5 June 2015 - The Tower of London and we see the Tower Bridge opening!

It was well worth the sleep sacrifice to journey early to meet Winette for Breakfast at Waterloo again.  I just can't pass up the chance to spend time with my dear friend whilst I am in London!  We chatted without ceasing until we had to go: she to work and I to the ticket office at the Tower of London.

No menagerie anymore...but imagine...

There were hardly any people around when I got to the old Tower of London at 9 AM.  For future reference, this would be a great time to go!  It was cheaper for me to buy a family ticket and count Tim as an adult than buying separate tickets.  Karl chose not to go in as he had seen it 20 odd years ago.  I had, too, but nothing was going to stop me!  It is alive with history and stories and well done displays and I wanted to share it with the kids.  It was a lovely day for exploring so there are always options in London.

Traitors' Gate

The Tower and Bridge

By the time the kids met me at the entrance it was about 10.30, but the Tower wasn't too crowded.  We first went to the White Tower, the oldest part of the complex, where there is a fantastic display of armoury and hands on activities which we all enjoyed.  I doubt I could ever be a good archer!  We were stunned at how small many of the suits of armour were which reflected the small stature of the wearers.  And the horses had to wear armour, too - what a weight for them to carry!

Yeomen's residences

In the White Tower

From the White Tower, we went to see the Crown Jewels. I remember quite a queue last time I visited the Tower but this time it was barely noticeable.  One of the guards explained about the golden robe that was placed on the Queen at her coronation which had all the flowers of the Commonwealth countries embroidered on it ....which included above anything else, a leek, for Wales!  Apparently, a daffodil couldn't be seen on the golden robe so a leek was sewn there instead!

The jewels themselves and even their custom made transport cases are really very  lovely...but a demonstration of great wealth that could have been distributed elsewhere!  The sparkles and sizes of the precious stones delighted Luke and impressed the big kids.  No photos were permitted in that display.

Some of these chest plates were dented!

Henry VIII's armour...protecting ALL of him (if you know what I mean!)

Loo with a view!

Norman Fireplace from 1220 AD

St John's Chapel

Norman window

Dragon!!!

Loads of hands on things to do!

Luke loving every minute!

Checking out the Norman foundations

Coat of Arms

Sentry guard

Cheery Beefeater!

Quite a character!

The White Tower

Looks so clean and well kept

The moat

Hand stand the moat!

We then headed down to the moat for a Yeoman or Beefeater tour of the Tower.  Our Yeoman, Sean, was a theatrical and very amusing raconteur who made history come alive and kept the crowd engaged for the whole 60 minutes he spoke.  We ended the tour in St Peter in Vincula Chapel (St Peter in Chains) where the bodies of the unfortunately executed  were placed in unmarked graves - with their heads elsewhere, on poles, exhibited on London Bridge as a warning.  No photos allowed in this sacred space.  The children and grandchildren of the Yeomen are permitted to be married and be baptised in the chapel. A Yeoman is required to do 22 years service in the Armed Forces and have received a medal of conduct before applying for a Yeoman's position.  There are 37 who live and work at the Tower of London, several of whom care for the ravens...who reside there.  If the ravens flee, the White Tower will apparently crumble! Eight ravens live here.

Excellent guide!

..."and up there, the saddest tale of the two young princes who were murdered..."

Weather vane on each tower

Another example of the Roman IIII instead of IV on the clock face.

The Bridge from the Tower's perspective

Execution spot with a beautiful view - one dear old mother of a Catholic priest was executed here because Henry VIII couldn't get to him so he executed his mother!  She refused to put her head on the block as she claimed, rightly, that she wasn't a traitor.  Brutal days

Raven and sentry

After the tour we went in to the Bloody Tower and also the Lower Wakefield Tower where torture equipment was kept and used.  Gruesome!

Some poor soul's initials in the Bloody Tower

There was no escaping through this gate.

Walter Raleigh's room in the Bloody Tower

Tiny little spiral staircase

There were even polar bears in the menagerie!  Poor things, their diet and conditions were really inappropriate.

