Our last full day in London, SOB! And I'm not gonna lie, it was a LONG day.
It was a long day because we KNEW that if we wanted to avoid any kind of long lines to see the Crown Jewels, we were going to have to book the earliest time slot possible at the Tower of London. And that meant 9 am. Across town. The morning after the Skid Row concert. Like, is the sun just coming up here?
We had been to the Tower of London before, but it's just so much fun to explore, why not go again? Besides - two words: CROWN JEWELS!
I decided to get an audio tour and then announce to my friends when they said something interesting or funny. So I stopped real quick to grab that on the way in. This Beefeater was ready to give his first tour of the morning! Funny story- we have been drinking a lot of gin on this trip, but unfortunately we have not been drinking Beefeater's Gin. Because every year on their birthday, the Yeoman Warders get a free bottle of this gin! Also, these guys need to have 22 years of military service to even be considered for this job! Phew!
Our first stop was naturally the Crown Jewels (and it was just sickening how beautiful they were!) but you cannot take pictures in there. It made me a little sad to think that Queen Elizabeth had been wearing those jewels for 70 years when she passed in September. After that, we made our way up to the Martin Tower where we saw some of the examples of the menagerie in the form of wire sculptures of a baboon troupe. If you see these wire animals around the Tower of London, you will find them generally in the areas they were kept (at the time they existed there.)
The line for the Crown Jewels wasn't TOO long at this point (we had already been in there when there was zero line at all!) The Crown Jewels are housed in the Waterloo Block, which wasn't even built until 1846.
We were all feeling mighty fine this beautiful, crisp London autumn morning. I believe this is the Bowyer Tower that Jen and Kristin are in front of, but it might be the Brick Tower.
We made our way down off the tower wall over by the Royal Chapel - did you know that the Tower of London has an official chapel??? The royal chapel of Saint-Peter-Ad-Vincula is the parish church of the Tower of London. This building is from about 1520, and is the burial spot for a bunch of people who were executed on the other side of this wall. From the website, "St Peter ad Vincula is a Royal Peculiar, meaning that it is under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch rather than the bishop of the diocese."
And of course, this is the spot where many of those executions happened, including the three Queen's of Henry VIII - Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey.
I'm all like, "Hold on! I gotta take a pic of the execution site!" So my girls waited for me.
I did not take this picture, or I don't think I did. One of the other girls must have, because it is really pretty. The building on the right is the Keep, or the White Tower. In front of us, it's the Regimental Museum. If you have time, you could easily spend a whole day here at the Tower of London!
There is a maze of lines in the grass outside of the White Tower which denote the location of the original Roman walls from around 225 AD. The Romans established a town here in 45 AD called "Londinium" and these walls were built a couple of hundred years after the first settlement. The walls were re-used about 800 years later when William the Conqueror chose this site for the Tower of London. This became the eastern wall of his defenses.
These are what remains of the Wardrobe Tower, which was built over the remains of an old Roman bastion. It used to be the tower that held the King's personal belongings.
Ah, the famous White Tower! Construction of this tower actually began between 1075-1079, although Henry III had it white washed in the 1200s (hence the name!) Now, it's a museum and houses the Royal Armory.
Behind that circular building in the foreground is Traitor's Gate. You can see the Wall of the Innermost Ward, Wakefield Tower and the Bloody Tower, as well as the mint green roof of the home to the Tower of London ravens! We saw this as we were getting ready to head up the stairs to the White Tower.
.HEIC)
As you walk up the stairs to enter the White Tower, you pass this little nook that is carved out in the wall. The sign reads, "The skeletons of two children were discovered near this spot in 1674. They were believed to be the missing sons of King Edward IV. After Edward died in 1483, his two sons were brought to the tower. The older prince was going to be crowned king, but his uncle took over and was crowned instead as King Richard III. The princes were never seen again." These boys were the future Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. They were only about 12 and 10 years old, respectively.
Inside the white tower is a huge armory, filled with armor for both humans and horses. This is actually Britain's oldest national museum! Ok there, Henry VIII. Thinking pretty highly of yourself, I see.
The sign says, "Norman Fireplace: This is one of the earliest known wall fireplaces in England and was one of four in the White Tower. Early Norman fireplaces pre-dated the introduction of chimney stacks, so the smoke was allowed to escape through two holes in the side of the building through a flue built into the thickness of the wall. This type of fireplace was a great improvement on earlier designs where a fire burned in the center of the room but without a flue to remove the smoke. The smoke would fill the room and eventually escape through holes in the roof." (Think the Vikings!)
In the prison and prisoners exhibit, this sign says, "Only 22 people have been executed within the Tower site - 7 in the 15th-16th centuries, 3 in the 18th century and 12 in the 20th century. Many tower prisoners who were sentenced to death met their fate on nearby Tower Hill." Simon Fraser, 12th Baron Lovat was the last public beheading using this block and axe on April 9, 1747 (although I read somewhere that he was actually the 11th Baron Lovat.) The axe itself dates back to the 1500s!
St. John's Chapel is within the walls of the White Tower, and is a really good example of old Norman architecture that still stands today. Apparently Mary I (Henry VIII's daughter aka Bloody Mary) married Philip of Spain in here!
