Today I went with a befriended chaplain and her friend - who turns out to be the chaplain of the Tower of London - on a private evening tour of the Tower site ... When all tourists were swept out of the Tower, we started off ...

It was incredible: Having walked through the vibrant parts of the City of London with fancy bankers all dressed up surging home in packs just some minutes before was quite an obverse introduction to this ancient part of London packed with history ...

Once in the Tower (no, I did NOT enter it via the Traitor´s Gate!) silence fell upon us -

- even though one is still surrounded by the modern Bank district - the Shard just behind the small residential home of the Queen (YES! The Queen has - of course - one of her innumerable residentials within the Tower!) gives you an impression of these awkward contrasts.

The presence of the gigantic Shard will make the Tower of London lose its status as one of the World Heritage Sites soon. On these 2 pictures above you can see how it impacts on the view from inside the Tower court.

At least, the view on the Tower Bridge

is still in sound condition ...

... framed by these romantic plane trees here ...

Even though we did not meet the ghost of Anne Boleyn - who is said to be walking around the White Tower from time to time carrying its head under its arm - I took a picture of her famous memorial stone in the Royal Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula.

Finally, I promised both chaplains in the end, not to show any of my photographs of the Crown Jewels    

 (-; ... I am once again afraid that this means you have to come to London & have a look at them yourselves one day ...