Tower of London

Hello! Sorry I haven't been posting lately, I just had my first round of papers due last week so I had to take care of those. On a beautiful sunny Saturday, I went to explore the Tower of London with some of my friends. This was by far my most favorite historical place in London. From the hilariously entertaining tour of the grounds by the "Beefeater" to looking at the Crown Jewels, I can't pick a favorite part! Here are the pictures:

My friends, the skyline from here was gorgeous!

The crown jewels were held in a huge room sized vault in the building on the left, and the White Tower (I'll talk about later) is on the right

Traitor's Gate - Where Queen Elizabeth entered when she was sent to the Tower when her sister Queen Anne was reigning, she was seen as a threat to Anne because of her popularity with the public.

White Tower on left, Crown Jewels on right

White Tower - Completed in 1100, this was the original Tower. It was built for William the Conqueror  and got its name from the tower being painted completely white. Many Kings resided here, and later in time gunpowder, ammunition, and weapons were stored in here.

The torture chamber was held in the lower part of the prison on the right. Behind me was the entrance to it

This was the coolest game! It was kind of like chess and chinese marbles. This was popular around King Henry VIII's reign

Nice view!

Tower of London

White Tower and the Ravens' cages

There's a myth that if the Ravens leave the Tower, the English empire will fall. There are 6 Ravens that reside in the Tower grounds, and they all have their wings clipped so they can't fly away :) They also have 2 reserve Ravens at the London Zoo

White Tower

The guards who work at the Tower actually live here. They're called "Beefeaters". The Beefeaters are military men and women who have had to serve in the Royal Army for 22 years and have a completely clean record. They have some of the best sense of humors I've encountered in London!

Henry VIII's riding armor

Henry VIII's armor (one of I think 3 suits)

A dragon made of all the ammunition and weapons stored in the White Tower

After walking around the Tower, we got dinner at this wonderful Italian restaurant where I had really good pizza and pasta,  yum! It had gotten dark, so we decided to go explore the riverbanks at night! London is such a beautiful city, day or night!

Big Ben, Parliament, and the river walk

London Eye

Queen's Bridge

Skyline - you can see the top of St. Paul's Cathedral on the left

We went into a chocolate shop on our walk back to our rooms. This was hot chocolate. It literally was liquid chocolate in a  cup. They gave us a spoon to eat it with! Best hot chocolate ever!! Good way to end the day :)