Deanna & Jordan-Part 2 (Tower of London)

This is going to be the first part of three covering the second day Deanna and Jordan were here. It was a marathon day of sightseeing: 13 hours and probably over 600 pictures between the three of us.

So here is Day 2, Part 1:

Today began the second day of Jordan and Deanna’s visit to London, although Jordan would have to leave in the early afternoon to meet her parents in Barcelona. After getting up in the morning and grabbing a bite to eat at Roasters (the coffee shop between campus and the tube stop) we headed over to the Tower of London. Once we entered, we got a typical tourist picture:

And then waited for a beefeater (really called a Yeoman Warder), to give us a tour, which is included with admission and given every half hour:


One of the first stops on the tour is Traitor’s Gate. But this was not its original name, which was Water Gate, since it was through this gate supplies were unloaded from the river. But after a while, it became a favorite place for traitors to enter the Tower. While America may have the more famous (unfortunately) Watergate, England had it before the U.S.:


The Yeoman Warder then took the group, which was rather large, around the Tower to show us some of the important buildings in the Tower.

1) Middle Ward Wall

2) Queen's House

3) White tower
Once the tour was over, we headed into one of the buildings to see the crown jewels, where no photography or recording of any kind is allowed. The setting did not make the Crown Jewels seem as impressive as the Honours of Scotland, perhaps because the room was larger and there were many more jewels displayed. It was somewhat hard to distinguish which ones were considered THE Crown Jewels.

We then walked around the Tower some more and found the Ravens of the Tower, which legend has it if they leave the Tower, the kingdom will fall. They have their wings clipped so they cannot fly more than a few feet:We walked around exploring the Tower a little while longer before we had to leave. Here are a few pictures from the rest of our time there:

1) Deanna & Jordan with Tower Bridge in the background

2) Model of the whole complex


3) The Middle Tower

It was then time to return to my room to get Jordan’s bags before taking her to the train station to go to the airport.

That's all for now. I'll try to get Day 2, Part 2 up later tonight.