Tuesday, October 30, 2012

"Tower Over Centuries, Tower Over London...So Tower Up"

Saturday I continued the exploration of London and its many traditions.  Taylor, Jordan, and I ventured around the entire Tower of London complex as a part of an NYU London programming event.   

It was another cold day, semi-rainy/semi-sunny.  We are starting to get colder weather over here so the sun peeking through the clouds is becoming an even rarer occurrence.

Jordan and Taylor.  Two wonderful people and two great explorers! 

We started off by taking a Yeoman tour around the major areas. (See bottom left.)  He provided us with lots of historical information and plenty of cheap, but hilarious jokes.

The Tower of London is where the Kings used to live and where prisoners would be held and tortured before heading to their execution on Tower Hill - a short distance from the tower itself.  It is now a tourist attraction, home of the crown jewels when not being used, a bunch of little museums, two small chapels, and home to many of the Yeomen themselves (i.e. our tourguide).

This is the center building that now holds lots of armour and weapons from the past.


It also has wonderful views of the Tower Bridge!


Home of the Crown Jewels.

It was cold AND sunny.  Hence the need for both the earmuffs and sunglasses.
London lesson one: always be prepared!

I couldn't take pictures inside, but take my word for it: THEY WERE STUNNING!!!!!  I just wanted to hold one of those crowns.  Could you imagine wearing one of those on your head?!

So many medals.

It's a bit creepy sitting in between these two tyrants.

Happy happy girl.

This sword was so tall!  I couldn't even imagine trying to use it without falling over.

How ornate!

Effigies of soldiers and their horses.


Have you ever seen armour so small?

Jordan gazing upon a dragon.

Executioner's axe...scary right?

I would not want to be staring back at that mask, that's for sure!


Model layout of the entire original Tower of London.

Entering the gift shop which used to be the torture chamber.  I'm sure there's some sort of ironic message there...
Also, I was trying to imitate the pose this knight is making.  It struck me as odd or atypical, but I don't mind it!  Maybe he's just trying to dance :)

Taylor's dragon friend returns!

Me and the Queen



And in the tradition of Halloween we ended our tour viewing the torture devices:

That looks quite uncomfortable.  I'm sure it was!

The stretcher.

Quite a few people take these Yeoman tours every half hour.

Entirety of Tower of London from the front.

Love this photo.  London past and present.  On top of Tower Hill.

Then we walked across Tower Bridge, which I had yet to do.


And we passed London Bridge (which is not the same as Tower Bridge, pictured above).
We then continued to walk all the way along the Southbank side of the Thames River exploring anything and everything that sparked our interest.  We came across some cool alleyways, a delicious marketplace, some roasted peanuts, and plenty of bridges.  We walked all the way home and my feet were quite sore by the end.  But walking is one of the best ways to explore London.  Just like any city, you come across something new every time you step outside.  That's what's so exciting; it's always changing and always surprising you!

I always feel so accomplished after a full day of exploration.  And that's exactly what Saturday was, exploration at its finest - full of spontaneity, laughter, and plenty of learning. 

It's like I can feel myself getting more cultured by the day.  I'm 'towering up'.

Cheers!

Changing the Guard; Maintaining Tradition

So even after being here for two months, I had yet to see the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.  I know, I know, it's a big deal and a token tourist thing, but it just took me this long to get around to it I guess.  The real issue is that I just never picked a date to do it so time started getting away from me.  This past weekend though, as it was one of my only weekends left in London, I had a fun-filled weekend exploring England and its traditions.  I'm staying on top of my to-do list - as promised!

So alas I finally chose a day to go - last Friday!  And Taylor agreed to go with me :)  Unfortunately I chose a very cold, semi-rainy day and I was only going to do this once so getting a great view was imperative.  I had heard from other friends that went that even if you are a few rows of people back it is quite difficult to see all the action going on in the yard right in front of the palace.  So Taylor and I made sure this wouldn't happen and we got there at 9:45am.  The ceremony starts at 11:30.  People didn't really start showing up for the ceremony until 10:15/10:30, but we definitely got our prime choice of spot!  We were right up against the fence to the right of the main gate and could see everything.  Unfortunately by the end of the ceremony my fingers and toes felt like they were going to fall off, but I still enjoyed the ceremony.  Very ritualistic.  It seemed to only pose more questions though regarding the Beefeaters and the reasons for their doing certain things, but I guess it is all part of the tradition.  I'm sure they were freezing as well.  They have to just stand there, so still for so long! And four times a week during the colder months!  And then when it starts raining...those men are hardcore!  I couldn't really understand what they were saying though even though they were screaming all sorts of commands.  It sounded like they were speaking German to me, but Taylor insists it was English.  I guess she might be right ;)

All bundled up, trying to stay warm as we wait for the ceremony to begin.

The original guards when we got there.

Lots of umbrellas were out.  Luckily the rain stopped after half an hour.

The flag that flies when the Queen is present at the Palace.

Side note: We actually saw the Queen's car leave the Palace (with a whole slew of other cars of course), but didn't know it at the time.  Taylor finally figured it out because the flag changed halfway through the ceremony.  So I didn't see her per say, but I was certainly in her presence for all of fifteen seconds.  How cool is that!

Here they come!  A parade of Beefeaters.


All the people lined up to see.

I took out my paparazzi lens, as I like to call it, so I could get some better photos closer up.



Completely in sync.

They marched around a lot and then the band played some music.

Even they carry weapons.

This is the band that played in the parade leading up to the yard.  They then waited around while the others had their turn.






Now some fun Beefeater headshots!




This is my favorite!  He was probably trying to stifle a yawn.  They're real people just like us!

Opening the gate to let them through.


The guard is now changed!



All good!

Another tradition witnessed.
Another to-do box checked.
Another successful day in London.

This girl is one happy camper :)

Cheers!