SCandinavian Cruises - 2026
Wednesday 6 May'26 - London
Another early start as we had a 25+minute walk to Tower Hill station to join our "Easy Access" tour of the Tower of London. On our way there, came across an interesting garden area, known as Trinity Square Gardens. This area houses the National memorials to the Merchant Seamen who died in both world wars. It has the names of every merchant seaman and fisherman that was killed, catalogued under their respective vessels name and then each person alphabetically. Interestingly, also within the gardens is a memorial to those executed on the former Tower Hill scaffold. This scaffold is where all the non-Royals, that were considered enemies of the then current monarch, to be traitors and lasted until the 18th century. Some very interesting names amongst them and the last person to be executed was Lord Lovat (Richard Fraser), who started laughing because the grandstand holding the "spectators" collapsed and was still laughing as the axe dropped. This became folklore and is the basis of the saying, "laughing my head off..."
After meeting up with our guide Colin, we discovered we were the only 2 on the tour today which turned out to be great because I believe we got a lot more history than we may have otherwise got. In addition, being an Irishman, we got along famously as we shared the same sense of humour. It was also very interactive because he was very interested to chat about Australia with us. Tower Bridge, which we could see on our way to the Tower of London, is an imposing sight. Our 1st port of call after entering the Tower was the Crown Jewels but no photos allowed so there ya go. It was then a walking tour around the place with Colin explaining what each and every building was and now is. Apart from originally being a Royal Palace, with all the expected things you'd find in such a place, it has been a jail for Royal "traitors" and their execution place, a Zoo to house all the animals that were gifted to the Royals from various world leaders throughout the ages (it had a polar bear, lions & tigers, an elephant, a troop of baboons to mention just a few and they were the basis of the London Zoological Gardens ), before becoming the vault for the Crown Jewels.
It has a permanent population of around 130 people, made up of the Beefeaters and families, as well as relevant administrative staff. In addition, there is also a British military presence (numbers undisclosed) with different regiments being rotated through. Other inhabitants are the Ravens who are all tagged and registered members of the British Armed Forces and are managed (looked after) by the Royal Master of the Ravens.
The last building visited was the White Tower, built by William the Conqueror in the late 11th century. It was the armoury for many years and now houses exhibitions of the many weapons and armour used throughout the ages as well as hosting the chapel used by the many Kings & Queens on the top floor. Scattered throughout all the buildings, are Archer's positions, which are open areas in the walls, shaped like a cross on the outside of the walls. These were designed to allow Archer's to shoot with maximum range of the field of battle but minimised the chance of them being struck by arrows from the attackers! All in all, a very enjoyable morning.
A tube ride to Westminster, lunch at a Pub then onto the Churchill War Rooms. These rooms were used by Winston Churchill, his top military staff and the Cabinet, to manage England's WW2 efforts and is an interesting place to visit, with the rooms still showing what they were used for plus interactive displays, highlighting what went on during those years. The 1st photo shows the Cabinet room with the wooden chair in the middle being Winston's, The 2nd one is his bedroom. The rest sort of explain themselves... And to end the day, take away Pizza and a bottle of wine. Good night from a VERY weary traveller!