Friday 9 January 2009

Ceremony of the Keys

Well I'm home and frozen!! brrrr but nothing a cuppa wont fix. (see previous post for further details of this evenings jaunt)

We met our group (40 of us in total) at the main gates to the Tower of London and at 9.31pm we were escorted from the main gates to the location where the ceremony takes place within the Tower, which is by Traitors Gate.
Our group waiting to go in - these ladies I regularly have a chinese meal with whilst our husbands attend a Rotary Club council meeting.

A very lovely Beefeater explained exactly what would be taking place and that he, himself, has been a part of the ceremony every night for the last 25 years. The actually ceremony commences at 7 minutes to 10 and finishes exactly at 10pm with the playing of the Last Post.
http://www.trooping-the-colour.co.uk/keys/

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos; however, it was just awesome to be standing and watching a ceremony that has taken place for over 600 years and to be within the ground of The Tower of London in the evening - it was truly magical.

I took these photos outside before the event.

The last two photos I took through the window of The Tower of London shop..

4 comments:

A Scattering said...

It must have felt special to be there at night - did you sense and spirits joining you?

My name is Riet said...

great picture and you had a wonderful time

Janet said...

I've been to the Tower of London, but in the day time. I just LOVED the history! Would love to go again!

Anonymous said...

I'll never forget my first visit to the Tower of London. Our flight from the States arrived in the morning and, as we couldn't check in to the hotel until 3:00 we decided to tour the Tower and have lunch. The problem with that was that, according to our bodies, it was the middle of the night and we were sleep deprived! LOL We sat in a pub within walking distance of the Tower and I was falling asleep in my meal. I vaguely remember some Elvis songs being played. I thought to myself, "Elvis! Hey, we're in England. Beatles at least!" Ha!