This entry is a continuation of The Tower of London: The Crown Jewels.

After causing enough trouble in the Jewels, we wandered around the outside of the Tower’s keep. We poked our heads in a few doors, but no one was very motivated to go inside and look at much. Soon, we found ourselves back in front of the Crown Jewels guard, who was busying himself staring into space and playing with his gun every once in awhile. Shane stood in front of him, imitating the guard, and we soon turned to trying to make Shane laugh instead, since it was slightly easier. Then, Chuy, the guy who had been taking pictures in the Jewels, had a question for the guard (it’s a bit vulgar, so if you don’t want to read it, skip the rest of this paragraph). He walked up to the guard and asked, "So, if a hot girl walks by, and you get a boner, does that count as moving?"

The guard actually laughed! He definitely stopped himself immediately, but he laughed and cracked a smile as he was trying to stop himself. We were all totally amazed—I had talked to plenty of guards, and even had my brother as a baby poke one, and never had they budged or done anything but look into the distance. We all couldn’t stop laughing because of it, although we were sad that Shane had turned off his video camera 5 minutes previously!

As we were standing around the guard laughing, a man walked up to us. He said, unfortunately in an American accent (showing the world just how intelligent Americans could be), "I don’t think that there guard is real. He has to be a statue from Madame Tussaud’s!"

"But, how does he move?" one of us asked him.

"Of course, he’s got batteries in him! Now, who wants a picture with the nice guard?" he asked.

"We have pictures already, thanks."

"No, I mean a picture with your arm around the guard!" he said as he started putting one leg over the 3-foot tall metal bar separating us from the guard.

This entry is continued in The Tower of London: Getting Thrown Out.

On our one-day tour of London, we were given the choice of either visiting Westminster Abbey or the Tower of London. Having visited both before, I wasn’t sure which one to go to, but I ended up choosing the Tower since I had visited the Abbey much more recently. Most of our group chose Westminster, but there were 5 or 6 of us that headed into the Tube station and caught the Circle Line to Tower Hill.

Nothing in London is cheap, but a basic ticket into the Tower was only about £11 (this was 2002, meaning the prices have probably gone up). Of course, the first attraction as we walked in was the guard standing outside the Crown Jewels. Nobody else had seen these up close so we all took turns taking pictures and trying to make him laugh. Of course, no one was very successful in this, so we moved on to the Crown Jewels.

The Jewels are definitely an interesting part of the Tower. They can either leave you in awe or make you sick at how much money the British royal family has spent on massive diamonds to put in a crown that is worn once every fifty years. You can’t describe them as anything but spectacular, though, and they are worth seeing. A certain number of people are let in at intervals here, and then you pretty much spent the entire time on walkalators that scoot you past all the Jewels without you having a chance of hatching a plan on how to steal them. As I’ve said, they are spectacular, but after a while they tend to run together.

This seemed to happen much sooner for the boys in our group, who decided it was time to take pictures in a decidedly non-picture area. One of them, Shane, managed to get some decent video footage from his video camera underneath his arm before being called out by one of the many security people standing just behind the walkalators. Another one decided he wanted actual pictures, and managed to get a good half-dozen before turning his camera off. Unfortunately, he saw another crown he liked the look of and turned his camera back on and stuck it in front of his chest like he had been doing before. Unfortunately, when he pressed the button, a huge flash lit up the room (apparently, you have to turn off flash every time the camera turns on) and he was immediately singled out and yelled at.

This entry is continued in The Tower of London: The Guard Laughs.

The Tower of London is amazing, not by what it is today, but by what is has been over the past thousand years. Ever since William the Conqueror ordered the tower to be built in the 11th century, it has been the center of politics, war, and executions until the present day.

Today, the Tower of London can boast as being one of England's biggest tourist attractions. It houses the magnificent Crown Jewels of the British Monarchy inside the Jewel House just opposite the White Tower.

The White Tower itself is in the middle of the complex and is the largest building on site. The building is in good shape and the stairs from one floor to another are within the turrets. The White Tower displays the armory, clothing, currency, and other important artifacts surrounding the Tower throughout its history.

Along the Tower grounds, you will find many tour groups being led by the the Yeomen Warders, also known as Beefeaters, dressed in their traditional red and black attire.

The Tower of London is certainly a fantastic place to spend half-a-day. If you are a history or architecture buff, it will be all the more fulfilling.

The Tower of London is not actually a tower. It is a palace located on the banks of the Thames River in downtown London. This palace has also served as a fortress and an infamous prison where brutal executions took place - including that of the Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII. Two of the more popular structures within the fortress walls of this historic site are the Crown Jewels building which houses the British Crown Jewels collection dating back to the 14th century and the White Tower that was constructed around 1078 under the reign of William the Conqueror.

We arrived at the Tower Of London two hours before closing time. We were hoping to get an overview by doing one of the organized tours but we had already missed the last one for the day. Audio tours are available but we decided to skip it and see as much as we could on our own in the limited time we had. We were able to explore the Medieval Palace, the White Tower, and The Crown Jewels building.

The Medieval Palace has been restored to look as it might have during the reign of Edward I in the late 1200's. I was most impressed by the medieval throne. Looking at it, along with the surrounding candles and arched doorways, made me feel like I had stepped back in history to a time of knights, armor, and castles.

British royalty lived securely behind the thick walls of the White Tower until the 1200s. Today this building houses an impressive collection of armor and medieval weapons. You can even see the armor worn by Henry VIII. This exhibit was quite crowded so we spent more time looking at the fascinating displays than we did reading the posted information.

Perhaps the main draw of the Tower Of London is the Crown Jewels. In the Crown Jewels building, we saw the crown and scepters of people like Queen Victoria and Queen Mary. I was impressed with the artistry of these items which were full of gold and precious gems. Photography is not allowed in this exhibit. This collection is definitely worth a visit when exploring the Tower Of London.

I came to London with no preconceived ideas whatsoever about this famous sight, so I was nearly overwhelmed upon seeing its size and scope. The only reason I visited was because it was included as part of my tour package, but I was not at all sorry I did! It is a must-see for anyone visiting London, especially if you're a castle lover. More than just the old tower I pictured it to be, the Tower of London has been a fortress on the Thames, a palace, a treasury, and a prison and execution site during its nine + centuries of existence.

Even though I am not particularly a history buff, I enjoyed the adventure of wandering up, down and around the many spiral staircases, hallways and wall walks throughout this network of ancient towers. It gave me the feeling of how it must have been to live in such a long-ago age. We saw rooms of all sizes, armor, weapons, prison cells of both commoners and the gentry, and even a prison privy.
Another interesting section was the crown jewel collection, an awesome sight!

There were many legends and ghostly stories to read about, and probably many more to be told; if your interest and time allow, you might wish to take one of the Beefeaters tours. Also, a sound guide called "Prisoners of the Tower" is available for a small charge. There are a few interesting gift shops—the Tower Shop, the Medieval Palace Shop and the Jewel House Shop—on the premises as well.