London is rainy... but still pretty sweet

Today was another great day in London. I woke up around 8am but hadn’t really slept all that well. Unless everything is just right, I can’t really sleep. Kind of like a hurricane… unless all the factors are present, nothing’s really going to happen. Haha… So after the normal shower and breakfast routine, I headed off into London for yet another day. I planned on doing an 8-hour walking t our of London and then going to Abbey Road, but that got cut short when London lived up to its reputation and began raining like crazy. However, when I first set out, it was a gorgeous day.

The first place I went to was the Tower of London, which contrary to the name, is actually much more than just a tower. It’s an entire castle, and it’s where the king or queen resided for hundreds of years. After taking some pictures from the outside, I wasn’t sure if I should pay the fourteen pounds to get inside, as that’s about half a day’s budget, including money for food and the hostel. I did pay the fee, however, and went off to enter the castle. As soon as I got inside, I knew my money was well-spent. The castle is filled with countless things to see, most of which has been preserved to look the same way it did in the 1200’s. I spent most of my time wandering around the complex, going into various old buildings to see what was inside. Each building for the most part had a different display or exhibit, pertaining to how that building was used. One of the first places I hit was the royal residence. This was the very ground where the kings of England such as Henry III and Edward I slept and lived. The fireplace in the corner still had charred ash stuck to the bricks, remnants from a time when this castle flourished with activity. Leaving the royal residence, I walked along what is called the “West Wall” of the castle, which gives you amazing views of the River Thames and the Tower Bridge, as the Tower of London was built right on the banks of the river. In fact, there was a secret water entrance where the king could take their boat all the way inside the castle, and then take a staircase right up to their royal residence.

There are a ton of interesting little things about the castle that I found out during my time there. One is that the castle is full of ravens, which adds to the mystique of the environment. However, they are in fact there for a reason. Hundreds of years ago, King Charles II (I think) was told that if the Ravens in his courtyard ever left the grounds of the Tower of London, then the kingdom of England would fall and the castle would be reduced to rubble. Thus, ravens have resided on the grounds ever since. In my pictures, you can see them roaming freely, going where they please. They never fly away, and I never saw one try to walk through the entrance or exit gates. Looks like the kingdom is secure for another day. Another interesting fact involves the groundskeepers of the castle. You can see them in my pictures as the funny-looking guys in red and black outfits, but it was only toward the end of my time there that I learned what their story was. They are called Yeoman Warders (nicknamed Beefeaters), and they are much more than weekend tour guides. They are the personal bodyguards of Her Majesty the Queen, and they look after and guard the Tower of London 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They live within the castle walls, the only full-time residents of the castle for hundreds of years. Also, they must have each served at least 22 years in the British Armed Forces, and most are heavily decorated. When talking with one, he compared the life of a Yeoman Warder to that of a monk, living life communally with the rest of the Warders, all within the same complex, and devoting your life to upholding something that you believe in. Pretty interesting stuff.

Moving on, I went into a room called the Salt Tower, which was probably my favorite part of the Tower of London. It was used to keep prisoners, basically just a jail cell. However, if you were a prisoner at the Tower of London, you had to be of noble birth. It was considered a sign of respect to be held at the Tower, at the king’s own residence. Anyone not of noble birth was held at the dungeons across town, and their fate usually came rather quickly. Some of those jailed at the Tower of London lived there many years, and were never killed. One prisoner was even allowed to roam the complex freely and have dinner with the constable every night, because he was a gentleman and was given respect from the king. But where was I… oh yeah, the Salt Tower. Since so many prisoners were held here (and they were presumably bored), the walls are covered in carvings done by the prisoners. They included religious symbols and bible verses, simple signatures and dates, or even an elaborate 3-D carving of the solar system. One notable carving was from that of Sir Everard Digby, who had tried to blow up James I and Parliament by placing barrels of gunpowder underneath the building. When the plot was discovered, he was the only one of the conspirators to plead guilty. He was convicted of high treason (far worse than murder back then) and hung, drawn, and quartered. I remember learning about that in school, and here was his name, carved into the wall of the salt tower as if it had been done yesterday. Crazy stuff. I took a ton of pictures in there because there were so many carvings.

