Today(Friday) it was back to London to meet up with Sally an her parents. We started off the morning by going to the Tower of London. Our timing couldn't have been better as Armenians Day (Veteran's Day) was on Tuesday so the poppies had just been finished. 888,246 ceramic poppies were made and installed to represent each member of the British Forces who died in WWI. The sight was magnificent. They filled the moat of the Tower of London to look like a sea of blood. Each of these poppies are now being removed individually by volunteers.-- The Tower of London was used in WWI to train and house soldiers
We first walked around the exterior wall of the tower which had exhibits for the exotic animals, dungeon, and living quarters.
The kings private alter
Live video feed so you can see the ghosts that haunt the dungeon
The Tower of London has only been breeched once, and that was by peasants
Exotic animals sent as gifts to the king, use to be housed in the Tower of London for anyone to see before the London zoo was built
We met up with some fancy guards and learned that in celebration of Armenians Day, cannons would be fired off over the River Thames. This happens only once a year! (Video to come later)
Ravens were once used to protect the tower from intruders and are still kept on sight today
Next it was off to see the Crown Jewels, though we were not allowed to take any pictures, they were exquisite and we saw the jewels still used today along with the jewels from previous monarchs. The jewels are located in one of the buildings in the Tower of London in a safe like room with lots of guards and no windows. Not to mention they were behind glass cases so they keep it pretty well secure.
After the Crown Jewels we went to look at the armor through the ages which was really interesting to see. The exhibit showed what the armor looked like through the different ages and how it's changed, for both the men and the horses. It also had the different weapons used and how they effected the soldiers.
Our last stop in the Tower of London was the bloody tower which is where people were tortured. It's a cramped little building and shows how people would have been tortured and why.
After the Tower of London it was off to high tea. This time we actually had high tea! High tea comes with an assortment of sandwiches, scones, pastries, and of course, your choice of tea (I had black currant and hibiscus... Tastes just like Starbucks!) it was amazing and beyond delicious!!
We did some shopping, well looking at Harrods before heading to Liverpool for dinner at a cute little cheese shop. Fun fact it is in the market where Jack the Ripper found some of his victims, and we know this because tours kept coming through all night!
It was then off to the hotel by the airport to get some sleep before our early flight to Barcelona tomorrow!!
