Theatre in London U of A

Seeing the Tower of London & My First Fringe Show!

It is my third day in The United Kingdom, and I went to go see the Tower of London. I’ve never seen the Tower of London before. I was expecting one large tower but instead, I saw a palace that was at least 1,000 years old. There were multiple buildings big and small that were surrounded by this great wall and an extinct mote that the river Thames used to run trough. Now it’s a field full of vibrant flowers. When I walked through the black gates of the Tower of London, the first thing I wanted to see were the crown jewels. They were magnificent. I saw all the crowns that the former kings and queens wore on their coronation day, and the scepters they held as well. I saw a dress that a queen wore in 1100 and Queen Victoria’s small diamond crown that she wore over her widow’s cap following the death of her husband, Prince Albert. The last thing I saw when touring the crown jewels exhibit was the golden tableware that the royal family would use when they were hosting royal buffets. I saw hundreds of gold silverware, plates, bowls, goblets, and candle stick holders. I even saw a giant punch bowl that I mistook for a bathtub because it was so massive. The punch bowl even had a ladle that was made up of a golden Nautilus shell on an ivory stick. I was mesmerized by everything in that exhibit.

After seeing the crown jewels, my friends Alli and Brittany wanted to go see where Anne Boleyn was beheaded for treason in 1536. Bit of a dark turn to this blog post I know. Once when we found the location, there was a statue of a glass pillow that gave us the names of all the people that were executed at the Tower of London. Underneath the statue there was a message that said, “Gentle visitor pause awhile: where you stand death cut away the light of many days; here jeweled names were broken from the vivid thread of life: may they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage: under the restless skies.” This is when I discovered how dark the Tower of London’s history was. Across from where the glass statue stood, there was this tall, dark brick building. I learned that this is where the prisoners were kept until they were released, or until they were executed. Inside the building, it showed us pictures of the prisoners and why they were imprisoned. There was at least 90+ people imprisoned in the Tower of London. One of those prisoners was Elizabeth I, before she was queen. She was imprisoned by her half-sister Mary I. She stayed in the Tower of London for two months in 1554 for her alleged involvement in Wyatt’s Rebellion. She was found innocent. Another famous person that was a prisoner at the Tower of London was William Penn, the future founder of Pennsylvania. He was imprisoned for seven months in 1668-69 for pamphleteering. The last people to be executed at the Tower of London was Josef Jakob. He was a Nazi spy that was executed on August 15^th, 1941, by a firing squad. I didn’t expect the Tower of London’s history to be so dark. But I’m glad that I learned about it and I’m glad that I know more about London’s ancient history.

We wrapped up day three in London by seeing a Fringe show called Jules and Jim. The play was about two men who become inseparable best friends in their early adulthood. They meet and fall in love with a spontaneous woman named Catherine who they compare to a Greek goddess. Catherine wants to be involved with both men and she drags them into a toxic love triangle that last 25 years. However, that toxic relationship never tore Jules’ and Jim’s friendship apart. Even though I thought the relationship dynamic was off-putting, I knew that was the point. I loved the show. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen. The actors did an outstanding job, and it was interesting to find out that the actor who plays Jules was also in the T.V. show Outlander. I really enjoyed my third day in London and I’m excited about what’s next!

I Did Not Trip at The Tower of London

The Tower of London was absolutely incredible. I am sure others will talk about the ever-impressive codpieces on the suits of armor so I will refrain from discussing that. I think that I spent more time having fun with my friends than I did letting the history of the tower absorb into me. It is dreadfully sublime to think about how much history this area has. It was only fully realized to me after I had returned to the hotel that every brick and floorboard in that massive castle was older than the entire American civilization. I have never touched something that old before–something that old that was man-made I mean, I have been in caves before–the sensation was strange.

There were so many cool areas in the tower I think that the two that stood out the most to me were the armory and the strange makeshift dragon that as far as I could tell had no text with it. The armory was cool because 1.) all suits of armor were very impressive and intricate and 2.) there was child-sized armor for the princes and the idea of a small child on the battlefield striking down his foes was very funny to me (even if it probably did not happen.)

One of my favorite Shakespeare plays is Richard II and I found out that during a revolt in his reign, he took shelter in the tower of London for his own safety. My understanding of the situation is that he was not a prisoner but he did not have the power to end the revolt without negotiating. The people of England wanted the form current form of debt to be omitted from the country in favor of a more agreeable system. Richard eventually left the tower and bent to the demands of the people.

