England, Day 6: Tower of London & the London Eye

Next up we visited the Tower of London. The fortress has been used as a palace, prison, armory, and even a zoo! Free tours are given by the Yeomen Warders aka Royal Beefeaters (nickname because being so close to the King they could eat all the beef they wanted) who actually live there with their families! 

We learned all about St. Thomas' Tower which is one of 21 towers that surround the fortress which later became known as traitor's gate. 

Here is traitor's gate below the tower where prisoners would enter the tower. 

This is the bloody tower. It got it's name during the 16th century because it is believed to be the site where the Princes in the Tower were murdered. King Edward V's surviving sons who were only 9 and 12 and heirs to the throne were being cared for here by their Uncle when they mysteriously disappeared. And then of course he took the crown. 

Here is the church where it is believed that Anne Boleyn's remains are. Because she was considered a traitor, along with many others, she didn't have a marked grave. The church was beautiful inside, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. 

Here is the outside of the building where the crown jewels are kept. Again, no pictures were allowed in here, but we had a great time seeing all the crowns, necklaces, scepters, crosses, gold utensils and serving ware, and necklaces. 

This is the white tower. All throughout the day there are different people dressed up as important people in the fortresses history. They had activities where the children had to run around and listen to each person's story to figure out which person went with what item and location around the fortress. 

We easily could have spent the whole day there exploring and I'm kind of sad I had only allotted a half a day. 

Inside the White Tower we got to see the royal armories. 

Finley enjoyed pretending to be a soldier. 

And check out this cool dragon made out of all types of helmets, shields, guns, etc!

Here's Finley checking out some more weapons!

Outside we spotted one of the six resident ravens. There is a legend that if the six ravens leave the tower will fall. So now they house them and protect them so that doesn't happen! And I think their wings are clipped too so they don't escape. 

And here is the famous location where many traitors were beheaded including Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey all casualties of Henry VIII's! 

Just outside the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge a very iconic symbol.

We took a few pictures then rushed off for our next adventure! 

We had pre-booked a time slot at the London Eye which included a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed experience. 

Finley had fun pretending with their photo opps. 

And he was especially excited to get a golden ticket!

One of Willy Wonka's helpers was there to take us on our tour. 

He was very sweet and mainly kept the children entertained during the half hour ride. 

But they did have some things they had to look for during the ride. 

Like this egg! 

And Big Ben. 

It was really cool to see the city from the eye. 

But a little hard to take pictures because the glass walls were rounded and created a strange glare. 

It was nice not to have to wait in the line for the ride! 

The River Thames and Finley dancing. 

And just when I think everyone is exhausted Finley finds a man on the boardwalk blowing bubbles and gets a second wind!

It was another beautiful day in London and luckily no rain and not too cold for all of our outside activities for the day.