As you make your way down toward the exit (and the gift shop) you go through the Mortar Room. Here, on July 17, 1974, a bomb went off killing one person and injuring 35 other people. No group ever claimed responsibility but many suspect it was the IRA.
Also in the adjacent Cannon Room is a giant well that provided fresh water for the people who lived here around 1100. It's 36 meters deep and when it was drained in 2005, they found cannonballs AND a pair of old boots!
We eventually made our way out of the White Tower and decided to head out and try to find somewhere to eat for lunch. On our way out, we went down the stairs, past the remains of the Coldharbor Gate (on the left) and down to the Bloody Tower (straight ahead.) Sir Walter Raleigh was held in this tower for 13 years, and it's also believed that the young princes Edward V and the Duke of York were murdered here (before being buried within the White Tower.)
We walked by Traitor's Gate on the way out, with St. Thomas Tower sitting above it.
Rumor has it that Anne Boleyn herself came through this gate in 1536! The gate was built in the 1270s as a water entrance to the tower, but it evolved into a place where traitors publicly entered to their imprisonment.
Me and the bestie thought we would audition as Beefeaters.
Guess that sign above my head will be changed soon (funny story- I actually asked a guy at Windsor Castle when everything would be changed over and he said, "All in due time!")
Oh why, hello there Tower Bridge in the sunlight.
I'm not kidding when I say that you could spend an ENTIRE day at the Tower of London. But our time here in London was limited so it was time to make our way to the Tower Bridge!
Perhaps one of the most iconic bridges in all of the world, the Tower Bridge was built in the late 1800s.
There's a nice view of the Shard and of the HMS Belfast (remember when we went there with the kids back in 2019?) from the northern shore of the Thames.
Someday, I will take the tour of the Tower Bridge just so I can walk across those glass walkways.
Those walkways are 42 meters high!
The Neo Gothic look of the bridge makes it look much older than it's almost 130 years (since the completion.) And many people think this is the famous London Bridge, from the song, but that one is just up the river a bit and not nearly as beautiful as the Tower Bridge!
You definitely get the best view of the Tower of London from the Tower Bridge. I suspect you would get an even BETTER view if you take the tour of the bridge at the top, but we did not have time for that! I think it's funny that we have a more than 1000 year old fortress just sitting here in London among all of these modern buildings!
We walked across Tower Bridge, over to the Butler's Wharf/Shad Thames area, and went under the famous Shad Thames Historical Wharf Bridges.
These bridges were built in the 1870s - although the last of the connected warehouses closed down in the 1970s and they were converted to condos. Nowadays, some lucky folks who live there get to use these walkways as their apartment/condo balconies!
There is a sign on the wall here that says, "Shad Thames is the best surviving example of the type of street that was very common in London's Docklands before any redevelopment had taken place. It is now almost unique. Flanked by tall warehouses on either side, it is crossed at different heights by lattice, wrought iron bridges. Across these, the dockers would push barrows when transferring tea, spices and other food stuffs from the riverside warehouses to those further inland."
We were trying to find a place that was open for lunch but you know restaurants in London don't open until 11:30 or so. We finally found one - Browns Butlers Wharf - and with it, we got some pretty great views of the $200 million yacht, the Kismet. Kismet means fate, or destiny and I'm certain that it's my destiny to own this boat someday. It's currently owned by Pakistani-American businessman Shahid Khan (he owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, among many other things.) It's max speed is only 20 mph though ha ha. You want to rent it for the week like Beyonce and Jay-Z did once? That will cost you $1.2 million, please. And that doesn't even include fuel or food!
Roar.
After lunch, we decided to go to the nearest tube station and trek back toward Buckingham Palace and the surrounding areas. It was a long walk past St. Saviors Dock and through the Bermondsey neighborhood.
We hopped on the Jubilee Line at Bermondsey station and rode it back to Green Park where we picked up a Double Decker bus to ride around on for a bit. This bus would drive us through Knightsbridge and to our next destination - Harrods!
On the way there, we passed the Wellington Arch. A few weeks before this, Queen Elizabeth's funeral procession through the streets of London ended here before taking her body on to Windsor Castle where she was buried.
We also passed the Royal Artillery Memorial which is a memorial to the more than 49,000 Royal Artillery soldiers who died in World War I.
Alas! I have finally made it to Harrod's! I've never been before! This store was founded in 1849 and has had some VERY famous customers, including A.A. Milne, who bought a teddy bear here that his son Christopher Robin named Edward/Winnie (you might guess who that became!) Many superlatives have happened here, including England's first escalator in 1898.
I DID NOT KNOW THEY HAD LAUDEREE INSIDE OF HARRODS. Get in my belly you delicious Rose macarons! And yes. They are absolutely worth 2 pounds 50.
I'll take all three, please!
This book that I found at Harrod's was hilarious! I was thinking about getting some books for the kids when I came across this one. I sent this pic to Todd (since this is what he does - and to some extent, what I do for a living!) I'm just wondering why they didn't have a section about IRWAs in here!
