Day 10: Tower of London

Finally, I'm heading to the Tower of London. Been hearing about this place ever since I came and had no chance to get in yet. I heard about all the gruesome murders and the mysteries surrounding this place.Now for those of you who are not really familiar with the tower, this tower has held many famous prisoners in its thousand-year history and on going in, there are Yeoman Warder(Beefeaters) which will bring you around the castle on a guided tour. Well, I decided to walk on my own anyway along with Uncle Hoong, Fiona, Aunt June and baby Noah.

Thats what a Beefeater looks like. The left one, not the right one. The the right one is an Everythingeater.

There are as usual a lot of sections to this castle, but the most famous is of course the armory and the Crown  Jewels section. I have to tell you, they have the most AMAZING crown exhibition. Unfortunately, they do not allow pictures to be taken at that section but seriously, your eyes will turn gold seeing all the exhibits. There are giant plates made of gold, gold cups, gold mace, gold crown, gold crown with a 530 carat diamond on top, gold swords for ceremonies, gold this, gold that and gold. And this place boasts that they have only been one attempt at stealing the exhibits, most probably due to the tight security around the place.

Now as for the armory section, armors from the 17th century and onwards are put on exhibition. These armors are usually gifts that are given to the King by visiting Kings. They have quite a diverse range of weapons, from swords to a more modern gun to cannons. 

Canon and its bullets!

This used to be the armor for King Henry VIII when he was young and fit.

Various armor that I saw around the place.

Oh ya and if you wanna see the journal who records all the armor and weapon around the place, here you go:

This is the BOOK! It's at least two thousand page I think. This book itself can be a weapon, throw it on someone's head.

Another story that surrounds this place involves the flock or raven around this place. Legend has it that Charles II was told that if the ravens left the Tower, the kingdom and the fortress would fall. That is why the Ravenmaster kept some in the cage, just in case I think. Well they still have some wild one flying around, like this one:

The raven can also do the same hand pose I am doing. *wink wink*

Other attractions would be the torture chamber and the Blood towers, where multiple gruesome stories circulate around the place. There are replica's of torture device on exhibit here and seriously, the torture chamber gave me the creeps. I don't know why, but I feel really really uncomfortable just being in the chamber. Yup, I took off  as soon as I can.

Torture rack. Hands and legs will be tied and will be pulled opposite ways. Too much MIGHT split the human.

After the walk, we stopped by at Wagamama, a wonderful Japanese cuisine restaurant. It's such a waste that they don't have this in Malaysia(or maybe I don't realize they do), but the Japanese food here is really really good. Thanks to Aunty and Fiona for the recommendation! :)

Emmmm... nothing but a ramen to end a perfect outing day. Superb!