At one with the 'Beefeaters' (& ravens!)

Woke to an overcast day.  At our ‘breakfast meeting’ this morning we decided on three objectives:  To visit: the Tower of London; Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace.  This meant riding the ‘tube’ to the City of London.  We had a fantastic day!

For more than 900 years, the Tower has dominated the city of London and today is one of the capital’s most famous landmarks.  Through its history, the Tower has served as a royal palace and fortress, prison and place of execution, an arsenal, royal mint, menagerie and jewel house.  Highlights include:  the Bloody Tower, Traitor’s Gate, the famous ‘Beefeaters’, Crown Jewels and the Fusilier’s Museum.

Our photo is taken just inside the entrance to the Tower of London.  A 'Beefeater' was our tour guide - they have to have served 22+ years in the military, have an outstanding service record and be of Warrant Officer rank or above....  These personnel live in the Tower of London grounds with their families.  Legend has it that they were called 'beefeaters' because that's how the monarch paid them for their work - in beef rations.   Our friend, Dave, had read somewhere that they were called 'beefeaters' because they had to taste every meal before it was served to the King in case it was poisoned!  The Sun was shining – although we were lucky to miss a huge and heavy shower whilst we were inside the White Tower - an interesting building which was at times an armoury, observatory and prison.  Today is has a huge museum showcasing weapons, armour, a display of Kings and their horses and other objects from that time period.  We were so engrossed - we only just managed to fit in lunch at about 1pm, having viewed the Crown Jewels, including Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Crown!  Now there's some SERIOUS bling!  No photos allowed!  The armour plated doors at the entrance - 2000kg (2t) each!!!  

Next, we walked to the Tower Bridge and Exhibition.

An iconic part of the famous London skyline, this legendary feat of Victorian engineering is still raised more than 1000 times a year for ships to pass up the Thames.  The exhibition provides breathtaking panoramic views across London from high-level walkways to the history of the Bridge and its historic Victorian Engine Rooms. 

The highlight of the tour was walking across the Tower Bridge and looking at the view of the Thames, right down to the Millenium Bridge.  The sun had returned and the day was warming up, albeit windy – which has made us feel tired and ‘dried out’ tonight.  I had no idea of the feat of engineering that it was to build such a bridge at that time (late 1800’s). 

It was a bit of a walk from Tower Bridge to our next destination – Buckingham Palace.  Stopped along the way by some ‘lost’ French tourists, we had to consult the map.  Managed again to board the ever-crowded ‘tube’ (London railway) – remember it’s Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining and EVERYONE is out enjoying the weekend!  Walked from Green Park station to Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace serves as both the office and London residence of Her Majesty The Queen, as well as the administrative headquarters of the Royal Household.  It is one of the few working royal palaces remaining in the world today.  Wow!

Lots of people looking around but to our utter disappointment, we were not invited inside to ‘tea’ with any of the royals……(oh well, their loss!)

Exhausted by this time, we decided to head back to our lovely hotel to enjoy a bottle of red and do some research ready for tomorrow’s ‘business meeting’ at breakfast!