The best way to see the Tower of London, it turns out, is before it opens.
Somehow, we stumbled across a tour package that let us in the Tower just barely before it was open to the public. We met our tour guide at the tower about 45 minutes before it opened, and were ushered in a side door to be greeted by a yeoman warder (better known as a beefeater) who informed us that we would get to watch the head beefeater, with his retinue of Welsh Guards, unlock the gates of the Tower in a ceremony performed every morning (with another ceremony for locking the gates at night).
While we were waiting for the thing to happen, the beefeater told us a little bit about the yeoman warders. There are several criteria you have to meet to become one—one of which is that you must have served at least 22 years in the British military. It’s a very elite position: currently, there are only 35 beefeaters, three of which are women. The started giving the beefeaters assigned numbers around 1820 and, since that time, there have only been 420 of them. It may be hard to imagine when you look at their fancy vestments, but these are some of the best of the British military and also a pretty big deal.
So, the Welsh Guards marched out…
The head yeoman warder came out to meet them, carrying the large, ancient key to the gates of the Tower…
They marched out together to unlock the doors…
Then they marched back.
The Tower of London was now open to the public, but we were already inside, which meant that, whatever we wanted to do in there, we got to do it first, before anybody in the crowd of people who were now flooding through the Tower gates. A dear friend had given me some advice that if I wanted to see the crown jewels, I should do that immediately, because the line only gets longer the longer you put it off. So we made a beeline there first, and you know what? My friend was right. We walked in immediately, the jewels were absolutely dazzling (a few are missing because they are being prepared for King Charles’s coronation next month) and within the hour, the queue was insane.
(Unfortunately, no photos allowed in the crown jewels display.)
Since we sorted that quickly, we went through the armory. Obviously, it contains a lot of armor…
Like, a lot.
Good ol’ Henry the VIII.
The armory also contained a lot of other cool stuff.
Apparently, it’s tradition to build a ‘trophy’ out of the weapons stockpile. Presently, that trophy is a massive dragon named Keeper, and it’s insanely clever and awesome.
Also, there’s a superstition that the Tower must always have six resident ravens, and if the ravens ever left, the kingdom would fall. So, the British keep at least seven (never less than six, obviously) ravens with clipped wings contained in the Tower courtyard.
After about an hour to explore the Tower of London, we took a water taxi up the Thames to Whitehall Palace, and walked toward Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard.
First, the cavalry change out in a little ceremony…
Then, the cavalry head toward the palace to meet up with the guards on foot, and then there was shouting and marching and stuff that looked very impressive and also a lot of standing around.
We could see Buckingham Palace, but we couldn’t get super close. Between the crowds and the barriers they’re putting up in preparation for the coronation, it was a huge mess.
After the ceremony was over, we divided and conquered. Dad went to Churchill’s war rooms, and Mom and I headed to the Sanderson Hotel for tea, which had a very curious theme—one might say, curiouser and curiouser.
The tea blends were exclusive, and they were some of the best teas I’ve ever tasted in my life (and if you’ve seen my kitchen, you know why that’s an incredible statement). The tea snacks were perfectly on theme, with a couple of mysterious ‘drink me’ potions, and a teacup full of candy floss at the top.
First of all, everything was delicious. But the biggest surprise was a little flower pot filled with mousse, with a carrot buried in it (you can see it in the back of some of the shots). Mom and I passed the pot back and forth to eat the mousse, and I noticed there was something odd about the pot itself. Mom was pretty stunned when I broke off a piece and popped it in my mouth—it turned out to be well-disguised white chocolate. Because we figured it had to be edible, we tried the carrot as well, and it turned out to be carrot cake in a white chocolate shell.
Our evening plans included a trip to the theater, so after tea, we passed the time with drinks and snacks at a super cool bar called The Alchemist. The drinks all had a very theatrical flair.
The show we saw tonight was called The Mousetrap. Written by Agatha Christie, the queen of mystery and suspense, and never performed anywhere else, the show has been playing in London since 1952 and just passed its 70th year.
You can’t read this story anywhere. You can’t see it anywhere else. The plot twist caught all of us at least a little off-guard. There were moments of brilliant comedic timing and other moments of thrilling tension. All in all, I can see why the show’s been around this long. At the end of the performance, the cast reminds you to keep the secret of the ending so that the show continues on.
Laura Writes 