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Hanging out with the Beefeaters

The Tower of London features a moat, Beefeaters, suits of armour and an impressive collection of jewels.

Today we checked virtually all the classic British icons off our list. Castle with moat? Check. Beefeaters? Check, check. Union Jack? Check. Knights of the round table? Check. Crown jewels? check. Double-decker buses? Check. Really old church? Check.

Don't Mess with the Guards


At the Tower of London, you can't miss the Yeoman Warder guards sporting their fancy coats and period costumes. The Beefeaters got their nickname because they once protected the King and the crown jewels. As a job perk, they ate a generous helping of the King's best beef. While some serve as hilarious tour guides, some simply help the tourists find the many displays and museums on the tower grounds. You also can't miss the motionless guards posted in strategic locations with their tall, fuzzy black hats. Our favorite was a young guard posted just outside the building that houses the crown jewels. Despite a million tourists crowding the area to get his picture, he never even budged.

The Tower of London isn't just a historical castle, it's towers and various buildings once served as prisons, government headquarters and even the Queen's quarters. In the Beauchamp Tower, you can see age-old graffiti where famous prisoners carved messages on the stone walls in impressively perfect penmanship. Some of the VIP prisoners were confined in the tower because of their beliefs. Some were just mixed up in monarchy squabbles. Some left alive and others were executed.

The Tower of London features ruins from the 1200s.
The highlight of the Tower of London isn't the castle, the moat, the museums with suits of armour or even the guards. The highlight of the place is a diamond that's larger than an egg. The crown jewels collection features so many crowns, scepters and fancy gold items, it's mind-blowing. The diamond the size of a very large egg is part of the Sovereign's Scepter. At 530 carats, it's ridiculously huge. We would have stood directly in front of the diamond-encrusted scepter gawking for several minutes, but there's a clever moving sidewalk that moves you past the crowns and the largest jewels. You'd have to run backwards on the moving sidewalk to gawk.
 
The other pieces are still impressive and encrusted with giant rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and every precious jewel under the sun. There's also a solid gold punch bowl that's so huge it's comical. It even comes with a giant gold ladle. You know you're royalty when your party has a gold punch bowl the size of a garden fountain.

We also walked across the Tower Bridge, the iconic drawbridge. It's a nice view of the River Thames and the city.

Westminster Abbey


Westminster Abbey is full of elaborate tombs, ornate ceilings and beautiful stained glass. Some of the tombs are works of art featuring statues, carvings and of course, lots of gold. We stood in the same place where England's kings and queens are crowned and buried. In fact, there are tons of famous people buried there. Although the tombs are not nearly ornate as the royal tombs, Kirk was the most impressed with the literary icons buried there. In the "poet's corner" AKA the nerd's corner, there's the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer. You can also spot other big names like T.S. Eliot, Charles Dickens and the guy who wrote Alice in Wonderland.

Westminster Abbey is the largest church in the English-speaking world. It's also where kings and queens are crowned.



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