London, Day 22: Tower of London

On our last full day in London, we received tickets to visit the Tower of London. It's not a single tower, but rather an entire castle, complete with walled grounds. It sits on the River Thames. It was built in 1066 by William the Conqueror, though many of the buildings are newer than that.

The Tower is infamous as a place where prisoners were held and frequently executed. In fact, there is a river gate called the Traitor's Gate where those convicted of treason (it seems to me that sometimes this simply meant that you had annoyed the monarch) were taken into the Tower. I viewed the site where some of the prisoners had been executed. There's really nothing there today but a grassy patch. A sign nearby indicates that the keepers of the Tower would like to put up a memorial. I wonder if this is a result of Britain's anti-death penalty stance; I'm not sure I would expect to see a proposed memorial to executed criminals in the States, even if it's likely they were not guilty.

The tower is also known as the place where the Crown Jewels are kept. Outside the Jewel Tower is a guard just like the ones at Buckingham Palace. However, I was able to get much closer to this guard than to the ones at the palace. Inside the Jewel Tower, I saw a number of crowns, scepters, and other fancy royal items made with precious metals and gems. One of the more interesting items I saw was a gold punch bowl the size of a birdbath. (Alas, photography was not permitted in the Jewel Tower). I have to wonder if it's hollow or not gold all the way through. Otherwise, I can't see how they would move it. On seeing all the gold, silver, and other sparkly things, I found myself understanding why the Vikings went on raids. Wouldn't it be fun to smash the glass and run off with all the pretty, shiny things? I sure think so. Of course, I don't want to get all the British people mad at me, so I suppose I will have to refrain.

Other parts of the Tower I viewed included the Medieval section of the Tower, which displayed a recreation of the bedchamber of one of the kings who stayed there; the raven pens, which are kept because of a legend which states that as long as ravens remain at the Tower, the kingdom will be safe; a bit of the old Roman wall; and the White Tower, the main tower in the complex, which houses a number of artifacts and an old Norman chapel. One of the amusing artifacts is King Henry VIII's armor. It's difficult to see because of the flash on the glass, but that section of the armor is, er, large. When Dr. Facinelli said that the armor makes clear he thought well of himself, I thought she meant that the armor was very elegant and decorated. It turns out that instead of fancy decorations, there's just a softball-sized bulge.

I took a walk around the outside of the Tower. There's a lovely view of the Thames and the Tower Bridge, which is what we think of when we think of the "London Bridge," which doesn't look nearly as cool as the Tower Bridge.

On my way home, I stopped at the King's Cross train station. In particular, I was there to see Platform 9 3/4. This platform doesn't actually exist, except in the Harry Potter books. It's the platform from which the train to Hogwarts Castle leaves. It looks like a brick wall, and the young witches and wizards have to walk through the seemingly-solid wall to get to the platform. In homage to the series, King's Cross set up a Platform 9 3/4 with a bit of a luggage cart sticking out of it.

I think it's great that the British have enough of a sense of humor to make a reference to a children's book at a train station.