Yesterday, on our third day in London (has it really only been three days?) we visited the Tower of London. To say I was excited to be back at the Tower is an understatement. My classmates can attest that once we emerged from the Tower Hill tube station, I ran ahead of the group, jumping and “yippie-ing!” my way to a bench I could stand on to get a better view. We also made our way to the old Roman wall that still stands across from the Tower. After touching it, repeatedly saying “This is 2000 years old, and we’re touching it”, and threatening to lick the wall (I decided against it when I thought of the possibility of getting some disease that the last person to most likely die of it was probably a gladiator), we were off to the Tower!
Our first stop was the Crown Jewels before they got too crowded. Everything in there is beautiful…but dare I say a tad gaudy! It’s also hard to believe there are stones that form so starkly blue, red, or green naturally. My favorite crown was probably Queen Victoria’s itty bitty crown made to go over her widow’s veil. I got a kick out of telling out little group that she and Prince Albert were ye olde FREAKS for each other. Good for them, I guess.
After the Crown Jewels, we started exploring different historical parts of the tower. We went to the sight of Anne Boleyn’s execution, where a cat a Yeoman referred to as “Nipsy” sat on the memorial and played with the flowers people had left. She was a black cat, which I think should make her an honorary Tower Raven. Forget the ravens leaving the tower, if Nipsy leaves we’re all screwed. We then moved on to Traitors Gate, The White Tower, and my personal favorite – The Bloody Tower. The Bloody Tower includes my favorite exhibit about the Princes in the Tower.
The Princes in the Tower were the boy King Edward V, who was twelve, and his little brother, Prince Richard, who was nine. They were put in their tower by their Uncle, Richard III (different guy than the boy prince). One day they were seen playing on the lawn of the Tower and after that…nothing. They were never seen again. Richard III was crowned King of England and was later defeated by Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth. It’s widely speculated and written that Richard III had the boys killed so he could become king. They’ve even found the skeletons of two young children in the Tower, but there’s never been any testing done on them. I believe that the boys were definitely killed, whether by Richard III or someone else. The room in Bloody Tower that tells their story is accompanied by a truly haunting short film that I LOVE. I wish I had taken a video of it to show people back in the states, as I always bring it up when discussing the tower. Alas, too many people were walking in front of it.
Speaking of which…the lack of museum etiquette displayed by so many people that day angered me TO MY CORE. At one point in White Tower, Sophie, Anna, and I were reading about this set of armor and this woman comes and stands RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. I was fighting demons. My inner Karen about came out. MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways…after this, we went to Spitalfields market, where I had some amazing butter chicken and naan bread. Most of the group went out to see shows, but I took the time to get some much needed rest and wash my socks and such in the sink…fun things happening over here, folks. I’m a real riot.
Theatre in London U of A 