London - Day 12: Tower of London, The Crutched Friar, St Paul's Cathedral, Dinner and London by Night

We discovered late yesterday that the Tower of London was opening today to visitors again - yay! We quickly booked our tickets and another night at our hotel - we had already extended by two! We then checked to see if St Paul's Cathedral was also open, and it was. We booked tickets for here also, and visited both today.

Not everything was open in each location, however we were just pleased to be able to go in and see what we could. Unfortunately we missed out on seeing the crypts at St Paul's as they close at 4:30pm, however I emailed them and asked if we could visit tomorrow morning to see the crypts and shop, and they agreed - yay again!

In between the two locations we went via The Crutched Friar, Brad's local when we worked at Gartmore. It was closed the previous time we walked past, but today it was open so we popped in for refreshments of course!

A little spot of shopping at Next and Gap in between and we were done for the day, so we walked back to our hotel via the Millennium Bridge and chilled out watching our constant while we've been in London, The Chase!

Around 8:30pm we headed out to have our final meal in London, at The Anchor by the Thames. We've passed this pub so many times so thought it would be fitting to have a final drink and meal here. We sat upstairs with a lovely view to the river. We got loaded nachos and bangers and mash to share - yum!

Once we were done and it was dark, around 9:30pm, we walked along South Bank, then across the Millennium Bridge to take in the city lights. It was amazing and a pleasant way to end our final evening in this amazing city.

Tower of London

Founded by King John in the early 1200s, the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London, became home to more than 60 species of animal. This began a long tradition of kings and queens keeping exotic animals as symbols of power and for the entertainment and curiosity of the court.

Animals were also exchanged throughout Europe as regal gifts, but sadly, they were often mistreated.

There are sculptures of these exotic animals displayed around the Tower of London near to the places the original animals were kept. The galvanised wire sculptures were created by artist Kendra Haste, and include a family of lions, a polar bear, an elephant and a baboon troup.

Interestingly, the London Zoo near Regents Park was founded by the original 150 animals moved from the Tower Menagerie.

The White Tower was the original building on site here, build around 1080.

At the entrance to the Tower of London

Traitors Gate

Cale and Nico with a Beefeater

The Beefeaters or Yeoman Warders have been guarding the Tower since Tudor times. The 37 men and women are all drawn from the Armed Forces. Today's Yeoman Warders have to have at least 22 years' military services and reached the rank of warrant officer and to be awarded the long service and good conduct medal.