Tower of London

Today, Tuesday, I went to the Tower of London. I had heard it was one of London's top spots to visit and also contained the amazing crown jewels. I read up on it in my book and found that it is a fortified structure of towers and walls that was originally built on an old Roman fort site around 1200 AD. Since then additions had been made up until about 400 years ago.

Unlike the other museums, this was not a free visit.

When I got there I went through a small tour with a guide then broke off on my own. Immediately I went to the crown jewels cause I had heard so much about them. Turns out it was about a 4 minute tour and I was really disappointed. Lots of gaudy gold jewelry that didnt even look that well crafted to me. Honestly I found most of it ugly. Though, the 3 foot by 2 foot punch bowl made out of gold was pretty impressive.


Then i started through the towers. The history of the place, with all the famous prisoners held in different towers on the grounds and many people who had been killed on the site was pretty powerful. Inside some of the towers you could see messages scratched into the walls. In the chapel, they used to bury the dead under the floor. When excavated they found thousands of bodies down there.

The towers themselves were like a castle really and I loved walking through them. The little stairwells were smaller then my flat's. The high ceilings and huge fireplaces. Very charming I thought. Walking through these towers really takes you back in time.

There were also suits of armor and weaponry.

Besides the crown jewels, I really enjoyed the Tower of London.


On my exit from the Tower, I came out along the River Thames near the Tower London Bridge. It was beautiful so I took lots of photos and took my time, even though it was raining.

Now that I am back, getting some work done and Renee is meeting me in a bit and we are going to schedule our Friday trip to Ireland.

I played poker last night at the nearby casino. Made a nice little donation. Might make another tonight. :)