A trip to the Tower

I'm very lucky living in London; there is so much to see and do, so much history around, and a skyline full of amazing architecture. After a week of snow and cloudy skies the sun finally came out. I decided to make the most of the good weather, to wrap up warm and get out the house. My very kind house-mates brought Stuart and I a years membership for the Historic Royal Palaces, which means we can visit these places whenever we like and not worry about rushing because we can just come back again, so we decided to head to the Tower of London.

We jumped on a bus to London Bridge and then walked along the Thames to Tower Bridge.

I think it's safe to say Tower Bridge would be up there as most peoples favourite London based bridge, it's just so iconic and imposing. They have a exhibition you can pay a few pounds to go to, but I've yet to do it. When I do though, I will certainly tell you all about it.

This is the coat of arms for the City of London, and I learnt yesterday that the motto of the City is Domine, dirige nos, which means Lord, direct us. 

Once across the bridge we headed towards the Tower to be greeted by these guys;

The Tower of London are currently running an exhibition called The Royal Menagerie showing all the different animals that have found themselves imprisoned in the Tower. It's interesting to read about these exotic specimens who had to adjust to life in London. Apparently Henry VIII (my favourite monarch) had a polar bear who would fish in the Thames!

I love being a tourist and exploring but I don't want to be seen as a tourist, if that makes sense! I want to immerse myself in the moment and not worry I'm not going to have time to get round everything. This membership meant we could take our time, and come back another day if it was too busy or we got tired. We decided just to wander around the White Tower, and leave the rest of the place for another day. The White Tower is the oldest part of the palace. It was built in the 11th century by William the Conqueror. Over the centuries it has had various uses but now it houses the armoury. I didn't really take any photos of the inside but if you go be sure to get a look at Henry VIII suit of armour and the dragon sculpture made out of weapons from throughout the ages.

The rest of our visit was taken up watching and photographing this guy;

There are a lot of stories about the Tower of London and the ravens, one being that if there are no ravens at the Tower the British Crown will fail. Now as I don't like, or see the reason for a monarchy in a society that claims to be a democracy (but I won't moan about that now) it wouldn't bother me if all the ravens left, but they can't as they have one wing clipped so can only fly very short distances. However another story that I love, and could quite possibly be true is, that as carrion eaters, wild ravens were attracted to the Tower because of all the people executed there (or on nearby Tower Hill). It's strange to think these birds were originally drawn to the location because of the numerous eyes and tasty titbits they had to pick at, yet that story is forgotten and they are seen as a quaint addition to the visit, but certainly one worth a few minutes contemplation when you visit. And on that thought Stuart and I left to get our own dinner.

I'm looking forward to going back soon to check out the rest the Tower has to offer!