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Day 3, Part 2: Monday, November 5, 2001
The above photo is from just inside the entrance to the Tower of London. You are looking out to the street alongside the entrance outside. There is a Beefeater walking towards the camera. The souvenir shop is partly visible beyond all of the people.
I took the above left picture while standing on the same spot as the first one on this page -- after turning 180 degrees. These are the first two towers encountered on the outer wall. We had to wait for a Beefeater to come and take us on a tour. Our Beefeater was very informative and entertaining. He said that there are many theories of why they are called Beefeaters, any one (or more) of which could be correct. He said that in order to be a Beefeater, a person had to be a man (there are no women Beefeaters) who had served with distinction in the British military. After applying and being accepted as a Beefeater, the Beefeater and his family would reside inside the Tower of London in special apartments. Since it was very chilly, we hoped that the apartments were well-heated.
The second photo is of the inside of the two towers.
When we walked away from the two-tower entrance, we quickly came to what I remember was called "The Bloody Gate." (I didn't actually get the gate in the picture. You can maybe see the top of the gate underneath the stone arch.) If you saw the movie "Elizabeth," you may remember the scene where Princess Elizabeth was brought into the Tower of London by small boat. The gate she entered through was the Bloody Gate. There was a moat that at one time completely surrounded the Tower of London, so it would have been possible for her to enter here. Eventually, the moat became a cesspool with all its related smells, etc. It was cleaned out and turned into drilling or training grounds.
The second picture is the view to the left of the Bloody Gate.
