The Time I Saw the Crown Jewels and Sea Turtles and Rode the London Eye

While recuperating from our morning of travel from Bournemouth back to our flat in London on Saturday, my exhausted flatmates and I sat on the couch for quite some time watching our new favorite show, The Tudors. Naturally, we all agreed we absolutely had to go see the Tower of London on Sunday. We got to the Tower well before it opened at 10, but there was already a massive crowd. With the athletes arriving on Monday, it's clear the Olympic madness has begun. The first thing we did was take a guided tour through some of the highlights of the Tower. The tour guide, in full character and dressed as a Yeoman, used his powers of projection as he led the 100+ person crowd through the fortress. Fun Fact: the people who work as tour guides or in certain roles pertaining to the Tower actually live full time within the Tower walls, right along the street that once housed the National Mint. Although the Tower of London is now mostly infamous for its gruesome history as a prison, it was actually once the home of Kings and Queens of England. From the time of William I until the ascension of the Tudors, it was used as a royal residence. The Tower is actually a large, square fortress made up of several towers, each with its own name and history. Some of the structures date back to William the Conqueror in the 1080's, and even the oldest of the buildings were built on the ruins of ancient Roman walls. Here's a quick review of the various places within the Tower of London: We saw the Bloody Tower, where several important prisoners stayed prior to their executions. We saw Traitor's Gate, where criminals entered the fortress carried on boats via the Thames. (Ironically, Traitor's Gate was once known as the Water Gate. It was used to transport goods into the Tower's walls.) We saw the White Tower, the oldest building in the Tower complex, now home to an extensive collection of royal armor and weapons. Some particularly interesting armor: several pieces belonging to Henry VIII, the largest suit of armor in the world (built for a man who was 6'8"), and the jousting lance of Charles Brandon. This last one is really awesome and interesting if you watch The Tudors. We also saw the Salt Tower, where several religious prisoners were kept. Many of them inscribed Catholic symbols and Latin phrases in the walls during their stays; these inscriptions are still visible in the stone. Of course, we had to see the more gruesome areas of the Tower: the "torture chamber" and the site of the execution block. Both these things were slightly misleading, however. There was never a permanent torture chamber in the Tower of London. In fact, surprisingly few people were actually tortured at the Tower of London, and most torture occurred there between the 16th and 17th centuries at the peak of the Tower's use as a prison. What we saw was merely an exhibit of various medieval torture devices, all of which looked particularly nasty. As for the execution site, only six people in history were executed within the Tower walls; among these, Queens Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and the Lady Jane Grey. The rest of the executions took place on Tower Hill, outside the Tower walls and just a short ways from the Tube stop. Another interesting area of the Tower of London was the exhibit on the animals of the Tower. Over the centuries, exotic animals given to monarchs as gifts or kept as curiosities have been kept within the Tower walls. These include monkeys, peacocks, lions, an elephant, and a polar bear, which was kept on a leash so it could go fishing in the Thames. Last, but not least, we had to see the Crown Jewels. I was expecting to see fine jewels, crowns, the famous orb and scepter, and various implements of the coronation ceremony. These were all quite spectacular, especially the Sovereign's Sceptre with the First Star of Africa, the largest cut flawless diamond in the world, and the Imperial State Crown, which incorporates such famous gemstones as the Second Star of Africa (cut from the Cullinian Diamond), the Black Prince's Ruby, the Stuart's Sapphire, and Queen Elizabeth I's pearls. I also saw some rather unexpected items in the collection: a gigantic gold punch bowl, a massive gold candlestick, gold fountains, and gold spoons and ladles. It kind of looked like King Midas' wedding registry in there. The oldest object in the exhibit was the gold anointing spoon used to anoint the sovereign during coronation ceremonies. It dates to the 12th century, and apart from the ceremonial swords of Temporal Justice, Spiritual Justice, and Mercy, is the only part of the Regalia that survived the Civil War of the 17th century in which Oliver Cromwell ordered the destruction of royal artifacts. The only thing I wish I had gotten to see was the inside of the chapel. Being Sunday, it was closed for a service, but my fellow Tudors fans and English history nerds were disappointed that we didn't get to see the final resting place of the infamous Ann Boleyn inside. After the Tower, we took the Tube back to Westminster where we were greeted by our old friend Big Ben. We walked across Westminster Bridge, which we learned is painted green like the seats in the House of Commons, and came to our next destination: the London Aquarium. In retrospect, the Aquarium was really a poor choice of places to try to avoid crowds, and it was pretty difficult to move inside. The huge shark tank, the two giant sea turtles, and an adorable penguin exhibit made it worth the loss of personal space. After the Aquarium, we headed over to the London Eye. It had been a goal of mine to make it there for three weeks, and I wasn't disappointed. Although the line was long (shocker) it moved pretty quickly. Passengers enter giant glass bubbles and are slowly rotated upwards over the Thames. Even though it was a bit cloudy, we could see for miles. The egg-shaped Gherkin, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall Palace, the National Treasury, and many other buildings were visible in the skyline from the London Eye. Inside the bubbles, there were even touch screens allowing you to point to a specific building and see what it was. One conspicuous structure missing from the Eye's touch screen skyline: a massive Olympic stadium behind Whitehall. You could even see the park below, full of street performers painted head to toe in metal or dressed up as comic book characters. Riding the London Eye definitely gave an incredible perspective on just how massive London really is. Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves for having managed to do three different sightseeing things on Sunday when almost everything is closed, we headed back home to crash before our first day of class with Dr. Fenton on Monday. The Tower of London: http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/ The Crown Jewels: http://www.royal.gov.uk/the%20royal%20collection%20and%20other%20collections/thecrownjewels/overview.aspx The Royal Armories: http://www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/tower-of-london The London Aquarium: http://www.visitsealife.com/london/ The London Eye: www.londoneye.com/