Our second day in London started early as I wanted to be at the Tower of London around 9am to beat the crowds. We had an ambitious schedule for the day and didn’t get to see everything because when something interested us, we over-stayed our time to make the most of it. The Tower of London has always been one of my favourite historic attractions so we weren’t going to compromise on our time there.
We took the tube to Bank and then walked along the Thames to the Tower of London. There’s so much to see along the waterfront with lots of great vantage points for photos, even if the Thames itself is quite brown and murky.
London Shard
tower of london
We made our way to the Tower of London as our first and most important sight for the day. We had purchased London Passes at around 118 pounds each for 6 days so the entry to the Tower of London was free (at the time of writing I think the price has now gone up to 154 pounds without travel – quite a hike…). We actually only wanted 4 days but they had to be consecutive days so we had to buy the 6 day pass as we planned to go to Stonehenge on our 4th day.
We were early but the crowds were already starting to line up. Our London Passes gave us fast track entry although I don’t think they do now. A guard gave us a great tip – there was a group forming for the free tours that the beefeaters (or Yeoman Warders) put on every half an hour throughout the day. The first tour was starting at 10am and the guard suggested we skip the start of the tour and head straight for the crown jewels. The last time I saw the crown jewels we queued for hours in a line that wrapped all the way around the building. This time – straight in!
I was surprised that the boys actually enjoyed seeing the crown jewels. They were pretty spectacular. It is interesting to note that the current crown jewels only date back to Charles’ II coronation in 1661 because the originals were destroyed after the Civil War. The most important crown is Saint Edward’s Crown which was made in solid gold for Charles II’s coronation and is still used at the moment of crowning. The original crown was said to have dated back to the 11th-century Saint-King Edward the Confessor.
One area of the Tower of London that has always fascinated me is Traitors Gate, the water gate entrance to the Tower where many prisoners of the Tudors passed through on their way to the Tower and potential death. Anne Boleyn is said to passed through the gate on her way to her beheading on Tower Green (although some historians dispute this) and a young Elizabeth I did too before her ascension to the throne. Fortunately she didn’t suffer the same fate as her mother Anne and was released after two months, although she remained in house arrest.
It’s amazing to think that the original Tower of London built by William the Conqueror is nearly 1000 years old. Built in the 1070s, it has served as the royal mint, menagerie of exotic animals, records office, barracks for the troops and as a royal residence. As with Anne and Elizabeth, it is also famous for the many prisoners it held captive and the haunting stories of many of these can be read in the displays in the Tower today. Even more haunting are the notes scratched into the walls of the castle by prisoners, many of whom were held captive for years.
You can also see the place in the wall where two small skeletons were found, said to be the bodies of the two princes, Edward and Richard, who were murdered in the Tower aged just 12 and 10.
Sad stories are everywhere in the Tower but they are indicative of Tudor times. The Tower Green where prisoners including Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey (all wives of Henry VIII) were beheaded always feels like a somber place with the ravens keeping watch. It is said that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, both the Tower and the Kingdom will fall.
Where the two princes’ bodies were found 
We all found the Tower of London hugely fascinating and could have stayed there for most of the day. However we had lots to do so headed off for a quick lunch in an absolutely delightful pub covered in flower baskets at St Katherine Docks – The Dickens Inn. I grew to love all the old pubs with flower baskets in London, and in fact throughout many places in Europe. Often it was my prime reason for choosing to stop for a drink or meal.
tower bridge exhibition
After lunch, we had a change of pace with the Tower Bridge Exhibition. Our London Passes gave us skip the line entry to the exhibition which was great because it was popular. This was to be a short stop to see how the bridge was built but the story was compelling and the exhibition was so well put together. We particularly enjoyed standing on the glass floor way above the water – in fact 42 metres above the Thames!
Once we crossed over to the south bank of the Thames, we were in a lovely trendy area of London. We passed through Borough Markets only a few months after the dreadful terrorist attack and were glad to see it full of life.
globe theatre
We had to choose our attractions carefully by this point as the day was disappearing. We decided that Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre would be preferable to St Paul’s Cathedral – again, Karl and I had visited the Cathedral previously so the choice was up to the boys.
The Globe Theatre was included in our London passes and it didn’t disappoint. We had an informative tour and talk about the history of the Globe before taking our seats inside as if we were theatre goers of the Tudor era. A rehearsal was underway and it was very interesting to experience an authentic play after hearing the background.
Needless to say, St Paul’s was closed when we finally left the Globe but it is definitely worth a visit. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren, its dome is the second largest in the world at 366 feet high. You can climb the dome – all 528 steps – for panoramic views of London.
We were done by this point. I still had The Museum of London, The Charles Dickens Museum and the British Museum on my list but we had had an awesome day. My research told me that each of these would be great places to visit (particularly the British Museum) but London simply has too many treasures to experience in a short time. They would need to be for another visit.
We spent the evening catching up with one of my school friends in the Museum Tavern and yet again, it didn’t disappoint. We had intended to have dinner at Covent Garden but our feet were too sore for another walk – if you manage to keep fresh and full of energy at the end of the day, I would recommend giving Covent Garden a go.
What we missed on Day 2
British Museum – sadly. We would have loved to have seen the iconic exhibits mentioned earlier in this post.
St Paul’s Cathedral – Designed by Christopher Wren three centuries ago, it would have been cool to climb to the top of the dome as mentioned above. Even the boys would have liked that despite their constant mantra ‘not another church!’.
Charles Dickens Museum – The home of the author from 25 March 1837 (a year after his marriage) to December 1839 at which time he had become quite wealthy and moved on to a grander home. Apparently he write Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby here as well as working on Pickwick Papers and Barnaby Rudge. None of this sufficiently impressed the boys although Sam had read Oliver Twist, and of course they all had experienced the play of the same name at school.
Museum of London – A free museum that documents the history of London from prehistoric times, to Roman London, medieval times, the Fire of London, the plagues and more. I have heard good things about this museum and was intending on going but ran out of time.
The London Bridge Experience – it didn’t really appeal to us as it sounded very touristy but if you are after some entertainment it has been crowned ‘best guided tour’. It is supposed to bring history and horror together in a theatrical sense. Young ones might like it but I couldn’t see my boys doing anything but cringe. Hopefully I am wrong!
We were happy with our choices but there is so much to do that you could equally enjoy the day with a different mix of attractions.