Tower of Terror!

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, I know I have been slacking off with blogs, but I swear to you I have been busy! I will make it up to you by doing not one, but TWO posts tonight, aren't you just lucky? Yesterday, as you all probably know, was my 21st birthday! Of course, it couldn't be awful because at the end of the day I am spending my birthday in London, UK!



I woke up early yesterday morning and met our professor at Trafalgar Square in order to take the walk to Westminster Abbey. The church is, of course, an impressive sight and so we had to hire a tour guide to take us around the huge space it encloses. I wish I could have pictures to show you of the inside, but we were not allowed to take any. I saw many tombs, the most memorable being Queen Elizabeth I and "Bloody" Mary. Many other Kings and Queens are buried there as well, along with dozens upon dozens of memorials and huge shrines to famous and infamous characters. One of my favorite stories of the day was of this man, who wasn't of any importance in particular, except that one day he refused to bow to the king and made up some story that an ancestor had done his ancestor a favor and the king then granted him and all his decedents the right not to bow. Of course, that story was a bunch of you know what and so in the end, he has a huge shrine to himself over his grave at Westminster. Hmm...

After the Abbey, we had the day free to ourselves. Of course, we are all learning that "Free Days" never really end up being a "free" day. A group of us then popped over to the Tower of London because many of us, myself included, have been looking forward to that since day one. The Tower of London is kind of a misnomer because it is actually made up of at least 5 or 6 different kinds of towers, the most famous of course being "THE" Tower of London. Much of the tour is spent walking the expanse of these towers. One had an exhibit on how royal crowns were put together, how medieval armies worked, etc. Then we got to the Royal Jewels part of the Tower of London. We walked through about 3 rooms worth of queues, we got to the one room where the crowns are stored. There were about 5 crowns and that was it. A few objects made of gold and then the exhibit was over! It was still neat to see but a bit disappointing.

Ready for the Tower of Terror!

Then we went in the Tower of London (or what we thought was it, we still aren't sure). There was just a room showing torture devices and then that was all. Very strange and a bit disappointed, but was still interesting to see. Then the same group came back and we all made a pasta dinner together and bought a cake for my birthday. It was very nice and made my birthday complete!
And of course, I had to end with this!