I die the king's faithful servant, but God's first. ~ St. Thomas More
Getting up that morning was a trial. I still felt exhausted, and had to sit on the edge of the bed for a moment to get my bearings. The night had been warm, but noisy, since our street was a detour area for local buses. We took the Underground to Tower Hill and walked under a bridge adorned with modern paintings of the tower. Coming up and out, we saw the Tower of London with the sun rising behind it!
It looked like a proper English castle, with brown bricks, and battlements and towers and arrow slits. Besides the tower, there were also many other sights visible from our lookout point. There were modern glass buildings shaped like luminous bullets and beehives, a white marble monument to the British Navy like the Trevi Fountain, church steeples, and the shapeless remains of the old Roman wall. A gigantic sundial rose from where we stood, and the hours were counted on the ground by engravings of important events in the history of London: the Roman Conquest, the building of the Globe Theatre, the Gunpowder Plot, the 3 or 4 occurrences of the Plague, and the Blitz.
As we crossed over the moat and walked onto the sloping paved courtyard in front of the Tower's entrance, we noticed the first of many animal infestations in the Tower grounds--a group of wire mesh lions, there to commemorate the Royal Menagerie that was once housed in the Tower. They were life-size and quite solid, looking as if they would spring out of their silver skins any minute. Later we saw monkeys and an elephant!
Across the River we could see the HMS Belfast at a dock, a gray ship piled with smokestacks and guns on all points. But the truly thrilling sight was the Tower Bridge stretching out of the water. The railings connecting the two mansion-like structures were decorated a bright blue.
Once through the gates we joined a tour with a Yeoman Warder guard, dressed in a large blue hat and long cloak for warmth. We passed by the threshold of the medieval palace where King Henry VIII came to claim Anne Boleyn as his bride, and saw the Bell Tower, where the Man for All Seasons and his friend Bishop Fisher were imprisoned before their executions. We were a bit miffed at our guide, for upon mentioning Thomas More's sainthood, he remarked sarcastically, "that must have made him feel so much better!" The man is a saint, after all, and my brother Nick's Confirmation saint at that!
Below the level on which we stood was a portcullis. Our guide revealed that this low entrance was Traitor's Gate, where prisoners were brought in by boat. It is easy to picture water in the moat again, and shadowy figures being brought to their doom in the moonlight.
Behind us loomed a wall with a maw-like entrance that looked like that of a proper dungeon. Our guide intoned menacingly that this was the Bloody Tower--so named because it is said to be where the boy king Edward V and his brother Richard were murdered. A great mystery surrounds the two boys, for all that is known for sure is that they disappeared in 1483. Many claim that they were murdered by their uncle Richard III so that he could take the crown. In 1674 some workmen repairing part of the Tower of London found the bones of two small boys, and it was conjectured that these might be the bodies of the two princes. Some say they still haunt the Bloody Tower...
Passing through that dark archway, we had our first unobstructed view of the White Tower, and of the Tower Green. Here were the Tudor style houses where the Yeomen Warders live. We finished our tour inside the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula (St. Peter in Chains), where our guide regaled us with tales of the deaths of Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey, both of whom were executed and now lie under the altar of that chapel.
Our Beefeater really outdid himself, deepening his voice and lashing out with scary facts so that one lady kept jumping, to everyone else's great amusement. Apparently he had guarded Rudolf Hess, an old crony of Hitler, in his younger years. According to our guide, he was an unrepentant Nazi until the end. Sensing how overwhelmed we were by the footprints of time on the Tower, he reminded us Americans, "if you had only paid your taxes, alllllllllllllllll this history could have been yours." We did not reject our own history, however, for all of us chuckled when he mentioned that General Cornwallis had been one of the Constables of the Tower. With grand sweeping gestures he finished his talk and gave a bow. We remained quiet as we filed out of the chapel that held the grave of St. Thomas More.
