henry VIII are buried beneath the altar (including Anne Boleynn, Jane the Duchess of Rochford and Jane Seymour) No photos allowed inside the chapel though. We didn't have the energy to climb anymore stairs so we didn't go into the big White Tower, the original fortress in the center of the compound where there is an armory display and maybe we missed the best bit but there is certainly enough still that we didn’t see to warrant going back again sometime. There are actually quite a few of the towers along the walls open to the public with things to see inside. The Lower Wakefield tower has a torture device display and there is still graffiti on the walls in the Beauchamp tower apparently enscribed by prisoners of long ago.

The Tower is open most days of the year, closing at 5:30 p.m. in spring, summer and fall and at 4:30 from November to February. Most of the Tower is not accessible for people with mobility issues but the Crown Jewels are defintely accessible to wheelchairs. There are accessible toilet facilities, shops and eating stops. There are a couple of cafes and gift shops though there are also pubs and cafes close by outside the walls of the Tower as well.

If you are on a budget, then this is probably going to be a bit high cost but you can spend hours here. I find that if it's somewhere that you have a lot to see or do, then the cost doesn't seem quite so high. If you are on a budget and want to splurge on one thing, I think this would be the one to see.

From journals London in the rain (2000), Bus Tour of the UK, August 1993

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Tower of London

• December 24, 2008
• Rated 5 of 5 by Drever from Ayr

The Tower of London dates from Roman times. The present building contains nearly 1,000 years of history within its forbidding walls. One of the most popular tourist attractions in England, it is according to paranormal experts the most haunted location in the world.

The Tower holds the royal gems because it's still one of the royal palaces, although no monarch since Henry VII has called it home. Its most renowned role has been as a jail and place of torture and execution. The Tower has been the site of bloody events ranging from famous beheadings to the murders of two royal family teenage boys. The last executions being from the early 1940s of WWII German-Nazi spies.

The closest Tube station is Tower Hill only a short walk away. The ticket booths sit across from the entrance. Once you pass through the entrance there is a sign displaying when the next tour starts. Allow at least three to four hours at a minimum to tour this tower.

The 39 Yeoman Warders, known as Beefeaters, conduct the tours. Resplendent in navy-and-red Tudor outfits, these are ex-soldiers with a gift for storytelling. Beefeaters have been guarding the Tower since Henry VII appointed them in 1485. One of them, the Yeoman Raven master, is responsible for making life comfortable for the Tower ravens (six birds plus reserves) - an important duty, because if the ravens were to desert the Tower, goes the legend, the kingdom would fall. Today, the Tower takes no chances and clips the raven’s wings.

In prime position stand the oldest part of the Tower and the most prominent of the buildings, the White Tower. William the Conqueror began this central keep in 1078. Henry III (1207-72) had it whitewashed, which is where the name comes from. Here are the Royal Armouries, with a collection of arms and armour. Henry VIII armour shows his massive size.

The Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, downstairs from the Armouries, is an example of 11th-century Norman style - rare, simple, and beautiful.

Across the moat, Traitors' Gate lies to the right - a forbidding entrance through which many prisoners saw the last of the outside world. Opposite Traitors' Gate is the former Garden Tower, better known since about 1570 as the Bloody Tower. Its name comes from one of the most famous unsolved murders in history, the saga of the "little princes in the Tower." In 1483 their uncle, Richard of Gloucester, left the uncrowned boy king, Edward V, and his brother Richard here after the death of their father, Edward IV. He had himself crowned Richard III, but in 1674 workers discovered two little skeletons identified as the princes under the stairs to the White Tower.

On Tower Green only the high-ranking qualified for beheaded in the peace and seclusion here instead of before the mob at Tower Hill. Only seven people qualified - among them Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, wives two and five of Henry VIII's six; Elizabeth I's friend Robert Devereux, earl of Essex; and the nine-day queen, Lady Jane Grey, age 17.

The little chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula the second church on the site conceals the remains of some 2,000 people executed at the Tower, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard among them. Queen Victoria ordered that their remains be given a Christian burial here.

The most famous displays are the Crown Jewels in the jewel house located in the Waterloo Barracks in the Inner Ward. Before you see them, you view a short film that includes scenes from Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation. Then standing on a conveyor belt, you pass a series of jewels their sparkle increased by special lighting. Each carries a brief history of the crown jewels. You can also see Charles II and Mary II coronation balls, 4 of the Consort's sceptres and several spectacular and priceless diamonds, including the largest in the world, the First Star of Africa, which weighs over 530 carats.

Although I had visited the Tower many years ago it on this occasion entranced me once again. The Beefeaters are a star act and most of the history of England is contained within these walls. No wonder it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in England.

From journal Three Days Spent Investigating London

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Don't Go Home without Seeing the Famous Tower of London

• October 27, 2008
• Rated 5 of 5 by Abby071 from London, United Kingdom

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