katygriff has been thanked 1 times for this contribution
"I recently went with my fiancé and my family to London for the weekend. The reason for actually going was to go to the theatre but my Mom and Dad decided that the tower of London looked good so we all decided to go on the Sunday. Both me and my fiancé love looking and learning about old buildings and the prospect of seeing the crown jewels was too much to pass up so we had a wonderful time there so I thought I would let you all know why I think it should be recommended to everybody.
First I better give you the location:
Tower of London
Tower Hill
EC3
It is pretty easy to find as you can get the circle or district London underground line to Tower Hill and as soon as you exit the tube station you will actually see the tower. From the station it is about a 5 minute walk and you can buy tickets in advance over the internet or when you get there. The prices are as follows;
Adult - £16
Child - £9.50
Concession - £13
The good thing about this London attraction as well is that it can be paid for with vouchers from Tescos which is what we did and ended up all getting in for free which was brilliant. I think for what you get the price is just about right. I would suggest buying in advance though or going early as the queue does get long.
Just outside there is a tower shop which sells all of your souvenirs including key rings, mugs, books and lots more of what you would expect. Everything is reasonably priced too which was a surprise. The shop is huge and I really liked it in there. There are several shops in the place as well so don't think you have to rush your shopping.
When you are in there you walk through into a courtyard before the tower. When we were there there was a man telling tales of the tower and he was not only interesting but hilarious and had the whole audience in stitches plus you get to learn some London history. You can choose to follow the tour around or you can do what we did which was to go off on our own to look around. You can also get guide books and audio guides which are about £5 each which talking to some people were worth it. Now I will give you what I consider the highlight to be.
As you walk in I advise you to get a map of the tower as there are lots of places to see and believe me you will want to see everything. The first tower we came across told you all about how the royals used to live. You get to see bed chambers and where they would have eaten and there are original pieces of flooring and walls around which is quite interesting. There are a lot of steps to climb in my opinion so you do have a good work out while you are looking around.
Another tower we went to showed the entire armoury which was amazing. My fiancé just loved looking at all the weapons and shield that were used. There is even a massive statue which shows what a person and horse would look fully suited up in armour which looked amazing. There are so many guns and spears and suits to see that we spent a good hour just in this bit of the tower.
There is a bit of a legend at the tower that Charles II believed that if ravens left the tower then his reign would fall. There is a big courtyard in the middle of the grounds where ravens wander. They are very impressive looking birds and it is quite creepy to see them but is quite an interesting legend in my opinion.
Then there is probably the most famous part of the tower which is where the crown jewels are kept. It is worth looking around because the diamonds and gold is just amazing to look at and I was staring at them in disbelief that anybody could afford a diamond as big as some of them in there.
The next tower is the torture tower which is quite interesting if you like looking at torture equipment. There is plenty there and descriptions on how they work which is quite gruesome. On a similar subject there is a tower dedicated to the story that two children were murdered which is quite eerie to go in and read about.
If you get hungry or thirsty around the grounds then there is a café plus a little vendor selling drinks. The prices are not great but ok and the products do the trick.
Also in the grounds you will see several guards on patrol which is good and everybody was standing there doing the same thing – trying to make them laugh but it did not work. There are also several cannons around which are full sized so huge and basically wherever you go there is something to see.
The location of the tower of London is great and the scenery from some parts of the tower is stunning as you can see the Thames and London bridge.
In my opinion I thought the tower of London was fantastic and I would thoroughly recommend you take a visit there if you are ever in London. The price is reasonable for how long you can spend in there so you do get a lot for your money. Plus it is easy to find and in a great place so one London attraction that you should go to and enjoy a part of history.
;)