I am on the prowl for some Paddington cosplay wish me luck.

I think I am too sensitive for London; my little heart goes pitter patter; The British want your liver on a platter.

The Tower of London was quite beautiful, but it gave me a very strange feeling. I consider myself a woman with semi strict values and walking into a torture chamber and prison area felt odd. It gave me the same feeling after I left the 9/11 museum in New York. Emotionally confused. The most jarring piece of history I learned from this museum was in the Beauchamp Tower. Alice Tinkerville was accused of piracy under the rule of Henry VIII and was sentenced to prison inside the Tower. She was there for a while until she and her guard fell in love, and she convinced him to help her escape. In doing so, they were caught by the other guards on watch as they climbed out her tower window. The guard was tortured and executed first and then Alice was sentenced to a torturous execution as well. She was hung by her wrist above the river Thames in a shallow area of water so when the tide rose, she would slowly be drowned by the crashing waves. How awful, right?

Another thing that made me feel very weird inside was the raven’s cage. There is no need to have five to seven ravens that can extend their wings to the size of a fourth grader to be stuck inside a cage. I personally do not like any animals being caged. Domestic or exotic. That is not their purpose. Those birds need to fly and all they can do is flap two flaps from one wooden pole to the next. It hurt my little overly sensitive heart. All for the superstition that the monarchy does not fall? I am not buying it; that was just dumb. Thank you, next.

The funniest bit of information I learned was that the Earl of Nithsdale also tried to escape the Tower in 1716 and was successful by dressing in the maids’ women’s clothing. This was celebrated by his town and home and his timely escape was just the day before he was to be executed. I counted a total of 22 executions inside the Tower’s walls and it was also listed that over 100 other executions happened on the hill outside the Tower for the public’s entertainment. And finally, my most favorite part of our museum experience was watching the actors interact with all the students. I followed a couple of young school groups who were being led on an adventure by the said actors. There were specifically these two little girls and their father that I followed and watched them solve a mystery of finding the right key to a box that sat in front of the building that the crown jewels were in. They received a letter from another actor in a long red coat and a very long brown and luscious curly wig that led them to a prison chamber where they interacted with a woman who was begging for bread in exchange for her keys. These girls did ultimately get their key and run back to the luscious red coat man, but sadly my time was up for touring before I got to see what was inside the box. Overall, my rating of the Tower of London was a 7/10. -1 for the crown jewel line being so long, another -1 for me stepping inside a prison and #abolishtheprisonsystem, and finally my last -1 is for my poor ravens. Maybe I’ll unlock the cage; cause some chaos for Mr. Charles. See the empire fall 🙂

Tower of London

Yesterday we went to the Tower of London and let me say it was very educational (like legit). One interesting thing I learned about British culture is that, it is known if the ravens at the tower leave “the crown will fall with Britain with it”. Which is why they hold them captive in the small bird cage at the front. Also, the longest living Raven lived for 44 years and was named Jim Crow. Which I thought was very weird. My favorite exhibit was the white tower, it had all the previous king’s swords which I thought was super cool.

While being in the White Tower, I learned one of the famous prisoners were twelve year old Prince Edward V and ten year old Prince Richard. They were known as “the princes in the tower”. They are also known to be one of the ones that randomly go missing. They were put in the tower after their father passed by their uncle Richard. He took their titles and claimed the throne for himself. Soon turning into King Richard III, that was very sad to hear because they were so young.

While being there I also did get to see the Crown Jewels. I was naughty and took a photo of some of the crowns on the walking belt. I won’t show those because I’m scared. (so just ask me when you see me… LOL) The current crown was so gorgeous but if I’m being honest the jewels looked fake, but I could just be seeing different. It was a great trip and one that I’m glad I got to experience.

Off with their heads!

For our second full day in London, we explored the Tower of London compound which is located on the north bank of the River Thames. To get there, we took the Piccadilly line eastbound to King’s Cross St. Pancras where we switched to the circle line to get to the Tower Hill station.

When you get out of the tube station at Tower Hill, there is a piece of the original Roman wall that circled the city of London. Stones were added on top of those laid by the Romans during the Medieval period. This was a really cool artifact to see especially since I once wrote a research paper about the importance of the Roman influence on modern British society; many of the roads created during the Roman occupation of London are still the basis for the city layout.

