London Tower

We were one of the first visitors to the London Tower  that day.  We had already bought the tickets through our niece for that day and had the tickets with us and hence we did not waste time standing in the queue.

Any body who has read about Henry the VIII would know London Tower and that was the exact reason I wanted to see this.

This is the Tower where Political Prisoners   (read it as people whom the King and his cronies dislike)  were kept as Prisoners.

I had read about Henry the VIII who was the person responsible (albeit indirectly)  for bringing in Protestantism to England and Father  of  Queen Mary (Bloody Mary)  and Queen Elizabeth I  the two famous Queens of England.
 This Tower was where Anne Boleyn one of the wives of Henry the VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I was beheaded.   I had  also  seen  the movie 'Anne of Thousand Days.' which is the story of this queen.     No wonder I was curious to see this place which reeks of  History.

We could see many many towers in   here.

The first thing I did was to go and see the place where Anne Boleyn was kept as a  prisoner and where she was supposedly beheaded.  I was really moved and was standing there looking at the place and wondering about the woman who had seen heights of glory and ended up being beheaded  .

                                                    

                                                             

I have heard so much about the Kohinoor Diamond taken from India and kept in  London.

 That famous Kohinoor is on display along with crown jewels in this tower of London.   I could see the Kohinoor which is embedded  in the Crown of Queen Mother.  I was reminded of The HOPE Diamond which I saw in Smithsonian's in DC /USA which looked much more magnificent as it was  in a pendant and looked very nice and big.  So I should say that I was disappointed with Kohinoor  even though I did  appreciate the nice display of the jewels.  

There were so many things happening inside the Towers ,  people were dressed up as historical characters and enacting the role of the erstwhile kings and queens who were connected with this Tower.  We watched some of these  which seems to  be a regular routine in the Tower  every day.  

I could see big Ravens inside the tower .  There is a myth connected with it that the presence of  Raven signifies the safety of the King/Queen and the Kingdom of England.    So it was kind of a must take picture item and the Raven were nothing but the bigger version of our common crow.

We came out of the Tower around lunch time and had our packed  lunch on the banks of the Thames.  The Tower is situated in the banks of the river and the famous Tower Bridge stands very next to this Tower.

Our next destination was Monument which was nearby and so we were supposed to walk there.   When we inquired for directions the police could not help us and were very indifferent to our queries.  Not knowing what it was,  but knowing we had to climb, we were trying to tell them it is some thing which we were supposed to climb.  

I did not know how to rotate this picture hence it is  horizonal.....

Up on the steps of monument.... puff....puff....

So when we walked there we found out it is not an open stairs  leading to some big hall (that is how I imagined) it is a 'Monument' which has spiral   stairs   which we were to climb about 300 steps.  I found out that it was built to commemorate a great fire in London.  The view from the top was very nice and the climb was little tiring (for me)

View of the Tower Bridge from the top of the Monument.

From here we bought a phone card (luckily it is compatible with Malaysian, Indian phones unlike in US which is not ) for our  use, in TESCO which is a very common Super Market in London.

We proceeded  to the Boat point near the Tower and  went to Greenwich  by boat.  Nice ride and my niece was waiting for us in Greenwich Boat Station .     

Due to Olympic Games many roads were closed and by the time we walked to the Greenwich Observatory   it was late and the Observatory  already closed.  I was disappointed that I could not see the  Observatory.   There is supposed to be  a line which is what is Greenwich mean time  (line) or GMT.

  May be this is also a myth , being a slave country of British,   wanting to see certain things which are etched in our mind as kids.  May be later I can visit the place and stand on the imaginary line where the time starts or what ever it is which is so confusing concept.(for me)

My niece's husband joined us and we had a nice  dinner in a Mexican Restaurant  and returned to our room tired. I could not wait for the next day to dawn so that I can see more places.