The White Tower--Part 1...Day 5d

Upon the old Roman walls the White Tower was built by William the Conqueror (or more correctly, by his contractors) shortly after he did what he was most famous for, that is, conquering England. The citizens weren't totally in favor of this so he ordered construction of a castle and its corresponding keep to serve as a symbol of his power and also as defensive military strategy.

 

  And he had it fitted out to be a residence fit for royalty.

 

And he didn't forget to include a bedroom. or a chapel. or a throne room. or a throne.

 or a throne. (am I repeating myself?)

What is pictured here is known as the "garderobe" which is the latrine.

Besides its usual function, the garderobe was often built in or near where clothing was stored because the pungent smells served to repel moths. And I would imagine many a fine lady as well.

The word "wardrobe" is derived from the word "garderobe" in case you have been wondering.

(bare with me, ok?)   (oops...I think I meant "bear" with me)

And of course, there were fireplaces for warmth and for cooking. And it eased my mind considerably to  notice that a fire extinguisher is conveniently stored beside it.

This fireplace was actually quite innovative in that it was one of the first wall fireplaces, although they hadn't come up with the concept of chimneys yet. With this new type of fireplace, smoke was allowed to escape through a couple of holes in the side of the building.

Previously, fires were burned in the center of the room and the room would just fill with smoke until the smoke eventually found its escape through holes in the roof.

t the heart of the Tower of London is the White Tower. It is the oldest part of the Tower, built to strike fear and submission into the unruly citizens of London.
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/WhiteTower#sthash.OePOU3Fr.dpuf

At the heart of the Tower of London is the White Tower. It is the oldest part of the Tower, built to strike fear and submission into the unruly citizens of London.
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/WhiteTower#sthash.OePOU3Fr.dpuf

At the heart of the Tower of London is the White Tower. It is the oldest part of the Tower, built to strike fear and submission into the unruly citizens of London.
- See more at: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/WhiteTower#sthash.OePOU3Fr.dpuf

From Palace to Prison:The Tower of London...Day 5c

Early in its existence, the Tower of London was a grand palace and not a prison. It was built by William the Conqueror in the late eleventh century on the northern bank of the Thames River in the central part of London and served as a reminder to the population that they were a conquered people.

 Heavily defended with a double ring of walls and a moat, it was designed to serve as a defensive fortress for the royal family as well as royal residence. In fact, the official name of the complex is Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress. (I am assuming in times of a male sovereign, the place would be known as HIS Majesty's Royal etc, etc.)

 But time marched on and due to its location and general good defenses, the palace became more of a prison and less of a palace. Especially during the 16 and 17th centuries, the monarchs became increasingly insecure about their reigns and took to banishing people who had fallen into disgrace and imprisoning them in the Tower of London as it was in a handy location and the security was second to none. And, of course, there was the ever-useful, aptly named Traitor's Gate so prisoners could be delivered by boat directly (and sneakily).

It was also a a really safe place to house people who were soon to be crowned. It became a tradition for Kings and Queens-to-be to spend their last few days before their coronation in the Tower palace and then make their way to Westminster Abbey for the ceremony.

 

And about this time it also became somewhat of a tradition for King Henry the VIII to store his discarded queens there while they awaited the results of their trials for treason, adultery or the mere failure to produce a male heir.  Although in our more enlightened age, we know it could very well have been just as much his fault as hers.
 

                                        The Tower of London, view from the west...

The Tower "Blocks"...Day 5b

Although the Tower of London was next to the Tower Bridge, it was going to be quite a hike (several blocks) (hence the title of this post) to arrive at the actual entrance so we  stopped at a convenient Starbucks to fortify ourselves for the hike. Actually, we just needed access to the internet so we grabbed some coffee or tea or juice or pastries in order to justify our presence in the coffee shop. And actually it wasn't just any Starbucks but a Starbucks nestled at the foot of a swanky 4 star hotel. Nice.  (a 4 star hotel is swanky, right?) The name of the hotel was (what else) the Tower Hotel. Looking out the window we could see St. Katherine's Dock, the Thames River and, of course, the Tower Bridge. And we all very much enjoyed our coffee, tea, juice and/or pastries. And did what we had to do on the internet...

The Tower side of the Thames River. I am not quite sure what the significance of the cannons was. Although you can be sure that if we were a group of males, we would  be able to answer that question and any other questions that might arise about ballistics, range, when they were used, whether they were moved on caissons or if they were stationary munitions. However, being females, we were satisfied just knowing they were cannons. And then we moved on to the next important thing...which was taking pictures of each other.

                                              

                                                                          

                    The sun shares its glory with Rachel. Not sure which one is more radiant...

                                                                             

                                                 Sara, beautiful Sara, looking like a model
 

                                                                   Heather and Sara
      (I don't why sweet Heather didn't rate a solo picture. She is just so lovely and undemanding.)
           (she also has an endearing motherly way about her...and an alarming sense of humor)

                                                       Me, the quintessential tourist
            raincoat, warm sweater, camera in hand and London pass hanging around my neck
                                           Obviously, I didn't care if I looked like a tourist.

                                           These girls, on the other hand, were stylin' all the way.

                                   From Bridge to Tower, we walked on this cobblestone road.

                                                   

Traitor's Gate from the outside wall. Back in the day, the wall was right next to the river and boats were able to row right up to and then through the Traitor's Gate.
                                         More about this later...

