Thriving with Autism: Day Five Chillin' at the Tower of London

We woke up ready to hit the ground running. I was so glad our hotel room had a little kitchen where we could prepare breakfast. It really saved us on time and money.

I wanted us to take advantage of the Days Out London 2 for 1 deal. To get the deal, you have to buy your tube pass at select railway stations. It was a slight hassle because we had to walk about 20 minutes to Paddington Station, but it was definitely worth it. There is a long list of attractions that allow you to buy 2 tickets for the price of 1. We saved quite a bit of money.

To get to Paddington Station, we took a nice leisure stroll through Hyde Park and Kensington Palace.

The surrounding South Kensington area. This was a great location to stay at. We were centrally located, close to a tube station, and a grocery store just down the street.

Hyde Park

Kengsington Palace

This was our first opportunity to see a palace and let me just say that it was...palatial.

Before long, we found ourselves in the center of Paddington Station. Getting your train ticket can be a bit confusing, but we had a great employee who talked us through it. Londoners are such kind, welcoming people. But the initial confusion did cause us to fall a bit behind schedule. Finally With train tickets in hand, we headed to the tube station to get to Tower of London.

The London tube is very easy to navigate and not as crazy as Paris trains. Everyone lines up and respects personal space.

When we walked out of the tube station, this was our view.

We handed over our 2 for 1 ticket voucher and got in line to enter the tower. The line looked long, but it moved quickly. And it gave us plenty of opportunity to take pictures.

Traitors' Gate, the entrance used to bring in prisoners.

This has been on Noah's bucket list for a long time. He was pretty excited to finally get to see Tower of London.

Once we cleared security, we were in the midst of 1000 year old history. And despite the long line to get in, the property was not over-crowded.

This is the other side of traitor's gate.

Kings and Queens once held animals in the tower. Today you will find animal sculptures around the property.

The castle is made up of three wards or enclosures. You can expect to spend at least a few hours to see it all. Dress comfortably, because you will do a lot of walking, a lot of climbing steep staircases, and a lot of standing.

The line to see the crown jewels can get very long, so we headed there first.

It was about a 30 minute wait, so we took some pictures while we waited. There is no photography allowed inside.

Royal guards patrol outside at all times.

The kids did so well waiting in lines. Noah is always right by my side, chatting away. Nik and Alex are always quiet and keeping Noah and I from getting too crazy.

When you get to the door, there are signs and guards instructing you to put cameras and phones away. Then you snake through the building, past cases of swords, armor, scepters, crowns and jewelry. The final room is the crown jewels.

I can totally see why these guys are always on guard.

What did I say about Noah and I always chatting?

When we got out of the crown jewels, I couldn't believe how long the line now was. Here's a tip. Go to Tower of London early, and head right to the crown jewels. Our 30 minute wait was over an hour wait by the time we got out.

Next up was White Tower.

Remember how I warned to dress comfortably? You will spend hours on cobble-stoned streets and narrow, steep staircases.

This was the entrance to the area where it is believed the two princes Edward and Richard were murdered. The end of the staircase has been walled off. It is said that the ghosts of the young princes still haunt the halls, if you believe in that sort of thing.

It's armor and swords for days in this place!

If these walls could talk. I couldn't help but put my hand on the walls that were 1000 years old.

There is a small church inside the tower.

Queen Elizabeth I. Not. Creepy. At. All.

Did I tell you about the narrow, winding stairs?

Keep on walking until you get to the bottom.

More stairs to get back up.

Guess what? More stairs.

A collar used to torture prisoners.

We found a dragon!

We spent over an hour in this building alone. At this point, it was past 1pm and we were hungry, so we made our way to the food court.

There were some actors doing a comedy skit.

This place was endless. There were interesting things to see at every corner.

We were starving and exhausted. We had fish and chips and burgers.

Look at Nik's tired face.

We still had more of Tower of London to explore

Here's another tip. Take the time to see the details. Even though we were working hard to see everything, we did take time to notice things. Like this menacing looking gate above the entrance to one of the buildings.

Stunning views all around!

We still needed to see the bloody tower, the place where they kept many prisoners. The line was long, but moved quickly. This is the place where so many prisoners spent their last night.

More details. Tiny windows and bars where prisoners would have once peered through.

One of my favorite photos from our trip. Look at these two goof balls.

It's all in the details. Oh what stories these walls must hold.

Known as the rack, this was used to torture prisoners.

I caught Noah peering out one of the windows.

This is a monument meant to honor those who were put to death on the grounds.

The Tower of London was amazing. Hands down, we would come back again if we could. We love history and this place left us in awe. Even when walking to the tube station, we still found remnants of the tower.

We were pretty tired, but after a break sitting down in the tube, we got our second wind and wanted to see Big Ben. When we were planning this trip, there were rumors that it would be covered in scaffolding due to renovations.

But when we got out of the tube station, this was our glorious view!

Ok, this was another tear-producing moment. I got choked up at the sight.

Oh hi Noah!

We quickly took pictures, because it was starting to rain. Thank you iPhone 7plus for being water-proof!

It was starting to really come down, so we headed to Shrek's Adventure. Here's a picture that we took a few days later, when it wasn't pouring outside.

Let me preface this to say that everyone was involved in the planning of this trip. We all got to pick things that we wanted to do. Shrek's Adventure was one of Noah's picks. Alex and I were convinced that it would not be entertaining. We figured it would be a waste of money, but it was high up on Noah's list, so we agreed. We also had the 2 for 1 deal for this attraction. If you are going to London, skip the London City Pass and do the Days Out 2 for 1 deal. Can I just say that Alex and I were totally wrong about this attraction? We all loved this place!

Nik really loved Shrek's Adventure. He had a smile the entire time.

Shrek's Adventure is an interactive and immersive walk through attraction. You start out on a 4D double decker bus ride. That wasn't the most thrilling ride and we figured we were in for a boring hour. But then actors took us on a tour, walking from room to room and we were involved in the performance. It was so much fun!