The Tower of London

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Into the city on the tube again to visit the Tower of London. The guards take searching your bags pretty seriously at the entry but then we walked along the battlements learning about all the animals that were kept here in the menagerie. Lions, elephants, kangaroos and monkeys were all residents of the castle at one time or another. Em really took to the story of the only time the castle was ever taken – peasants decided they didn’t want a monarchy any more so they stormed the castle, took the king up the hill and beheaded him, smashed the crown and all things royal then went their merry way. A few decades later, they changed their mind and raised a new king who looked after them a bit better than the old one and so it has been ever since.

The crown jewels displays are kept in the vaults under one of the castle buildings and there are all the old crowns and jewels together with the current queen’s crown, orb and sceptres. A really spectacular display with lots of information on each of the pieces. Afterwards, we went into the white tower, the real Tower of London. This houses the armoury museum which showcases all the old armour and weaponry as well as a few new pieces at the end. By then Em was getting tired so we headed off home.

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