Good morning! Such a lovely view first thing in the morning on our way to our tour.

On our fifth day in London, we walked over to the London Tower. Before this trip, I knew basically zilch about the London Tower but it was SO interesting!

This is the entrance. A bit foreboding. 😉

It’s less foreboding with a baby and coffee.

The Tower has basically been everything. A prison, a torture chamber, a zoo and now, the place where they keep the Crown Jewels and a tourist spot. Seriously, it’s beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.

Someone wasn’t super excited about the jewels. She thought the first crown was pretty but then all the opulence was just redundant for my Little Miss. 😉 They don’t allow photography of the jewels, but holy cow, they were incredible.

Just so amazing.

We got there REALLY early, so there was basically no one there for a while. It was so nice. Eisley could run around a little bit, we got to talk to some of the people who work there and really explore the whole Tower without feeling rushed. They have these zoo animals made out of chicken wire all over the Tower that were apparently given as a gift to London at some point…kind of a weird gift. If anyone in my family is reading this looking for gift ideas for me, I don’t want chicken wire zoo animals. 😉 Eisley thought they were so funny.

In one of the huge towers of the Tower, they had displays of a lot of the knights and armory used by England in the past. Eisley kept saying, “Oooo. Scary horse. Oooo. Scary man.”

I mean, they were a little terrifying.

Taking a break after we climbed like 4,298 of the steepest, shortest steps ever. This room was really neat. Not only was there more armory, but there was information about all the different histories of the Tower. This particular area had been primarily used as a prison and torture chamber. And for some reason, they had a music box thing on display and Eisley would turn the handle and then start twirling around.

Watching my tiny, beautiful girl twirling around in a tower that had held so much pain and agony for so many people was a really eerie, sobering moment for me.

Eisley found another guard. 😉 She LOVED the guards. This is all she talked about the whole entire time. “Gward? Mawch?” And then she would march around just like them.

Lots of walking and we were lots of tired by this point. 😉 Notice Pops hasn’t been in any pictures – that’s because my dad heard two words of the history of the Tower and he basically disappeared for the entire morning reading every single plaque and sign and wall in the whole building.

From the top of one of the Tower walls.

We finally found Pops! Love this of the two of them.

We finally dragged Dad away from the Tower and found a little place along the River Thames to eat. This picture melts my heart.

The theme of the day was “tower” because after touring the Tower of London, we ate lunch and Eisley fell asleep in the Ergo while we walked over to the Tower Bridge to do the tour there. The Tower Bridge is incredible – such a HUGE architectural feat! You can walk across the walkways and someone apparently had the grand idea to put a see-through floor up there.

Why. Just why. I was making a beeline around the floor because not only did I have Eisley in the pack which already was throwing off my center of gravity, but I’m terribly afraid of heights. Then I saw they were giving out “I DID IT” stickers to the people who were walking across the glass and I really like stickers, so I just did it. 😉

My dad, ladies and gentlemen. He plopped right down there without a second thought. They have giant mirrors on the ceiling so you can see yourself basically sprawled out over London.

I am not entirely sure that I’m related to these people after all. Eisley had woken up by now and since they were both brave enough to do it, I took a deep breath and laid down.

Well, at least I earned my sticker. 😉 Not only am I scared of heights but I have major germ issues too, so laying on the floor might be the bravest thing I could have ever done. This was just a new level for me all around.

Might as well get a group shot while we’re on the floor. Ha!

This one may not be related to me either. She was just like, “Oh, wook! Big boat. Oh, wook! Wittle car.” Zero fear. Zero concern. I cannot relate to her at all.

Then we were all hungry and tired of walking (and honestly, I was really ready to wash my hair after laying on the floor), so we stopped by the little grocery store again, got ourselves dinner and actually made it to bed at a halfway decent time. 😉