Tuesday, August 24, 2010

London, Part 3: The Tour and the Tower

On the Saturday of their trip, Marina and Aunt Linda took a tour bus around London. From the upper level of the double decker bus, Marina photographed the sights they passed. Below, Big Ben...
25-Big Ben
Westminster Abbey...
26-Westminster

St. Paul's Cathedral. I can't look at this without humming the song "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins. In front of the church, but not pictured here, is a statue of Queen Anne. According to Marina's tour guide, Queen Anne faces away from the cathedral because she lost her faith. She had seventeen children and they all died.
27-St Pauls

London Bridge...
28-London Bridge
Here is a view from the bridge itself...
29-On Bridge
From London Bridge, they came to the Tower of London. Looks ominous under the clouds, doesn't it?
30-TheTower

Here is one of the eight resident ravens of the Tower, fresh from a bath. According to legend, if all the ravens leave the tower, the White Tower would crumble to the ground and there would be no more kings or queens of England. Ever practical, all of the ravens have clipped wings...
31-Raven

Marina with her Beefeater guide, Allen.
32-Beefeater

33-Ivy WallShe loved the ivy covered wall of the Salt Tower.

There were carvings all over the walls of the Tower, written by prisoners.
34-Tower Record
Here is a carving of a sphere done by a man accused of sorcery...
35-Draper Sphere

36-Raleigh StudyA recreation of Sir Walter Raleigh's study in the Bloody Tower. Sir Walter's wife and children lived with him during his imprisonment, and he actually had the tower enlarged to accommodate his growing family.


One of the instruments of torture displayed in the Tower. It held a prisoner in a crouched position for hours on end...
37-Tower Torture

Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures of the Crown Jewels. When I went to London eighteen years ago, we were allowed to stop and look at the jewels in an upper level, set back from the display, while you had to keep walking on the lower level or you would set off an alarm (non-motion detector?) Now you are moved along by conveyor belt. I guess too many people set off the alarm.

4 comments:

Inner Elder said...

These pix and comments are a history lesson in themselves. Thanks Marina and Tina. Love, Mom

Sandra B. said...

"Below, Big Ben..."

Actually that is the Clock Tower, Big Ben is the largest of the bells inside the tower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

jugglingpaynes said...

Thanks for the correction! I've been hard pressed to get these photos up, I haven't had time to fact check!

Sandra B. said...

It is just one of the things that I remember from taking the tour myself.

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