The Tower of London is composed of multiple buildings that were constructed beginning in the mid eleventh century and was added on for centuries by future monarchs. In fact, the last surviving Tudor construction are a part of the Tower of London with the Great Fire destroying most of the architecture in the city from this time period. Probably the most famous architectural element of the Tower of London is the White Tower, which is the oldest complex, first constructed by William the Conqueror after he was crowned King of England in 1066. While I did not go into this building, it was incredible to see an almost thousand-year piece of architecture up close.

A cool update to the Tower is that the grounds where the moat once flowed have been turned into beautiful flower garden.

I went into three of the building at the Tower of London: the Jewel House, Beauchamp Tower, and the Bloody Tower.

As the name would suggest, the Jewel House is where the Crown Jewels are stored. The Crown Jewels have been used since the 1660s. The original crowns and scepters used for coronation were destroyed in the English Civil War. The queue took about forty minutes, and the exhibit probably took less than fifteen. Still, I loved getting to see all of the crowns and scepters along with baptism cups, the anointing cup, and even ceremonial banqueting dishes. I made sure to read every plaque available throughout the exhibit (fun note: all the plaques in the park had information in multiple languages). While in the queue, I learned that there was a fire in the Jewel house at one point and police broke out all of the jewels to save them from fire. Also, back in the early eighteenth century, people could pay an additional fee to hold the crowns until a women damaged the arches of the coronation crown.

The Beauchamp Tower had two stories that guests could visit. The first had a display about prisoners held at the Tower from early in its history until the 1950s. During WWII, the Tower was used as a prison for foreign spies. The second story of Beauchamp Tower is one of the prison cells open to the public. The space which is covered in etched graffiti is accessed by a narrow staircase. Most of the graffiti is of a religious nature with many imprisoned for Protestant beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary I and Catholicism during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. I was excited to note that I could read one of the Latin inscriptions on my own (nine years of Latin finally paid off!).

My favorite piece of graffiti was a piece with flowers representing the Dudley brothers. John Dudley was imprisoned in the tower 1553-1554 with his family for making Lady Jane Grey queen. Jane Grey is famously known for being Queen for only nine days. She was married off to Guildford Dudley, who is represented in the graffiti with gillyflowers, so that she could be a suitable queen for England. Dudley was of a group that wanted to remain in a Protestant England and instated Jane before Mary could establish herself as queen. However, Mary quickly overthrew Jane. Jane was imprisoned in the Tower herself and was beheaded by her cousin privately inside the tower walls. Her husband was one of the hundreds beheaded for a crowd outside the castle walls. Jane is one of the six beheadings to be preformed privately within the compound and one of twenty-two total executions; two other notable private beheadings would be wives 2 and 5 of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Kathrine Howard respectively. Two of these executions were preformed by a firing squad. I loved this detail because one of my favorite books is My Lady Jane which gives Jane Grey a happy ending. I was surprised to see how much the authors actually took from the real history.

The Bloody Tower had the coolest video projected onto the wall telling the mystery of the two princes who disappeared from the Tower of London. The Bloody Tower was also home to Sir Raleigh, the adventurer, and his family for over a decade; they were imprisoned as Raleigh had not had success during his missions but allowed to keep a herb garden and to live in relative comfort.

It was so cool to get to step back in time and experience such an important landmark in British history!

Fun fact: the Tower of London housed a zoo for a long time and there are wire statues around the premises to commemorate this. They also keep caged ravens on the grounds to ensure they do not fly away and doom the monarchy.

So London Does Get Sunlight…

Three days in, and guess who got sunburnt… in England. I didn’t think that was a possibility, but apparently it is lol. Today we went and saw Buckingham Palace briefly before a group of us walked down to an area where there were multiple flower displays outside of businesses. After that, we walked aimlessly for a while before deciding we needed to get food, which took us walking into a 21+ only Pub on accident and a different pub that wasn’t serving food. Once all of us were good and hangry, we finally found a pub for lunch. Why were we so focused on finding a pub you ask? I give you one answer: Fish and Chips. I got to enjoy the most British-type lunch I could think of, and it was absolutely fantastic. Not only was the food great, but our waiter was hilarious and made sure we were well taken care of. 10/10 would recommend, and I have a feeling we will be going back to that pub before this trip is over. (Side note- I finally finished my audiobook!) I also finally found a good cup of coffee this morning at a little café about a five-minute walk from our hotel called Casa Jardim.