Back on the Green, we passed guards wearing the tall bearskin hats, and entered the rooms with the Crown Jewels. The crowns and scepters dazzled us with diamonds as big as plums, but I would have rather seen gold medieval circlets than the velvet and ermine modern crowns. There were also shelves of sunny gold plate. In the White Tower, we found giant armour that Henry VIII and other kings wore in battle or in jousts. Our guide had said that many of these were worth more than any of the crown jewels! The other towers keep exhibitions on torture devices, the mystery surrounding the boy princes, and the palace where rulers such as Edward II lived (you know, the wimpy son of Edward Longshanks from Braveheart). We had a fun time with the actors in costume there, among them a lady who told James to cover his ears while she gossiped to us about the prince's...preferences, and the prince himself telling jokes to his sister.
Finally we climbed up on the battlements themselves, and were treated to this spectacular view:
The sun had made its vertical journey in the hours we had been at the Tower (as Colin said, "London--where the sun rises in the South...and sets in the South"), and was beginning to spear its flashes of light throughout the clouds.
Our last stop was to see the ravens on the Green. The large birds fluttered about here and there, eating the raw meat the keepers feed to them. They would come quite close to us, holding their soft wings still and eying us calmly. Legend has it that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, the kingdom will fall (the yeomen warders are taking no chances, and the birds' wings are clipped).
Saying goodbye to the White Tower, we headed across Tower Bridge. When we reached the other side, the bridge was raising for a sailing ship with high brown masts. We had dinner at the Bridge House, with typical British fare. Colin and I had some Bittburger. I had lamb with my favorite--gnocchi! Colin had a Shepherd's Pie, Claire had Bangers and Mash, and Mom and Dad had Haddock and chips. It was all delicious, and we had fun seeing the Christmas party going on in the restaurant, with all the businessmen wearing tissue paper crowns.
After dark we walked along the river, admiring the reflections on the waves. We stopped at a small Galleria on the way, decorated with raining Christmas lights and a mechanical sailing ship and fountain. We popped our heads in a few bookstores and shops and continued on to London Bridge. Sadly the original had fallen down long ago, but there was a colorful mosaic commemorating it:
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| Reminds me of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. |
The new London Bridge is not very interesting; it is lit by red lights and has some small stone dragons welcoming you to the City. There were swarms of people, even though it was only Thursday night. Across the Bridge, the impressive dome of St. Paul's Cathedral appears. Although parts of its grounds are blocked off by construction on one side and the Occupy London protestors' tent city on the other, the pale church is beautiful, more austere than either Gothic or Roman churches. With my romantic sensibilities I would have liked it to be a bit more foggy so as to correspond with its image during Mary Poppins' "Feed the Birds" song, but lit up against the night it was much clearer. I would have liked to go inside to see John Donne's grave, but it is insanely expensive to go inside all the Protestant churches!
Continuing our walk we came upon the smaller dome of the Old Bailey, with the golden figure of Blind Justice on top, holding a sword and scales. The building appears very ancient, in the neo-Gothic style that our own government buildings use. Naturally, Colin and I rested on a bench and listened to the 1812 Overture while gazing up at the edifice to celebrate V for Vendetta.
Heading to our last stop, we passed the ruins of some small churches, their stained glass blown out in the War. After trudging the sandy paths of the pitch black Green Park, Buckingham Palace appeared in front of us. To me, it looked like a larger version of the White House:
I'm sure it's quite palatial on the inside, but my romantic sensibilities say if I were the Queen, I'd want to live in a real castle, like the Tower. Then again, the Tower probably doesn't have modern conveniences...
During the day, James had managed to lose one of Mom's gloves, so he was wearing one and she the other. On the train ride home, a young man in a colorful scarf seemed to be staring at us. Finally he pointed from Mom to James, and we all had a good laugh about them each wearing one good glove (Little Women moment).
That's the end of that historical day! Coming soon--the British Museum, Pret a Manger, and an Accident at the Albert Hall...
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