Our latest Saturday wanderings took us back to the Tower of London.
Last time we ventured that way, the queues were really long so we only made it to the Tower Bridge. This time we planned it well as we got there shortly after they opened and bought our tickets beforehand on-line.
We were able to be in the first tour group of the morning, led by one of the yeomen warders or ‘Beefeaters’.
Our tour guide was hilarious and very informative. Our kids (that’s Emma just to the right of the picture) hung on his every word . . . as well as his coat-tails every time we moved to a different location. We started not to worry about where they were every minute, because we knew wherever our guide was, they were there.
We learned how the castle was protected from attacks from the outside . . .
and inside.
It was interesting for all of us to learn how the Tower of London was really the center of everything back in its day. Some of the highlights we took in were:
the Traitor’s Gate,
‘graffiti’ left behind by tower prisoners,
as well as the Crown Jewels and Bloody Tower (where many people were tortured by various methods). The kids walked out of the Bloody Tower very wide-eyed and amazed that people could be so cruel. Seeing those pictures and displays was eye-opening for them.
There is a legend that says the kingdom and the Tower will fall if the six resident ravens ever leave the fortress. So, they have ravens roaming around the grounds and a couple locked up, just in case any of the others decide to take off. I never realized how big these birds actually are! They are huge!
We had pretty much seen what we needed to see before 11:30 a.m. and were ready for lunch before we had to head back to the gym. This seemed to be a problem as none of the near-by restaurants opened until at least noon! So, we visited the gift shop where we heard a few cries about not getting any souvenirs. Cami was happy to get her picture taken with the two items she really wanted –
a princess wand
and a princess doll. If only it could always be that easy.
Still, we waited . .
and waited some more . . .
until we were finally even allowed into the restaurant. By then, we were truly hungry and thoroughly enjoyed our burgers.
We are glad to have gotten this checked off our list as the kids have been wanting to go ever since we arrived. One great thing about homeschooling is that we all learn the same events in history at the same time and we are able to explore them together. We had studied about the Tower of London awhile ago but everything we studied seemed to come back to them. I loved seeing the kids get excited to realize this is where those things we studied about happened . . . and it was real, not just a story.
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