In yesterday’s blog post, I mentioned how we went to the Tower of London. It was different than I was anticipating. I think I was expecting it to be a little taller, and I am beginning to realize that I have heard all the names of these different important places in London without actually knowing the history of the place or what the buildings look like. There were multiple different towers and exhibits throughout this important landmark in British history including the white tower and the room with the crown jewels (which we waited 45 minutes in line to see, but it was well worth it).

I think my favorite part of the building was walking through the white tower and seeing how many times the building had been built onto or remodeled. It supported many adjustments by multiple rulers, and it was honestly really well designed. Our tour guide on the bus tour mentioned that when the building was fully functional, it was surrounded by a moat (that is now a field of flowers), a barrier wall, and then the interior tower had special precautions like removable ladders so that if any enemies made it past the moat and the wall, the British soldiers could knock the ladder over in order to prevent the enemies from making it up into the tower.

I also really liked the Raven exhibit and the story about how if the ravens ever left then the monarchy would fall. I never heard that story, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a raven in person. They are HUGE.

We were asked to look into some of the people who were prisoners at the Tower of London, and I decided to look into Anne Boleyn mostly because I have heard about her before in other history classes and in SIX the musical (which I’m going to get to see on this trip!!!). When Anne came into King Henry VIII’s life, he was married to Catherine of Aragon. He fell in love (or lust?) with Anne and decided he wanted to divorce Catherine. Anne must have either been really beautiful or incredibly funny and intelligent because when Henry went to the Pope to have his marriage annulled and the Pope said nope, HE LEFT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND MADE UP HIS OWN CHURCH. Hence how we ended up with the Church of England. Unfortunately, Anne was only able to give birth to a single daughter instead of a son, so Henry decided to convict her of high treason and have her imprisoned in the white tower before having her beheaded because that was obviously the rational thing to do in the situation.

I think the Tower of London was beautiful, and it has a really rich history that I’m not used to seeing since the United States is so young, but I appreciate what I am learning, and it’s exciting to see buildings that have been around longer than my country has been a thing.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time ❤

Horse in a Castle

Yesterday we got to visit the Tower of London, which has been my favorite stop on our trip so far. We had just over two hours to spend in the castle, so rather than spending a large chunk of the time waiting in line to see the Crown Jewels, I decided to go with the group that wanted to wander around and see what else the place had to offer. Where we ended up spending most of our time was in the White Tower at the center of the castle grounds, a fascinating structure full of pieces of history and interesting corners. The first room consisted of several suits of armor, each with accompanying plaques describing who the armor belonged to. The best part was that many of the suits were posed as if they were riding the statues of horses that also filled the space. There were so many horses, one of which was getting some real nice back light from the window it was placed directly in front of (see below).

It was also interesting to learn that so many relevant people throughout history have been imprisoned at the Tower of London, one of which was Henry VI, who was still king when he was captured at the tour. Born in 1421, Henry VI succeeded to the throne at the very mature age of 9 months, but it wasn’t until he was 16 that he actually took over leadership responsibilities. He was also the King of France for a time, and controversy surrounding his claim to both thrones led to a rebellion in the country, which ultimately led to his imprisonment in the Tower of London in 1461 at the hands of Edward IV. However he was released and regained control of the throne in 1970, before Edward took it back the next year, killing Henry VI’s only son and capturing Henry once more. Henry VI died in the Tower of London, though the circumstances around his death aren’t known with certainty.

It was definitely an interesting place rich with history and getting to walk around an actual castle was pretty fun. I found it kinda surreal how we would be walking in a literal castle, and then I can look up and just see the Shard. IT really captured just how old London is, and how that old coexists with the new in such a unique way.

Tower of London!!

The Tower of London was a beautiful way to spend the beginning of the day. Seeing a castle in real life for the first time was amazing because my brain never fully comprehended that they were real. I learned about many different armors, the royal beast, executions, and prisoners. There was so much to look at and I would love to go back one day to see it all.

Lady Jane Grey was a prisoner of the Tower of London I learned about. She was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and a first cousin once removed of Edward VI. She was one of the most learned women of her day. When Edward VI wrote his will, he nominated Jane and her male heirs as successors to the crown, Because his sister Mary was Catholic and Jane was a committed Protestant who would support the reformed Church of England, which Edward helped bring to life. After Edward’s death, Jane was proclaimed queen for 9 days. Support for Mary grew and Jane’s supporters abandoned her, so Mary was proclaimed queen. Soon after, Jane’s father-in-law was accused of treason and Jane was held prisoner in the tower. As she was seen as a threat to the crown, Mary sentenced Jane to death and she was executed. She was only 16 or 17 years old.