We decided that we needed a break from all of the shopping we weren't doing at Harrods (because you know we couldn't afford much there) and we went to the Harrods Social Bistro and Cafe for a treat.
We had the most delicious drinks - Jen and I had espresso martinis!
We were hoping this would help wake us up! Jen takes such a nice picture!
After our delightful break at the Harrods Social, we hopped back on the bus to head toward Buckingham Palace. I knew this would be the last time we would ever see the little street poles and lamps engraved with the late Queen's initials.
Hey, look who is in residence! King Charles III was currently working at Buckingham Palace (which made sense considering they had LITERALLY just picked a new Prime Minister like an hour before I took this picture!)
The monument to Queen Victoria was naturally busy with visitors. This marble statue weighing 2300 tons commemorated the death of Queen Vic in 1901 (it was unveiled in 1911 by her grandson, King George V).
This was my weird attempt at a panorama of Buckingham Palace (before I got the new iPhone 14!)
We were able to see the two-hourly changing of the guard, which doesn't have as much pomp and circumstance as the 11 am viewing, but was still neat to see. The 11 am viewing is a changing of the ENTIRE group of soldiers who share these two hour shifts.
Here I am, trying to be all artsy. Those are some beautiful gates though, aren't they?
We took a group selfie in front of the front and center gates of Buckingham Palace. Hooray for those cocktails at Harrods, because we are still awake!
We also did a foot selfie with the Jubilee Greenway sign, celebrating QEII's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
Alas, it was time to keep moving on - goodbye Buckingham Palace! Goodbye, King Charles!
AH! The last time I was in London, Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower that the bell sits in were under construction and piles of scaffolding. Now look! We took a walk around Parliament Square to check out all this hot spot has to offer.
Did you know that there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln in Parliament Square in London? The original 12 foot statue from the late 1800s is in Chicago but we gave a copy to London and Mexico! We gave this one to the UK back in 1920.
I mean. Really. The four year silencing of Big Ben (the biggest of the bells) is over!
I love the little flags of England above the actual clock face!
Julie and I walked around Parliament Square so we could get a better view of what surrounds it, including St. Margaret's Church at Westminster Abbey. It is known as the Parish Church of the House of Commons. It was originally built in the 1100s but was rebuilt in the late 1400s/early 1500s thanks to Henry VII.
We walked by Westminster Abbey too (it had closed for the day). This is the North Transept entrance, which was built in the 1200s in the Gothic style. The original church here was built in 960 - but it was rebuilt and consecrated in 1065 by Edward the Confessor. He called this St. Peter's Abbey, and although it doesn't exist anymore, you can see a picture of it on the Bayeux Tapestry in France! Edward died a week after his Abbey was consecrated, and was buried here. In 1269 as the new (current) church was being built by Henry II, they had his body moved and it now resides in this church. Thankfully they didn't just build it over him!
There's a lot of detail carved into that doorway!
Eventually we moved on - I wanted to hit up my favorite pub, the Clarence Whitehall at least ONCE on this trip! So we walked past 10 Downing Street, where many people were lined up, hoping to get a glimpse of the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The poor lady before him, Liz Truss, was the shortest serving Prime Minister in history, serving only 7 weeks! (Although she will forever be famous for being the PM when Queen Elizabeth II died!)
YEAH! Let's go! You can see it was definitely getting dark by the time we hit up the Clarence!
Cheers to a successful trip, ladies!
Our favorite pub was built in 1862, and is still popular with tourists as well as government workers.
On our way back to the hotel, we walked by the Admiralty Arch, which is the official entrance to the Mall, which leads to Buckingham Palace. It was a government office building for many years, but now it's set to become a Waldorf Astoria!
That light is out but the lamppost is still pretty. You can see the Charles I Equestrian Statue behind it!
Goodbye National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. Goodbye St. Martin-In-The-Fields church tower.
Goodbye Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square (I sound like I'm writing a Goodnight Moon book - maybe I'll write one titled, "Goodbye London!")
We were hungry and needed to eat an early dinner because we all had to be at Heathrow pretty early in the morning, so we swung by Happy London which was right near our hotel, in between Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.
And of course, they brought me my cocktail like this, just like they always did when we lived on the mainland. Oh Europe! You never fail to amuse me with this nonsense!
Cheers again, ladies! It's been a super fun trip!
I was trying to get rid of my pounds but they had recently withdrawn all of the paper notes that were in circulation over the last few years and replaced them with a weird, plastic feeling note. I'm gonna miss this Queen! Can't wait to see the new notes with Charles's face on them, though.
When we were at Happy having dinner, some of the staff came out to sing happy birthday to someone, and they had random sparklers going off - something you would NEVER see in America!!! So funny.
And remember that bottle of Veuve we managed to sneak (ha ha, not really) out of the Skid Row dressing room? We enjoyed that entire bottle before we went to the airport the next morning!
And THEN, once we all got through passport control at Heathrow, we randomly managed to meet up for breakfast (including MORE mimosas) at a restaurant that we didn't know the others were at! Jen and Julie were together and got seated right next to Kristin and I. Surprise!
Man, I just love this city!!! Until next time, London! (Because there is ALWAYS a next time!)
