A walk around the Tower of London and Tower Bridge on a snowy spring day. The White tower and its royal armoury, the Medieval Palace and the Bloody Tower and the Crown Jewels are some of the highlights of the day in the notorious tower. Afterwards, a walk around the banks around the tower and the famous Tower Bridge.

It was about 3pm when I joined the long queue to enter the Tower of London after arriving from the Tower Hill Underground. Although the queue was about 50 metres away from the ticket office, I've heard that the queues to the famous tower gets worse in the peak season. But as I waited, the weather grew more overcast before it started to snow! Odd, considering that it is early spring and the daffodils are blooming.

A quarter hour later, I entered through the main entrance at the West Tower and entered the Medieval Palace. The Palace was the main royal residence since the castle was first built and consists of the St Thomas and Wakefield Tower. St Thomas tower was the first one everyone enters, and consists of the King's Great Chamber and private hall fireplace and the tower oratory, all built originally for Edward 1st. After the oratory, I entered the small chapel inside the Wakefield tower. A man dressed in medieval-styled clothing was reciting something to a crowd of tourists stood near the centre of a small chapel. But after a few minutes, he had finished his speech to mingle with the tourists to answer any questions. Apart from the candles, the small chapel was lit by a single stained-glass window and there was a seat for a priest and a screen right behind it. As it got crowded in the small chapel, I decided to head back up to the stairs towards the exit.

I found myself on the defence walls of the fortress, but back on the other side of the Medieval palace. It was still fairly cold and drizzly, but I could still make out the Tower Bridge from here as well as the huge white tower in the centre of the fortress, known, funnily enough, as the White Tower. Making sure I avoid more crowds of tourists as well as to escape the cold and miserable weather, to see what sort of treasures lay inside the White Tower.

After climbing a set of stairs to the first floor, I arrived at the Royal Armouries where King Henry VIII armour could be seen on horseback. Other pieces included japanese armour presented to James I by the Shogun of Japan and Charles I's gold-leafed armour suit as well as the Chapel of St John. On the next floor, a brief description of the history of the tower and some history on the attempted rebellion against Queen Victoria by the Earl of Essex.

Descending the tower stairs back to ground level, there were exhibits on guns and arms, Spanish armoury and the distinctive Line of Kings. In short, the Line of Kings depicts the monarchs of England on horseback. After admiring the arrangement, I left the White Tower for the Waterloo Barracks to see the Crown Jewels.

I passed through a number of small auditoriums with each screen showing documentary films of Queen Elizabeth II as well as the other monarchs before her. This was then followed by a hall containing a display cabinet of sceptres, orbs, maces and swords that represented each monarch. Eventually, I arrived at a long hall containing the Crown Jewels. Each crown could only be viewed by stepping on a travellator that sits beside the display. Highlights included the Queen Mother's crown with the Koh-i-Noor diamond when she was the Queen, and the Imperial State Crown at the end of the travellator.

Next stop for me was the Martin Tower, just on the right of the barracks, where descriptions of the crown-making process can be found and the significance of diamonds in this process. Most of the gems used in the crowns are actually reused from previous crowns, so some of the frames of what is left are also shown in the display.

I had another walk around the fortress before entering the Beauchamp tower, just at the edge of the Tower Green. tower where many of the famous generals and nobles were imprisoned. The inscriptions of many of the prisoners can be found on the walls at the top floor of the tower. The lower floor contains a display explaining the defensive functions of the wall towers and the recent draining of the water in the moat at the fort.

As I had less than an hour left, I quickly joined the queue for the Bloody Tower, which is just opposite from the Waterloo Barracks. The tower is named for the murders of Prince Edward and his younger brother, Richard, and the death of the 8th Earl of Northumberland, who shot himself to escape conviction for treason in 1585. the Bloody Tower also contains a lower chamber (the study) and an upper chamber (the bedroom) that housed Sir Walter Ralegh during his imprisonment for plotting against King James I. Outside the lower chamber, a portcullis and a windlass that operated one of the gates to the tower can be seen.

It was already closing time when I left the Bloody tower, but I decided to explore more of the area around the fortress and the Tower Bridge. In the end, it is not just the crown jewels that attract so many tourists and visitors to the Tower of London, but the long and interesting history of the area as a fort, prison and treasure store for the monarch which has helped shape the history of the nation.