We took the tube this morning from Gloucester Road Station, a real oldie, to the Tower of London--even older by hundreds of years. We saw some of the history of the kings and the court intrigue. It's all rather difficult to follow or remember. Inside the moat of the 1,000 year old moated castle is an entire village where the Beefeater guards live along with their families, a doctor, a priest, and others. They're hired by the City I guess to show people around.
Here are a few postcard views from our tour. The village green, the guards, a horse's armour, the Tower Bridge, and the chapel (where presumably Anne Boleyn attended before she was executed).
Personally I'm more interested in contemporary London with its people heading off to work along with uniformed students....
A view of the Thames and across the Thames from atop the Tate Modern. That's the Millenium Bridge, the only pedestrian bridge across the Thames. Saint Paul's is in the middle, behind old warehouses and modern buildings. In front of this you can see tugs and barges full of containers, plus one of the river buses. We purchased an Oyster Card that allows us to take the tube, all buses, and the river buses. What a deal. Tomorrow we're going even farther afield, although we'll still be in Zone 1, the centre of this enormous city.
Below you can see some of the older brick and stone buildings we saw from the top of one of the double decker buses, and another view of Saint Pauls, which we'll likely visit tomorrow.
I would love to see London for myself someday, particularly the Tower.
ReplyDeleteThose Beefeaters, as I understand it, are all retired military. They may look odd in those uniforms, but these are about the last people on earth you want to get into a fight with.
We took several tours so we could see all the sights and it was very interesting and exciting. I loved the Tower and I know William would love to see it.
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip