Tower of London

Embarrassing confession of the day: I used to think the Tower of London was one of the towers on Tower Bridge.  And I thought that up until the day my tour guide said "here's the Tower of London" and pointed at what would generally be described as a castle or fortress.  Whoops.

Due in part to my ignorance and in part because it is Sar's favorite part of London, I took a tour of the Tower.

Top left: Traitor's Gate
Bottom left: My tour guide
Top right: The White Tower and Tower Bridge
Bottom right: Old meets new. Tower of London in the midground, the Gherkin in the background

My tour was led by one of the Yeoman Warders (aka Beefeaters) who live there.  These men and women are required to have served at least 22 years in the British armed forces and have been awarded the "Long Service and Good Conduct" medal, so even though they're dresses up kind of silly, they are toughies.

We learned all about the famous prisoners of the Tower, the mysterious disappearance of the two young princes, and a little about the Crown Jewels (which I did get to see, but obviously was not allowed to photograph.)

The White Tower, the castle built in the center of the fortress, is now a museum with some really cool displays.

Top left: There is an entire room of old cannons, many of them with intricate designs like the lion on the cannon in the foreground.
Bottom left: This arrangement of ancient spears reminded me of the iron throne from the Song of Ice and Fire series.  (Yes, I know the throne is made of swords, I didn't say I thought it was the throne.)
Center: Unfortunately I couldn't get a really good picture of this display made up of decorated guns shooting crystals in pretty patterns, you'll just have to take my word that it was really cool.
Top right: This dragon is made from old weapons.  There's swords, guns, chain mail, and even battle axes lining his tail.  In his belly is a pile of old coins and a giant (fake) ruby.
Bottom right: Throughout the Tower there are wire statues of animals, as a tribute to the time that the Tower housed a zoo.  A horrible zoo where no one knew how to take care of the exotic animals and they often died.  According the signs, an ostrich died after swallowing a nail because the people thought ostriches ate iron.  What?????