                   

                                                    Pansies, sweet and fresh as spring (or fall)

                                      The first one of many Tower of London souvenir shops...
They wanted to make sure that we didn't miss the chance to get raven keychains or beefeater teddy bears or pretend crowns or Tower of London souvenir spoons or chopping block pencil sharpeners... 
                                                       (sorry for the gallows humor)

                              Group tour of the complex with tour guide in full beefeater regalia. 

   Trebuchet...otherwise known as a catapult. It was just outside the walls of the complex. Too bad they didn't have a demonstration...that would have been pretty cool. If we were guys...which we weren't. So I took a picture...and we moved on to more important things...like taking pictures of each other...

The Tower Bridge......U.K. Trip Day 5a

Another day dawns and finds us making our way to the river Thames, and, more specifically, the Tower Bridge and after that, the Tower of London.

The Tower Bridge, completed in1894, is a marvel of Victorian architecture and engineering. I could recount for you all sorts of amazing and interesting facts about its engineering, about how much weight it can hold, and how much cement it took to build it, how tall the towers are and how many times it is raised and lowered in a year, about its design and how much it cost to build it and all sorts of little tidbits about its history.

But since I am certain that very few engineers and architects read this blog, I  won't. All I will mention is that it was designed as a combination basqule-suspension bridge. A basqule is a drawbridge and this was necessary to accommodate the high masted ships that dock at the  Port of London. Originally the drawbridge was powered by hydraulics and lit by gas lanterns. Really quite an feat of Victorian ingenuity.

 

                  Our destination, the Tower of London complex, is visible from the bridge.

Back on the Streets of London...U.K. Trip Day 4o

Back on the streets of London and more than a little footsore and hungry. Actually Sara was hungry all the time but by this point the rest of us were desperate to eat, too. Once we were back on the main street (after leaving the palace compound) (I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever have occasion to write those words!!) we passed several eating establishments (none of which were particularly tempting) but when we saw this darling little Italian cafe, we didn't deliberate very long before we decided to stop and eat there. It was super cute, very small, clean and had so much atmosphere! Bright and Italian. The walls were either painted or had wall paper that looked very Italian. There were also niches in the walls that held little statues. Lots of greenery and flowers. If you wanted to wash your hands, you had to go downstairs to the teeeeny tiny, brightly colored little restroom. It was all just sooo cute. There was only one other patron in the entire cafe (well, it wasn't very large, so that isn't saying much) when we were seated but he soon departed, leaving us the sole diners there. Even so, it seemed to take them quite a while to serve our food. Maybe it only seemed that way because we were so famished. Maybe it was because they made it all from scratch. Not sure. I didn't take any pictures of the woodwork or pictures on the wall or the Tuscany inspired decor. I only took pictures of my mostaccioli. (and an accidental selfie. which will never see the light of day.) My only excuse is that I was starving and food was all I cared about. And apparently that was the way Rachel felt too because she only took pictures of her spaghetti. And she was the one who had been laughing at me for taking pictures of my food!!!

                                                               My mostaccioli

                                                             Rachel's spaghetti

Nobody took pictures of what Sara and Heather ordered which means the world will never know what they dined on that evening. Which was, in fact, my birthday but I kept forgetting that!

(But I will never forget how, only two months earlier, Rachel invited me to accompany her on this amazing adventure and spend my birthday with her in London. I had so many excuses/reasons why it wouldn't work. And the main reason I couldn't go hadn't even occurred to me:  I didn't have a passport or even the birth certificate that was necessary to apply for one!) (all the events and answers to prayer before we even left the country would make a great blog post...someday)

Our next order of business was to find the National Express Bus Lines office so we could get tickets for the next installment of our adventure. We knew National was somewhere in the Central London city bus station, which was also the Underground station and a railway station as well as a veritable smorgasbord of every kind of food stand, souvenir shop and convenience store imaginable. Plus half of the entire population of London was there, trying to make their way home. I am not good in crowds, never have been. I always seem to bump into people or step in front of them or get in their way...totally awkward. We decided to separate into two groups, thinking that by spreading out we might have a better chance of finding the bus station we were looking for. Or maybe the other two just had to go to the restroom or to get some food...I can't really remember.

But, alas, by the time we found it, it had closed for the day...so we found each other and the tube that would take us back to the Elephant and Castle station and from there we planned to walk the last five or six blocks to the hostel. So we clambered aboard, hoping to find seats together, actually, by this time, we were just hoping to find seats. We had made the discovery that rush hour lasts way more than an hour in London. Plus I think they were still dealing with some delays due to the storm of a few nights night before. (was it only a couple nights before?)

 

 Sitting, standing, smiling, pouting...we were all exhausted and ready to get back home to the hostel...and hopefully no rude surprises in the restroom...

 This room was so tiny...it was literally big enough for only two sets of bunk beds and that is ALL!

Our window above the miniature sink. We stored our snacks, water bottles and toiletries on the window sill because there was no other place...unless it would be in our suitcases which were all jammed under the bottom bunks. Well, we weren't able to get them all under the beds because we each had two suitcases and a couple of us had really big suitcases that held everything except the kitchen sink and the refrigerator (and I really think Sara would have packed a fridge if she could have figured out how to plug it in on the airplane).

The view out of our streaked window--it might look like any other large city--but it is London!!!
If you look really carefully, you can see the London eye (the enormous Ferris wheel that is 27 stories high) in the distance behind the tall buildings, center left.

                                          Rachel, looking out onto the streets of London...