Tower of London

Sunday, May 22 was our Tower of London day. We started our day at a breakfast diner close to our hotel. When we walked in, the server said she could give us a table, but she needed it in an hour and would that be enough time for our breakfast? Jim and I kind of laughed because it was a request we have not had from a restaurant before. But it was doable, we were only there to eat and as long as the food didn't take too long to get to us, we would be fine to leave in an hour. The servers were attentive and we left in plenty of time. 

Eggs Benedict with a side of spinach--I got the spinach only to fulfill a veg requirement and my standards are low. I was not expecting it to actually taste good! The Eggs Benedict was delicious, but I had expected it to be.

Jim liked his eggs and avocado toast.

Our first view of the tower!

Selfie time

The "moat" of vegetation. The area was planted with flowers to create the "Superbloom" they had planned for the queen's diamond jubilee, but they were worried that the flowers weren't going to bloom in time. I liked the fanciful ornaments in the middle.

We got in on a historical storytime tour with a Beefeater. He was a great showman storyteller. He told lots of tales of executions and got in some good jokes and digs at Americans. I highly recommend listening to a beefeater tell the stories of the London tower. And I overheard another Beefeater tour guide and he was telling different stories! So you might get a different experience with different tour guides.

Also, it was hot out and Jim and I wondered how he could deal with the heat in that uniform and hat. 

The entrance to the crown jewels exhibit. You can't take pictures inside, though so you'll have to take my word that the jewels are excessive! I don't know how anyone wears those crowns on their heads for any length of time. Poor Liz, I suppose she doesn't put her crown on very often, but her 96 year old head would probably not be able to stay up with that head gear she had to wear at coronation.

There are stairways that I wanted to explore in the actual White Tower.

the armor dragon! 

My favorite piece of armor! Whoever wore this felt the need to have a grimace on his face protection. 

The chapel in the Tower. I love a good chapel. I love the 2 tiers of arches that light up the room. It's a cozy space and airy at the same time.

I think these heads were used for face armor fittings? Also there are creepy hands.

Wall o' breastplates. 

'Nother selfie because you can never take too many selfies when on a tour in London

Historical places with historical ruins

This torture device has wormed into my brain. I mean this doesn't seem like it would be all that torturous, but I tried crouching like this, and IT HURT even without the iron braces.

The White Tower

I walked into the bathroom stall and was shocked and extremely amused with the art on the stall walls. In general, the public restrooms in England are superior to those in the US, and this one tops the list because of the image. Yes, let's enjoy the execution-themed bathroom at the Tower of London.

We ate a bit of lunch at the cafe in the Tower complex, but I didn't record what we ate. What was memorable about our lunch was a chat with an American and his Scottish partner. He was very talkative and she not so much. I can't quite recall what he was talking about but it seemed to lean towards American politics, which made me less likely to want to listen and more likely to want to get out of there. I think I drummed up an excuse and we made our polite good-byes.