UK, Chapter 3: Traditional tourist-y stuff

Well, this is the next part of my online 'travelogue', and  this and the following post will be about  standard tourist attractions that I visited. The Tower of London, Big Ben and such places. All the places tourists never fail to visit when they come to London. 

The Tower of London was built nearly 1000 years ago, as a part of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Used first as a royal residence and then as a prison, it is now used to house the Crown Jewels.

The Crown Jewels are the crowns, robes, etc. worn by the King & Queen during the coronation ceremony & other functions. They are heavily guarded at all times, and to view them you must stand on a conveyor belt-like thing and be moved around a glass viewing case. You're not allowed to take photos, or to stop & stare at the jewels. 

I had assumed that there would be just a single crown each for the King & Queen. After all, how many crowns does one person need? To my surprise the glass case contained a variety of crowns and sceptres, of all shapes and sizes, each of which are used at different occasions. Apparently, the Queen has as many crowns as normal people have shoes!

They were all incredibly beautiful, set with precious stones, and sparkling wonderfully in the light. But I feel sorry for the Queen for having to wear them. Some, adorned with more than 400 gems, weigh several kilos. I don't believe anyone can lift their head while wearing such a heavy adornment!

The red-uniformed Guards who act as sentries at the Palace can be found here too. There are also Yeomen Warders, called Beefeaters, who are supposed to be responsible for the guarding of the Crown Jewels, but who act more as tourist guides nowadays. Their name apparently originated from the time when the Warders were paid partly for their service with chunks of beef (wonder what they'd have done if they had been vegetarian...)

 

A Beefeater

The Tower of London also has dungeons, where wrongdoers (and quite probably innocent people too) were once imprisoned. These are now used as a tourist attraction, with the kind intention of scaring visitors out of their wits. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

Near the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge. This is a combination of a movable bridge and a suspension bridge, which was built in the late 19th century. The bridge, which usually carries normal road traffic, opens up to allow ships to pass through. This only occurs on certain days, when ships are scheduled to travel down that way, and sadly, I was not able to see it.

Cross the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London, and walk down Tooley Street. You will find yourself at the London Dungeons. I'm assuming they're a scarier version of the dungeons within the Tower of London. I had no intention of going there anyway, so I have no information about them (Scared? Who are you calling scared? I wasn't scared! Hmph!).