We started the day by taking a train to London Bridge Station and grabbing a greasy breakfast before beginning the touristing. We walked over to the Tower of London, enjoying some beautiful views on the way.
I will admit to some ignorance - I had always imagined the Tower of London to be a single building. One tower. I was very wrong. We went on a wonderful guided tour and learned a lot about the history of the place. If you have not been there are many buildings, many walls, and a lot of really interesting stuff. I could have spent days just going through all the buildings and exhibits. Instead we did the tour, and then went to see the Crown Jewels. Alas there is no photography in that exhibit so I have no pretty pictures of sparkly stuff for you. I do have a few pictures from the Tower though (more on my camera but those can't be posted until I get home)
Wait... Why a raven? I am glad you asked! If you didn't know, the Tower is required to keep at least 6 ravens all the time. There is tradition that says if the ravens were to leave the crown would fall.
We walked back to London Bridge and across it (we didn't do the Tower Bridge because we weren't sure how to get there but knew our way back the way we had come) to explore some of the tourist stuff on the south side of the Thames. The first of our destinations was The Clink - another jail museum. This one was much more dramatized and gory, but really interesting. It dates back earlier, to a time when prisoners weren't even provided food but had to get from their families or beg through the gate. It would have been a horrible place to be chained up.
Next we went to The Globe. The reconstructed theatre was being used for a performance so we couldn't tour it, but instead we did a tour focused on the archaeological site hidden under London where they have discovered the original Rose Theatre. It was built earlier than the Globe and was where Shakespeare started. It was found during the reconstruction if the Globe, so a lot of the information used was actually based on the Rose. It is quite neat. We also went to the true original site of the Globe, a few blocks from the new one. Sadly I think I forgot about my phone, as all the photos of this adventure are on my camera instead.
We wandered around a bit more. I was getting pretty tired and my body was telling me it needed a break, so other than wandering across the Millenium Bridge (where we saw a street performer I quite enjoyed and tipped)
we went back to the suburb. We grabbed some dinner at the Turkish restaurant we had discovered on Monday and then went to get some rest.
Finishing with a photo: taken from the walk along Bankside.
No comments:
Post a Comment