Off With Their Heads

Today's trip was all about the Tower of London. This is probably one of the most famous places in London that I know we've all learned about since at least middle school. However, it's not just one tower like I always imagined... It's a large tower (called "White Tower") surrounded by walls and a moat guarded by men called "Beefeaters".

The Tower also acted as the Royal Mint before it got moved directly across the street. Many people could easily forge metal coins before the Mint was created, but this treasury made the money more uniform and harder to cheat. Many prisoners were brought to the Tower for forgery. Then, after the last prisoner left the Tower, it was turned into a zoo with all sorts of animals! There were tigers, elephants, polar bears, monkeys, and many more! Most importantly, though, the ravens stayed in the tower because it has been said that when the last raven leaves the Tower, the structure will fall.

Just to start off, I want to give a short list of my top 5 favorite prisoners:

5) Catherine Howard: She didn't recognize the pattern from Henry VIII's previous 5 wives.

4) Sir Walter Raleigh: Actually lived in the Tower with his wife and kids. He wasn't daunted by jail.

3) William Penn: He was imprisoned for giving out pamphlets. We all hate those guys, too...

2) Anne Boleyn: King Henry VIII was unhappy because of her HBO/ Oxygen-esque life.

1) Guy Fawkes: Imprisoned for being the only guy to go into Parliament with honest intentions.

Now, since I hope to give many helpful tips in this blog, here's the best way to visit the Tower of London. I recommend going at 3:30pm. The crown jewels will be very enticing when you first get there, but WAIT to see them until 5:10pm because the que falls from a 2 hour wait to getting to walk straight in. (You can trust me on these times, too. I did it twice.) If you get there at 3:30, this gives you plenty of time to do the audio tour around the Tower perimeter if you are instersted and to see the White Tower before you go see the crown jewels. The tower closes around 5:30, but there's a moving sidewalk infront of the Crown Jewels, so you can't stay there very long anyways. I think it took us about 15 minutes total.

Here's my opinion about these famous jewels. I thought they were so beautiful, and it is very refreshing to finally see something in London that is still functioning today. This is a very historic city, so to find items that the royalty use not only for the coronation but also some official visits is pretty unique! However, there are not very many, and it's not quite as flashy as I expected. Maybe because the room is kept on lock down and every move you make is watched, but once I finished seeing the jewels, I couldn't help but think, "That's it?" If you want to see an impressive jewelry collection, go to the Victoria and Albert Museum! The Crown Jewels are for it you want to see something historic that's in action today and feel connected with the monarchy.

Surprisingly, though, my favorite exhibit in the Tower of London was the "Line of Kings" in the White Tower. The Line of Kings is a series of armor, swords, and foreign gifts that belonged to the many kings of England. They call it "The Line" because it is set up in the proper succession in which the kings wore their armor. Take a minute to remember all the disappointment you feel when you read a book before the movie comes out and your favorite characters look NOTHING like what you imagine when they appear on screen. It's a terrible time, isn't it? (I'm talking to you, Christian Grey). Well, the Line of Kings was nothing like the sub-par actors because the armor in the Line of Kings was so much better than our AP History teachers made them out to be.

At the Armoury exhibit, the times when sword-fighting, damsels in distress, and gallant knights really comes alive. Mostly, the kings become real people. When we read history, we know that the aristocracy was probably all short and fat because that meant they were wealthy. Well, here, I could see just how fat (mostly pot bellies) and how tall each king was. I could compare their sizes against mine and really imagine what it was like for them to charge into battle with a long sword and a heart full of pride. I finally witnessed how kings have not always been mere figure heads, and how much truth lies behind our favorite tales (minus a lot of gore). London's history may be unfathomably old at some points, but there is still a lot of proof that these stories are not just made up.

Finally, after a long day of walking, Mom and I sat on a bench and ate one of the best Macaroons I've ever had in my life and watched as people strolled across the Tower Bridge. One more tip so that you don't seem like too much of a tourist when you go to London: the Tower Bridge is not the London Bridge no matter how much you want it to be. The London Bridge is very unassuming, and it could use a falling down sometime soon.

#London