On that gloomy note, I nevertheless had a great time running around with everyone to all of the different parts of the castle. My favorite moment was definitely when we were climbing the stairs to a bridge and I looked down and saw a giant crowd of people staring at our group and laughing. I didn’t know what was happening but Alex said “Hurry, run” so we did, but Amelia stayed and waved at the crowd and became a queen. Another thing I noticed is that there are a lot of animal statues, specifically monkey ones, in London. I first saw them at the Tower but I’ve been seeing them everywhere since. Is there a reason or do Londoners just really like monkeys?

5/26: I hate writing blogs with no internet.

The London of Tower was a beautiful sight, filled with amazing history and some of the most alluring architecture I have ever seen. Before I go too deep, I must make it clear that the Tower of London isn’t a tower, it’s a small, medieval village with a couple of towers within its walls. Nevertheless, it was definitely one of the most interesting pieces of old architecture that I have had the opportunity to see. I learned a lot about British culture and history through the myriad of information that was being thrown my way. The most interesting of it all had to be the concept of ravens being an omen, or sign of prosperity. It was said that, if all the ravens were to leave the tower, then the white tower itself would completely fall. In order to prevent this they locked the ravens in a cage for all eternity. A sad choice, but a necessary one. There was also a lot about all the strange “royal” beasts that had lived within the tower walls over the past centuries, and all of it was crazy cool to me. They had a polar bear at one point, which would be tied to a leash and allowed to go fishing; and they even had an Ostrich which was unfortunately fed a nail and killed (people in the 1800s thought ostriches ate iron). Another thing that tickled my fancy was the prisons and the list of well known figures that have been imprisoned over the years. I want to talk about a less famous individual, but I do think he has a really funny name. This man is Guy Fawkes; he was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This plot was an assassination attempt on the Protestant King James that, unsurprisingly, failed and caused Guy to be sentenced to prison at the Tower of London. He faced days and days of torture, but his defiance prevailed and he never spoke a word. This was not enough to prevent his fate, on January 31, 1606, Guy and three of his accomplices were sentenced to be hanged. Whether it is good or bad luck can be debated, but Guy’s rope was hung poorly so his neck snapped immediately causing him to die without suffering. A weird history of a weird place.

P.S.

His name sounds like guys f**k, which I think is funny.

I met more birds at the Tower of London :-)

By Brittaney Mann

Yesterday we visited the Tower of London, and I was very excited when I saw the ravens when we entered deeper into the tower — also feeling guilty that they’re trapped in cages to ensure the monarch does not fall. I share a birthday with Edgar Allen Poe, so it was a necessity that I take a photo near the ravens.

The Tower was a very interesting place to explore, and I am happy I waited in line to see the Crown Jewels. I do not keep up with the royal family, so I was honestly not very interested in seeing the jewels, but I am still happy that I got to see them and the other golden and jeweled items. It was hard to believe that what I was looking at is very expensive because cheap jewels glisten in a similar fashion.

I think my favorite place to visit was the Bloody Tower where King James I imprisoned Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh was a poet, solider, and explorer, and Queen Elizabeth the I loved him while she was alive, according to a slideshow from the Historic Royal Places website. Raleigh lost all his wealth when he was arrested and lived in cold damp rooms — even today the rooms are still very cold.

At the Bloody Tower, there was also a projector and sound system playing information about events at the tower, adding to the creepy aura. In the first room, the projectors showed some of the letters Raleigh would write. He was very sick and depressed while in there and attempted suicide, but after a while he planted a medicinal garden and his life turned for the better. I loved seeing the medicinal garden, it was small but very cute. There were a lot of plants I did not realize could grow in England. The two lemons hanging of the branch of a plant made me so happy.

I was kind of hoping the Tower would feel less touristy. The historical places I am used to visiting smell old, feel old, and make me feel very uneasy because of how well I can feel the age. Here it kind of felt new in some aspects, it was still great, but I was just wanting more old feels. I was also hoping the torture devices would be in a creepy location, but they weren’t. I wanted to feel a little scared when looking at everything, but then again the place is used for educational purposes and not scary entertainment — but I do think historical places can be both.