The Tower of London (holds us captive)

...The Tower of London.
I envisioned the Tower of London to be more along the lines of the towers in The Lord of the Rings.  Some great white tower looming above a flat field.  When I read that it housed museums and the crown jewels, I pictured a great white tower, with rooms off of a circular staircase.  But as you can see, the Tower of London looks suspiciously like a castle. 
We saw the moat where Anne Boleyn's coronation procession came through, and then passed the tower green where she was beheaded several years later.  We saw the Beuchamp tower where prisoners were kept and saw the six resident ravens whose prescence somehow preserve the integrity of the tower and the kingdom (Legend says that if they ever leave they will both fall).  There is a metal Menagerie of beasts to represent the time when mideval kings exchanged rare and strange animals as gifts, and this is where they kept them.  The white tower was built between 1075-1100 but was built on Roman ruins that were even older.  Inside was an amazing museum of swords, guns, and armor.  The kids really loved that. 

According to my carefully timed schedule, we had just enough time to see one more site at the Tower of London, and then we had to race to St. Paul's Cathedral.  The Beefeater on duty impressed upon us the importance of not skipping the Crown Jewels--"It is like going to New York without seeing the Statue of Liberty" he said.  We looked at the line winding for a quarter of a mile and he promised us that long of a line moved through in 15 min. Forty-five minutes later we were almost at the front of the line.  Meanwhile, we listened to our virtual tourguide tell us about how most of the crown jewels were destroyed and melted down when they got rid of the monarchy but new jewels were made in the 1660 when Charles II restored the monarchy.  The line finally fed into a huge room where we saw the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on a huge flat screen tv.  She looks so young and vulnerable going in, then at the end, draped in cloaks and carrying scepter and ball, crown on her head, she suddenly turns into a queen.  Then we are funneled into a room, where you stand on a moving walkway that roves slowly past the jewels--crowd control, I suppose.  But you are not allowed to take any pictures or apparently sit and study them either.  They looked nice, I guess, but in the end, we were completely off schedule.
We had 2 hours until closing time, so when faced with $12.50 a person to see the Cathedral or free entry to the Tate Modern, I chose the Tate Modern.  Though in hindsight, I should have gone to the Cathedral. 

This red staircase was the only really remarkable work we saw.  Most people were congregated in this room.  It was very peaceful for some reason.  It looked different from different angles.  Once we were done, it was closing time everywhere so we could only look at the cathedral and hope to get back some day.  (Arrgh, to only have a time turner and be two places at once!)

We could only take pictures of the Globe Theater as well.

So we tucked into some fish and chips, slept in our quaint flat for one more night, and woke up early to take the...