The Tower! What a dream come true! An absolute surreal experience. On our first full day in London, we eagerly arrived at the Tower (a seven minute walk from our apartment – btw!), took a group photo, then straight to get in line for the Crown Jewels – probably my most favorite part of the campus. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that these priceless articles are a genuine and crucial part of the royalty’s traditional wear. To have seen these crowns, robes, swords, etc. on T.V. laying on the most influential people in the world, handed down from the previous most influential people in the world, was so hard to fathom. What was especially surreal was talking with the security guards and tour guides, and hearing that a lot of the things we saw were not in the exhibit the day before, like the Imperial State Crown and the Robe of State, because King Charles the III had them on the day before. It was so moving to see these incredibly detailed articles that are hundreds of years old, being worn in my lifetime. So neat and definitely my favorite of the day. I learned different varieties of British culture and lasting history, from royal traditions and drama (thank you Bridgerton and The Crown for making sense now! 😉), to beheadings and affairs (Anne Boleyn’s feminist attributes and her de-head location! 😬), but I was most intrigued and surprised to learn about the British history of torture culture. Maybe because I have always had a light stomach, but hearing The Tower actors act out scenes of hanging, de-heading, stretching and crushing devices, and the stories of The Bloody Tower (Edward IV died, his two sons disappeared, and their uncle became Richard III, then in 1674, two children’s skeletons found in the Tower were believed to be the princes), I was taken back by how biblical, religious, and “holy” the court and city were, but closed and eye and ear when it came to torture. My shock was doubled when I read that the last de-heading was in 1941, less than one hundred years ago. My goodness! Speaking of de-heading, seeing Anne Boleyn’s death site and her genuine last view before she died was incredibly touching. Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1536 after being accused of treason by her husband. Henry got her executed there for standing up for herself and demanding loyalty from her husband to be his only wife. #girlboss! To avoid ending this post with an execution story, the Tower was a great introduction to the city with hundreds of years of stories to tell, and walking the same cobblestone as so many infamous people has been one of the highlights of the trip thus far!
Theatre in London U of A 