Moving on, the next thing I saw were the crown jewels. These are the brilliant crowns worn by each king and queen over the years. They are covered in rare gems, and one even had more than 12,000 diamonds. Another had as its centerpiece the second-largest cut diamond in the world. Pictures weren’t allowed in the jewel house (which had 3-foot steel bank vault doors and a royal guard w/ bayonet outside) so I took a picture of a book in the gift shop which had one of the crowns on the front. Also in the jewel house was a ton of golden dinnerware and altarpieces, most of which dated from the mid-1500’s. Most of the pieces were solid gold and included chalices, plates, candlesticks, bowls, etc. Each piece was fit for a king, however, and had carvings on it that must have taken weeks if not months to make. The craftsmanship was unlike anything I’ve seen today, so those were really cool. Next, I went into the massive building in the center of the castle, which is called the White Tower. Inside, throughout many floors, was mostly artillery and armor. There were thousands of guns, swords, suits of armor, cannons, etc throughout the building. This building also housed a lavish chapel.

Leaving the White Tower, I headed towards the church on the corner of the castle property. Once again, no pictures were allowed inside, but it contained many marble crypts, and is actually still used for services every Sunday. Outside the church, however, is an interesting memorial. It is a large round piece of glass, with a glass pillow in the middle. On the pillow was a rose, and off to the side was a plaque that explained that this was the spot where several very famous people were executed, including Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. Awesome.

After spending about 3 hours wandering around, I decided it was time to see some more of London. The castle had given me great views of the Tower Bridge, which goes across the Thames right by the castle. Thus, it was my natural next destination. It’s an awesome bridge, bright blue accents with two large towers in the middle. I knew that the six pounds they wanted for a ride up to the top was overpriced, so I kept on walking. On the other side of the bridge, I checked out the Design Museum, which had a really cool statue outside with a quote from Leonardo da Vinci on it. But the museum wasn’t free as I thought it was, so I kept on moving. Next, I came to the HMS Belfast, a huge naval ship docked in the Thames that now serves as a floating museum. It played an integral role in D-Day on the beaches of Normandy in 1944, and last saw action in the 70’s. I was gonna take a look, but once again, it wasn’t free, so onward I went.

Walking along the Thames, it began to rain and was steadily getting harder. As I was walking, I pretty much stumbled upon Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, a re-creation of the famous open-air venue that wowed audiences for years. I stepped inside to see what shows were playing, and I might try to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream tomorrow if I can squeeze it in. A buddy of mine went last year and said it was amazing, even though you have to stand the entire time. As I left there, I was really starting to get soaked. Luckily, I came to another of my top destinations, and it happened to be indoors. The Tate Modern, a museum that houses some of the world’s most famous and influential modern and abstract art, was just to my left. I went inside and checked out some of the exhibits. Many of the things inside are not easily understood, as they are not art in the traditional sense that we all think of. For example, one exhibit was ten white bricks, stacked on top of each other, on the floor in the middle of the room. That’s it, nothing else. Another was a room where the walls were painted black and had many white lines with geometric shapes on the wall. Luckily, I hopped onto a tour which made the pieces much more interesting. He explained that in the black-walled room with the shapes, the artist was trying to break the traditional lines of thought regarding art. Instead of a person paying attention to a painting on a wall and ignoring the space around them, this artist turned the environment into the work of art. You’re forced to look at the space, for that’s all there is. There is no painting or drawing – only white lines on a black wall. Kind of interesting when you think about it. I spent about two hours in the Tate, but my feet were starting to hurt so I decided to head home and rest a bit. I really want to go back, though, because I didn’t get to see the whole thing.

One cool thing I saw on the way to the metro were a series of etching in stone, and they had images and words on each one. There were five total, and they were describing an event that used to be held long ago called the "Frost Fair." When the first bridges were built in London, they slowed down the flow of the river so substantially that the river actually froze over in the winter. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, everyone made it into an excuse to party. They feasted and drank on the frozen river for days, until the ice was too thin again. Once new bridges were built in the 1800's, the river's flow was no longer impeded and the river has never frozen over again. These frost fairs were memorialized in the poem etched into the stones:

"Behold the liquid Thames now frozen o'er
That lately ships of mighty Burthen bore
The watermen for want of rowing boats
Make use of booths to get their pence and groats
Here you may see beef roasted on the spit
And for your money you may taste a bit
There you may print your name, tho cannot write
Cause num'd with cold: tis done with great delight
And lay it by that ages yet to come
May see what things upon the ice were done"

As I left, it was about 5pm, so once again I was on the train at rush hour. That was annoying, especially since I was soaked from the rain. When I got home, I took a shower, ate dinner (this time a burger with fries and salad), and tried to book my hostel for Paris. I leave on Saturday, but there are literally no hostels with availability in all of Paris. I spent 3 hours or so trying to find one, and then the internet went out, so I just went to bed. I think what I might do is change my trip around a bit by going to Belgium first, and then Paris. That will give me more time before Paris, and a better chance of finding an open hostel. Well anyway, it’s now 8:30am (the 30^th) and I need to get out and see some sights. Will update soon!

To see all the pictures of London I've taken, click here.