Liz's London Adventures: Tower of London and Changing of the Guards

Tuesday September 6th:

"Tower of London"

This week my Social History of London class took a field trip to the Tower of London. I knew it as the place that holds the Crown Jewels. However there is so much more that went on there. It was built in the 1800s as a fortress by William the Conqueror. Since then it has been used as a palace, and a prison. Walking in the entrance was fabulous because there was an amazing view of the Tower Bridge. Our professor gave us a little history lesson and then she "let us loose." Caitlin and I exlplored the armory buildings and the torture chambers first. There were so many suits of armor lining the walls; they had some pretty short knights and kings back then.

The torture chamber was also pretty cool. We went into what was called "The Bloody Tower." I would not want to have been a prisoner in the 1800's. They had this device that literally folded up your entire body into a pretzel. It was so complex and would have been so incredibly painful. Finally we were on to what I was dying to see...THE CROWN JEWELS.

Luckily it was not that crowded, so we were able to go right in with no wait. There were several guards making sure no one was taking pictures (unfortunately). We stepped onto a slow moving sidewalk...you get about 15 seconds to look at each crown. The amount of diamonds and jems in these crowns and tiaras was mind boggling. SO MUCH BLING!! My favorite was the Imperial State Crown; It is made up of 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 5 rubies. They were absolutely gorgeous head pieces, I am so glad that I was able to see them.

The Tube ride home from the Tower of London was also pretty eventful. It is supposed to be on average a 15 minute ride. However there was a signal problem, so we were on the tube for about an hour. Of course it was rush hour so the train was super crowded. Luckily we got seats. The conductor kept coming on the intercom and making announcements. Everyone was chatting so no one could really hear what he was saying. Apparently one lady really needed to hear the announcements, "Shut up!! they are making an announcement and I would like to hear what he is saying!!" There were a bunch of college aged boys at the other end of the train car and they just started laughing at her and siging quite loudly. The lady was not pleased at all; It was quite hysterical though. After the boys stopped singing it went silent. A final announcement was made that the problem was fixed; one of the singing boys then said "Did everyone hear that?!" The car uproared in laughter. Overall the hour went by fast with all of the commotion.

Saturday September 10th:

"Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guards"

The Changing of the Guards is a ceremony that happens everyday at 11:30am. It is a highly attended event, especially on a Saturday. There is tons of police on horses patrolling the area, telling people to move, and giving advice to the crowd. The police officer that was in front of us told us to "Beware of pickpockets and thieves." He told us in three different languages. The ceremony began with the royal palace gaurds marching in behind the royal palace guard band. It lasted about a half an hour; however the best part was when the band played "All Night Long" by Lionel Richie. My friends and I were so excited to hear this song. A lot of people in the crowd began to sing along with the band; everyone cheered when they finished playing. It was very entertaining and fun to watch! I was patiently waiting for Prince William and Kate to come out and greet us, but they must have been busy.

More adventures coming soon (:

Liz*