The Tower of
London
This little edifice is one of the
'must sees' for visitors to London and nestles to the south east of
the city proper hard on the side of the river Thames. It is actually
not a tower, as such, but a collection of several spanning a few
years. They are all enclosed in ramparts (?) OK - walls and the
obligatory moat, now dry, and were the traditional home of the
British Royal family for a bit. AND I understand that they had quite
a bit in those days - Clinton Bush and Company cry your eyes out!!! You have quite a
bit of catching up to do and no chance of cutting off the heads of
the opposition - sad.
As a side line on this place, I could
never quite understand why the tourists seemed so happy after
visiting there - then I found out that the British Customs and Excise
had a large warehouse nearby where they used an incinerator to burn
all the captured drugs. Get your day right and fly high and
free.
OK - I know - enough of the verbalism give the piccys.
The Tower of London and Tower Bridge
taken from the top of America House
The approach to the Tower
Watergate (Not the quite the same as
the American one!!)
Traitors Gate - opening onto the
river, this is where said troublesome persons were literally shipped
into the tower for a non health farm weight reduction
programme
The Bloody Tower - aptly named
Bell Tower behind which there are
some, I think Elizabethan - ie Liz 1 residences - a lot of the tower
staff and guards live on site even today.
The White Tower - Where his nibs or
her nibs lived for a while. Some of these were taken from the private
parts of Waterloo Block roof which once were the Royal Army Barracks
but now house offices and a minor display of metals and minerals
called the Crown Jewels of England.
A Guardsman on Parade in Winter
colours (Red being summer)
A common mistake is often made here
by Tourists assuming that they are actors or imitation solders, they
'ain't, don't mess - the reputation of the Brigade of Guards is one
of being one load of mean b****rds.
So OK worst quality ever, but it was
windy. A Beefeater or Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London.
Retired Soldiers - or at least were,
not sure now, but they like the Ladies as well!!
Waterloo Block spoke about before,
and here's some from the Roof:-
Looking back to America House where
the first shots into the tower were taken from the roof of Waterloo
Block
Fusiliers Museum
The New Armories
Queens House - has a different
meaning here perhaps to San Francisco?
Tower Bridge from within the
Tower
Middle Tower
All hallows Church at the side of the
Tower.
Pity that this is usually missed by
the tourists, inside it's a little gem.
Return to
beginning of tour
Any comments can be directed to me:-
Keith J. (Boiler
Bill) Chesworth