The Tower

We had a free day today, so filled we it with adventure! At the start of our schedule was a trip to the Tower of London. For our British Life and Culture class, we were told to pick a thing or place in London that we wanted to see, and then we are to give a presentation on it towards the end of our trip. I chose the Tower of London so I’m sure that I will write loads more, but here at the highlights. Our self-guided tour of the tower took around three hours. We saw great exhibits such as the Royal Menagerie and the Armor of past kings. In the Menagerie, we learned about animals that royalty were given and kept in the tower. They had all sorts, such as monkeys, lions, and polar bears. Lions were especially important to the monarchy. However after several attacks over a period of centuries, the animals were moved to the London Zoo. They used to tie polar bears to rope and let them fish. That’s crazy! From there we moved on and saw some towers where prisoners were held. The coolest part about that was the areas on the wall where prisoners had carved names and sayings centuries ago. Their carvings were very detailed and so impressive! We also stopped to see the exhibit on the types of torture used back in the day. It was quite interesting and painful looking. Of course, we made our way to the Crown Jewels. Basically what we all were waiting for. Sadly photos were not allowed. However, they were beautiful.  We saw super old crowns that were in great shape and items the queen uses today. We also saw the coronation items, which included a spoon from like 1100. Dude. That is so old and is still used today. I’m looking forward to being able to see those items again at the next coronation, which will hopefully be a while, because I love the current queen.  We also saw plates and similar items used for coronation parties and baptisms. There was a punch bowl that could hold over a hundred bottles of wine. It was massive. And so was the ladle that goes along with it. I’m pretty sure that exhibit was the best. We could not leave without seeing the White Tower which has been used to be a symbol of the power of the British monarchy. In this exhibit there was the royal armory which included suits of armor from a great deal of kings as well as children’s armor. We also saw the military uniforms of William and Harry.

Fun Fact: There are several ravens are kept in the tower at all times, who have had their wings clipped so they cannot escape. The legend is that if they leave the British Commonwealth will fall.

The tower also had a fabulous view of Tower Bridge.

Since the tour took a good long while, we were quite hungry so we made our way to our central living area and stopped for lunch. Emily, Lindsay, and I wanted to try Pizza Express. It was quite delicious. And once again our waiter was so nice! I suppose I was missing a bit of America and had the American Classic pizza. I’ve also been craving McDonalds so I will most likely need to make a stop there. Although, they won’t have sweet tea, which is such a shame.  We then took off in search of Emily’s internship placement. I really do think I am getting a hang of the tube system. It’s so helpful that there are route maps all over the underground.  We also paid the grocery store another visit, though we went to Sainsbury this time. It was much bigger and we purchased digestives, which are some fabulous biscuits (cookies). I also got the biggest water bottle ever. And it only cost 96 pence!!

Just as we thought our night coming to a close, we remembered that the movie premiere for Rock of Ages was tonight in Leicester Square. So we through on something to wear and practically ran to the tube stop. Sadly, we were too late for the movie premiere, so we settled for Ben and Jerry’s. They have different flavors of ice cream here in the UK, but they are still fabulous. We did see some paparazzi thought! That's exciting enough for us.

So, I suppose that was my day! They weather was a bit dreary but lovely overall. I have decided I need a trench coat.

Week One: Day Five: BLC 5