Digging in progress and the ravens' cage...can't let them fly away...superstition reigns...but why would they when they are well fed and live on Royal land!

We walked around the ramparts which gave us little snippets of information as we went into each turret.

Canons!!

Prisoner trying to escape!

Not sure what this represents but it is quite intricate.

....and there were elephants!

Having fun

Chain mail - quite heavy.

Small ceremony with changing of the sentries.

A fair queen was a roaming...

And her lady-in-waiting.

Finished with the Tower.

We had arranged a rendezvous with Karl near the Scoop on the South Bank for lunch so we had the opportunity to walk over the Tower Bridge again.  It really is magnificent.  I had googled times when the bridge opened for tall vessels passing up and down the Thames and was delighted to find that at 3 PM on the day we would be in the area, there was a scheduled opening!  We ate lunch in the shade as it was a lovely warm day by now and waited for the opening.  Right on time with minimal ceremony, the bridge started opening to let Gladys, a chartered yacht through.  A lovely sight indeed!  We later saw Gladys moored further up on South Bank and had a brief chat to her skipper.  He has to book her passage through the tower Bridge but it costs nothing - the tourists love it, the locals don't!

Walking across the Tower Bridge again

The Tower Bridge opening - wow!

Here she comes.

Gladys makes her way under the bridge.

Gladys and the Tower

Hand stand opportunity

Cannot miss out on this opportunity!

Gladys up close - a chartered yacht which regularly goes up to the Thames Barrier

We were close to Southwark Cathedral, St Saviours, so we decided to go in.  There are records in the Domesday book of a church on this site in 1086. The Gothic style of construction seen nowadays is as a result of reconstruction after the Great fire of London in 1212.  Further affected by fire in 1390's, there was more rebuilding.  The basic layout of which survives today is a cruciform shape with an aisled nave of six bays, a crossing tower, and a five bay choir.  William Shakespeare has a memorial here and a window dedicated to his plays.

Southwark Cathedral

Southwark Cathedral - a beautiful place

Chaucer Window

Fine arches.

William Shakespeare - whose Globe Theatre is close by.

Window above William Shakespeare depicting some of his plays

Just near the entrance to the cathedral, there was  an archaeological dig, discovered by Luke who always likes to investigate interesting things that we may or may not even notice in our sphere of vision.  Oh the layers of London - a Roman Road from 1 AD, Norman foundations from 1200's and a Delft pottery kiln from 1700's - all below the site we were standing on.  I also thought that the level of the road must have been very close to river level.  With tides of up to 8 metres per day, flooding must have been a constant issue.

Archaeological finds near Southwark Cathedral which include a Roman Road from 1 AD!!

Quirky architecture

The Borough Market - smelt fantastic, had a couple of food samples, worth wandering through.

Sort of captures  London in a photo: old buildings, new architecture, the tube, the Evening Standard, double decker bus, etc!

We took the Tube back home...but our day didn't end there!!  Tim had been complaining, well not complaining, but mentioning that his ear was feeling sore and sort of spongy for a few days.  I was keen to seek medical advice, knowing that it was most  likely an infection.  On inspection there was green pus in his ear - which of course indicates an infection! Pain relief for Tim didn't address the problem, and finally when the poor kid couldn't sleep, we had a tube ride and walk to Royal Free Hospital (NHS) to see a doctor.  Tim and I arrived at the hospital at 11.30 PM.

We were seen by a friendly young doctor who agreed with my diagnosis of otitis externa and also media (outer and middle ear infection) and prescribed antibiotics, as I knew he would.  Tim has only ever had one other lot of antibiotics in his entire life, so it is not as if we are over users but there is a time and a place especially when it comes to ears and hearing.  We were home by 2AM.  Hopefully, the antibiotics will be effective and the infection will be fully treated with no recurrence.  For future reference, NHS services are free as are medications from public hospitals for Australians as part of a reciprocal agreement with Medicare.  We do have travel insurance but we would have to pay an excess in order to use it so this was a good option.