While the rest of the day was slated as free, we all wanted to see the Tower of London, so we stayed together and found our way there. It’s been nice to have the freedom of the Tube (underground metro, can’t say subway because that’s their word for underground walkway) instead of being on a bus all the time—don’t have to deal with traffic and a ton more versatile. It’s also fun to see people, tourists and locals alike, though I feel like there are more locals on the Tube, tourists are probably using the double-deckers.
The first thing new for me when going to the Tower of London was that it’s not just one tower, it’s an entire compound. The first structure to be made on the grounds was by the Romans in the 1000’s, but the beginning of the compound there today was began by the Normans after their defeat of the Saxons. The Tower housed all the fancy prisoners, either deemed extremely dangerous or they were fairly noble in standing (at least money wise). I think the funniest story is that of Sir Walter Raleigh, a perpetual guest it seemed. First he married a lady in waiting of Queen Elizabeth (a big no-no for two reasons: one, she wanted all her ladies virgins and two, rumor has it she was kind of sweet on Walter). What made it funny was that it was totally refurbished for him, and his family could even stay with him. The second time was concerning a plot to overthrow James I, and in this sentence he died. My other favorite prisoners to read about were the Princes, the two heirs to throne before they were branded as bastards and Richard III became king. Later they completely disappeared, though a couple centuries later two skeletons were found inside the compound. Much like Jack the Ripper, there are tons of different suspects and contrived plots, but I think Shakespeare lays out a pretty good case in his play Richard III for it being Richard.
Above is one of the few pics we got before both our cameras were dead--the Tower used to be used as a royal zoo among it's other purposes. Now the live animals are in London Zoo, but the chicken wire versions are still in the Tower today.
The prisoners left marks of themselves in Beauchamp Tower, where many engravings still can be seen in the tower stones. These range from simple names and dates, to grand writings of religious prisoners like Sir Philip Howard (a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I until he converted to Catholicism; he’s now a saint in the Roman Catholic Church); even family crests were etched into the stones. While some are replicas, this is the history I love to see and experience—I am looking at the writings of someone from the 16, 17, and 1800s. Its right in front of me, physical proof that this person lived and stood where I stood today. It sounds corny, but that bond, that tie of sorts to history, is what gets me really excited on trips.
A neat little something we got to see firsthand was the ravens of the Tower. Story has it that as long as there are ravens in the Tower, England cannot fall. At first I thought they were just in this small cage, which made me really sad, but later we saw a bunch out and about. They do clip their wings, but only the hind feathers—this way they can still fly, but not so high they could get out, or get very far. I don’t see why they’d want to anyway—they get fed six ounces of meat a day, an egg a week, and an occasion rabbit. These ravens were huge—the monster of a one we got really close to had to be as tall as my elbow to the tip of my thumb. See the monster below:
A necessary sight to see when at the Tower was the Crown Jewels. Again, I thought I’d get to see a crown and some jewels, when in fact there are LOTS of them. My favorite was the imperial crown that is still used today—it has all these mythical stones, including a sapphire believed to be from the ring of William the Conqueror. All the coronation baubles are here, the scepters and anointing vessels, even the feastware from the old post-coronation feasts. Most of the items date from 1660, when the royals came back into power after the death of Cromwell. One of the scepters, the official coronation one, has a diamond that has 532 carats—it’s about as tall as an apple, as big around as a nectarine. Everything was just gorgeous, but somewhat outlandish as well—who wants to wear a crown that weighs 5 lbs.?
The last part of the Tower we explored was White Tower, where all the armor and weapons of the monarchs is housed. While we had to fly through most of it, the armor was so beautiful! It was funny to see Henry VIII’s armor grow thorough time—three sets were up, and the last one was ginormous! The exhibit showed the armor through the times and families, they only have from Henry VIII on, but still, so much armor! The next floor was the weapons; again, these swords were beautiful! It was also neat to see the different gifts the English monarchy had received—the armor from Japan was probably the coolest, though some of the pistols were amazing in their intricacy.
After a lunch of fish and chips, we came out of the Tube right by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It was just getting dark, so it was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. The way it lite up so perfectly, and walking across the bridge, seeing the Thames River as part of it all…it literally took my breath away. Seeing such an iconic scene with your very own eyes—there’s nothing like it. Unfortunately we can’t go in Parliament; they’re not in session again until next week, but man, what a view. Some people expanded that view by going into the London Eye, a huge ferris wheel on the Thames, but Dr. B, Dr. G, Kristen and I took a hike to the reconstructed Globe Theatre. A quick stop, but awesome nonetheless—as I said, I hope we can catch a show on our free day.
We also had a tour of cemeteries and such, but it made us all sad. Our guide was really hurried and just… not fabulous. They did look really creepy and cool, but we couldn’t go in to any of them, and he walked really fast for a long time, so we were all just plain exhausted with not much to show for it.
The night ended with lots of laughter and fun at the Indian restaurant Jo suggested, Mela. We talked a little bit about the Sikh religion, since our main host was Sikh. The Sikhs comes from the warrior caste of India, which makes their rules of wearing a turban, having a beard, wearing a special bracelet, and always having a knife on one’s person (at least these are the rules for men, I’m unsure about them for women) fit unquestionably into their lives. It was amazing food, and with some people never having it before, and everyone liking it, it was a fabulous experience.
Afterwards a fairly large group of us found our way to the Old Crown, a very busy little pub known by the locals for some merriment before getting back to the hotel and packed for a ride, for tomorrow we head to Stonehenge!
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