Tower Of London, Tower Bridge, And Other Things Involving The Word ‘Tower’

First, and most important, stop of the day was the Tower Of London.
Finding the Tower was pretty easy; It’s not like they’ve hidden it, and the throngs of people taking photos of the big stone castle are a bit of a giveaway.

I’d arrived nicely in time for a Yeoman Warder tour of, if not all of the highlights, at least the basic layout of the place & some potted histories, usually involving executions.

It’s a bit tricky to sum up the Tower; There’s so much of it that I didn’t see it all, as the crowds were starting to build & clog. Probably should have made an earlier start.

• The Crown Jewels were very regal-looking & extremely heavily-guarded.
  I’d ended up in the long, if fast-moving line in front of a couple of older women who’d come down to London to do the theatre thing, and who’d already seen a bewildering number of shows, so they were hitting the Tower as a point of difference. One was a Dr. Who fan thanks to grandchildren, and she compared the ‘Everyone Gets A Medal’ ending of Star Wars IV to the end of a pantomime, when everyone comes out on-stage to get applause.
  I’m not going to be able to look at that film the same way now that I’ve heard that. 
• Tower Ravens are big.

  
  I’d though Perth Crows were on the large side, but these are some huge chunks of bird, who are, according to the sign, allowed to bite people.
  Well, that’s my reading.

• Going through the arms & armour exhibit was a mistake, as it was jam-packed with people on a one-way system, so it got quite hot & more than a little irritating, and I was really glad to get out again, several weeks after walking in. Why the labels are at ground level is beyond me, as it means that only the person immediately in front of the item can read the plaque.
• Aside from the crowds, it’s a really interesting place to wander around. So much has happened there, and there’s a fantastic mix of modern, old, very old, and incredibly old. Such as this;

The tower, I think, goes on my list of places to go back to, with an earlier start, as the crowds were clogging up pretty much everything, and it turns out I have a limit on how long I can spend stuck behind someone who can’t use a doorway in less than a minute.

After the Tower, because it was so close & came recommended by Katie, was Tower Bridge. Fortunately, there are lifts, which is handy, as that thing is really tall from close up.

It’s also quite tall from the top, and you can see a really long way.

The bridge did open while I was up there, but I couldn’t get a good picture of it from above. Here’s a bad one instead;

The Tower Bridge tour is pretty good; Covers the building of the thing, the various alternatives, & how it actually works.
There are a couple of galleries running between the towers up at the top, one showing an exhibition on bridges, and the other an exhibition on London in the 60’s.
On the other side, after the enviable gift shop, you can go & look at the old machinery for driving the hydraulic motors to operate the bridge; I’m assuming it’s electrical now, but back then it was thumping great steam engines driving pumps, with enormous weights being lifted to provide the needed pressure on-demand.

By the time the bridge tour was over, I was kind of done, so I ambled my way back to the hotel and engaged in the process of bag-packing.
Much of the content of my bag is laundry now, and I pity the customs inspector who chooses to open it.
MAF may simply decide to burn it upon arrival in NZ.

I found some more pictures of the Tower, and of the Tower Bridge from the Tower, and of the area around the Bridge.