Monday's Adventures

Monday, yesterday, we met at the Tower of London at 10:30 to walk around as a big group. I loved the architecture and style—I would totally live there! Well, apart from the hundreds of ghosts that probably hang around there! We saw the Bloody Tower where the two young heirs were murdered (most likely), and a bunch of others. We got to check out the dungeons where prisoners wrote and carved pictures into the walls—some pretty profound stuff and others just graffitied their names . We looked at the memorial to some important people who were executed there like Anne Boleyn.

The special exhibition was of Henry VIII’s armor. That was incredible! His suits of armor throughout his…ahem…gradual changes in figure, his horse’s armor, his weaponry and other weaponry of the time. There were displays of previous kings’ suits of armor and how armor and weaponry have changed through time, even all the way up to today’s soldiers. I felt bad for his horses. They had to hold a heavy Henry (and his ego), roughly Henry’s weight in armor, their own armor, Henry’s fancy seat, and maybe even run while carrying all that!!! He might have gone through horses like he did wives!!! I felt even worse for them when I got to lift up a piece of chainmail. Hea-vy!!

THEN we went to go see the crown jewels! WOW are those beautiful!! It was cool to see them up close as well as gold tableware and decorations from centuries ago. It was a lot of gold. Andrea said she didn’t think she’d like to be royalty because she didn’t really like yellow gold. I told her I was sure she’d adjust. I know I would!
We ate lunch near the Tower at an outside fish and chips vendor. I had a chicken sandwich with chips. The chips (big French fries) were good, but the chicken was THE worst I’ve ever tasted! Gag! And this guy would take food out of the trash and put it on the ground for the pigeons almost right in front of us which was really gross. They were everywhere anyway.

We split up after that. Kelsey, Steph, Molly, and I took the Tube to the Imperial War Museum. I went down through the Children’s War exhibit first. It showed what the children went through during mainly World War II—a lot about having to leave their homes and experiences in England and during bombings and air raids like the Blitzkrieg. They had lots of neat stuff—quotes and first-hand accounts, pictures, luggage, letters, toys. I remember one television screen that was showing a trailer for the Wizard of Oz. One quote nearby was from a boy remembering the first time he saw it that about half-way through the sirens went off and they all had to run out. He never saw the end. It was basically lots of depressing, eye-opening things.
That exhibit led right into the ones for WWI and WWII. The museum has SO SO SOOO much stuff!!! It’s absolutely incredible all the things they’ve acquired to tell the stories about everyone involved in these wars. I even got to walk through a WWI trench display. From reading All Quiet on the Western Front and watching Joyeaux Noel, I think it made the experience that much scarier. I know I would’ve cried every single day down there. I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been.
I think my favorite thing there was being able to read letters soldiers had written to their loved ones. They’re sad and poetic. And just tragic—not even knowing if they’ll get to write again yet trying to stay positive.

We stayed until the museum home and then dragged our exhausted bodies back to the Tube, which was oppressive!! It was 6 o’clock so everyone was trying to get home from work and there was barely standing room. It was rough! But we made it, had dinner, and then went off to get some more groceries. I’m excited to experience my new flavors of yogurt: rhubarb, gooseberry, and black currant berry!