The first thing we visited in London was Westminster Abbey (where all the kings and queens are crowned). It is right across the street from the Parliament buildings and Big Ben, the big clock tower, is at one end of the Parliament buildings. (The two towers are one end of the Abbey and the other end is visible just to the left of Big Ben.) I didn't get a good picture of Westminster Abbey so this is one I found online.
Here are some policemen guarding the entrance to the Parliament buildings.
Right across from Parliament is a huge group of demonstrators. The big sign you can barely read says "Capitalism isn't Working". (I don't follow all the political nuances in England so I don't know exactly what they're trying to say.)
We couldn't take pictures inside Westminster Abbey. It seemed like a typical, beautiful and ornate church, (not Catholic, Church of England) but it was incredibly cluttered with tombs and memorial statues. There were the important tombs of kings and queens (like Queen Elizabeth buried in the same vault with her half-sister Queen Mary, King Edward the Confessor, many others) and there were many famous artists, musicians and writers either buried there or with memorials there (Chaucer, Lewis Carroll, TS Eliot, Tennyson, Shakespeare (not actually buried here), Handel, Dickens, Laurence Olivier). Their place is called the Poet's Corner. It seemed like there was no space on the floor that didn't have someone's memorial plaque on it. There were many beautiful statues for people I've never heard of, mostly military types.
As we were walking to the Abbey we saw a group of young boys in school uniforms walking there too. We thought it was a school field trip. It turns out it was the boys of the Abbey Choir. We got to hear them practicing. They are 30 young boys, all educated at a special school just for them, along with 12 adult singers. They were wonderful.
When we finished at Westminster Abbey we took the Tube over to the Tower of London. It turns out the Tower of London is not a tower, but many towers, a medieval castle, walls, a moat (drained) and many other buildings. It's a whole complex!
It's right on the Thames river. The whole wall in the foreground is along the river. The drained moat goes around the other three sides. The castle in the center (called the White Tower) was built by William the conqueror as his very protected residence (he was a conqueror in a conquered land after all). It was the residence of the kings for quite awhile. Ann Boleyn lived here before being crowned queen and then she was imprisoned and executed here later on.
This is a view of the moat area outside the walls.
We're on a walkway towards the towers at the entrance to the complex.
Here's the "Traitor's Gate" where people were brought by boat to the Tower and brought inside.
Here is a memorial at the spot where the few executions that took place inside the Tower were carried out, including Ann Boleyn. That's a glass pillow on top.
Here are some of the many houses inside the complex. Several employees and their families live in these houses currently.
The main castle (White Tower) partly being restored.
A water closet (loo, bathroom) in the White Tower. This was primitive living.
One of those ceremonial guards standing in front of the building where the crown jewels are kept. He has the same uniform as the guards at Buckingham palace.
We saw the crown jewels, which were fabulous. There were many crowns, some made specifically for certain kings or queens, some for different occasions. There were also ceremonial swords, sceptres, orbs and even a spoon for anointing the monarch's head with oil. The main crown, the Imperial State Crown, has a very large and famous diamond in it, a large sapphire and a large ruby. It also has numerous smaller jewels and also some pearls from the earrings of Queen Elizabeth the first. It is really heavy and Queen Victoria had a smaller, lighter crown made for her everyday use. When she attended state functions she wore her small crown but the Imperial crown was always present, usually carried on a pillow near her.
The Tower closed before we could explore everything there. In fact, there were so many things we didn't get to see in London that I hope we can go again.
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