Hello Chaps,
How are we doing today? I’m writing all the way from the loveliest spot in the world, LONDON! With flight delays, historic tours, engaging theatre, and gorgeous views, this week has already been off to an exhilarating start. On our first full day we started off the day with a tour of the Tower of London. The tower is right in our backyard, so it was only about a 5-10 minute walk to get there.
The Tower of London campus contains many joyous, and some not so joyous things. The first thing that we saw were the Crown Jewels. This building was devoted to the rituals and ceremonies of the royals. My personal favorite of the objects in the building was Queen Victoria’s crown (Peter and the Starcatcher reference). It was the smallest crown in the place, and I learned that she had it made so that she could wear her veil with it after the death of her husband. This building was very insightful into the ritual aspect of royal culture. The amount of ornate objects that they had were insane. I also learned that the objects were real. Apparently they had been gone for an event the day before.
Next I visited the Bloody Tower. In this building I saw Walter Raleigh’s study. Walter Raleigh was a prisoner in the Tower of London, but he was Elizabeth’s favorite explorer, so he had special accommodations. The atmosphere was incredibly eerie and dark. This was definitely intentionally done with lighting, but it was vastly different from the building with the Crown Jewels. The most interesting part of the Bloody Tower was the story of the two princes. There were two princes who were the sons of King Edward IV. The older of the sons, Edward V, was going to take the throne after his fathers death. He and his brother ended up going missing one day after being seen playing in the garden, and they were never seen again. After this, Richard III became king. This mystery is still unsolved to this day.
Another feature of the Tower of London is the Ravens that inhabit the premises. They say that if the Ravens leave, then London will fall. We saw many ravens there, and were told to keep a meter of distance as the ravens do have a tendency to bite. I got pretty close to one, and it started squawking, but you know, I have to get the pic. Shawn also told us that apparently one raven flew away from the premises 5-6 years ago, but that has been brushed over in the lore of the Tower of London.
Lastly, I went into the Torture Room. There were three different devices. The rack, the manacles, and the scavenger’s daughter. The rack has three wooden barrels with rope attached to them. The person is placed on a table, and then has rope attached to their hands and feet. They then get stretched out by their limbs. The manacles are an iron cuff that suspends the person in mid air and puts excruciating pressure on their wrists. The scavenger’s daughter was the most common torture device. It’s a steel device that keeps the person in an incredibly uncomfortable kneeling position.
After the Tower of London, Milly, Erin, and I got lunch. We went to food trucks right outside, I got loaded fries with shredded beef. It was good, but definitely overpriced. Lastly, we finished the day by seeing the Mousetrap. It was a gripping story with incredible performances by the actors. Overall, it was a great first day!
Cheers,
Thatcher
Theatre in London U of A 