Galway: London Calling

Ahhh, we have arrived my last blog in this three-part post! Hold the tears folks, it's an exciting one! For the third and final leg of my Study Week adventure I flew down to London! Now, this was not my first time in the great city of Big Ben, nor was it my first visit to Oxford (where we spent a day), but it was still absolutely amazing!

Part Three: London and Oxford
We arrived in the late evening, having spent a long days traveling. We decided to fly down to London from Edinburgh, as it was the fastest and cheapest option... all good and fine, until we boarded the flight to find a giant group of very enthusiastic runners who threatened to make everyone on board to burpies with them mid-flight! Yikes! Thankfully for us, the near horror was averted by most people falling.... or pretending to fall... asleep! Yay! And thus we landed in London Stansted just as the sun was setting over the English countryside! 'T'was beautiful. From the airport we took a tram, to get to Kings Cross station... any Potter fans still reading? Yep, Kings Cross.... and Platform 9 3/4 is in fact very real!

The next morning, bright and early we were off to explore the sights and sounds of the big city! I was struck by how similar it felt to New York, I didn't remember it being so similar in my first visit, but going back brought up so many fond memories of home! Our first stop was the incredible Tower of London, which has the most beautiful views of  the famous Tower Bridge!

Tower Bridge from just outside the Tower's gates

We went on a tour of the Tower grounds given by a very amiable and comedic Yeoman Warder named Sean. With Sean we saw such sights as Traitor's Gate, where Queen Ann Boleyn was brought into the prison

the ominous Traitor's Gate 

We saw the famous and absolutely beautiful White Tower

The White Tower

Once a Palace, now the White Tower houses the armor and special exhibitions. The top floors of the tower were reserved for the Royal Family, with the basement serving as a dungeon where torture and other horrible acts were carried out. According to Sean, torture and horror is still carried out in the dungeon... only it is inflicted on wallets because the dungeon is now the sight of the extremely expensive Tower gift shop! And... no, he is not joking! But in all seriousness, there is a lot of amazing and interesting history inside and within the walls of the White Tower. Within? If you look closely at the wooden staircase you will see a landing about halfway up with a small arch, just to the right of the entry. That small archway is the sight were maintenance workers found a chest which contained the remains of two young boys. The bodies were taken to medical examiners and archaeologists who determined that they were the remains of two young royals who disappeared, twelve year old Edward V and his nine year old brother. Edward was to become king, that is why he was being lodged in the Tower (the Tower was where all monarchs stayed prior to their coronation). Unfortunately, in those times the coronation ceremony truly decided who became king or queen, unlike today where it more of a traditional and symbolic ceremony. Edward and his brother were suffocated in their sleep by their power greedy uncle who went on to nab the crown and the throne... or so the story goes. Behind the White Tower you can see a long building, just to the left. That building houses the most impressive and important exhibit in all of London... perhaps even the entire United Kingdom. That, my friends, is where the Crown Jewels are kept! Originally built as a barracks called Waterloo Barracks, this building is absolutely huge and quite impenetrable. Indeed, the royal Crown Jewels have been kept within the walls of the Tower of London since 1303... that's like seven hundred.... more.... over seven hundred years guys! In all that time, the jewels have NEVER been stolen, and there have definitely been attempts...

As you can see from this photo, taken from atop the newer, outer walls of the Tower, there is A LOT of history to this incredible cite! The White Tower was built in the eleventh century, with the first wall (now the inner wall) built after in the twelfth century. The outer walls were added even later. These additions and renovations were all due to the continued and varied uses of the property. Originally built as a Keep, this was the home of Monarchs. It has also served as an armory, a treasury, a royal menagerie and even a royal mint! Perhaps the most important and infamous use was as a prison... right? Everyone knows this place as that of a prison. Despite this terrifying part of its history, and the horrible fates of most of its inmates, it is important to realize that today it is the home of the Yeoman Warders (yep, they live IN the Tower) and seven lucky ravens. According to Sean the tower always holds seven ravens, as according to King Charles II (reigned 1660-1665) the White Tower would crumble to the ground signifying the end of the British power if it ever lost its six ravens... so now they keep an extra just in case. Don't worry guys, the ravens enjoy a life of absolute luxury. They have their own special Yeoman Warder whose only job is to look after them, along with other officials. Unfortunately, not every warden of the Tower of London had it so good...

Historic Graffiti 

As the walls of the Tower can tell you, prisoners were absolutely miserable. It was a terrifying and horrible fate to be imprisoned in the Tower of London. Many prisoners met their end after being confined in the tower. Though very few executions took place within the walls of the Tower itself, there are a few very notable executions. Namely, the unfortunate wife of Henry VIII, Queen Anne Boleyn. As well as the young Queen of only nine days Lady Jane Grey. The cite of their tragic ends can be found in the Tower greens, demarcated with this beautiful monument just outside the Tower Chapel.

Monument for those executed within the Tower

Other notable inmates of the Tower of London, which served as a prison up until the twentieth century, include: Sir Walter Raleigh, William Wallace (aka Braveheart), Guy Fawkes, Rudolf Hess, and Henry Laurens.

Horse Guards

Let's move along, we didn't spend our entire day at the Tower of London! We took the tube down to Westminster and walked through the gates of the Horse Guard Parade. From there we took a stroll through St. James park all the way to the one and only

Buckingham Palace! Are you feeling royal yet? Sadly the Queen was not home, but it was still absolutely amazing and impressive! The crest on the gates is that of the Royal Arms, or the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. It depicts a Lion wearing the crown of Saint Edward opposite a Unicorn in chains. The Unicorn is the nation animal of Scotland, and was chosen as such as it was believed to be un-tamable (except in very particular circumstances). It is thought that the Unicorn in chains was chosen to depict England's ability to conquer Scotland. From Buckingham Palace we made our way back to Westminster Abbey to have a quick look around at the incredible cite.

After the sun went down we headed across the River Thames to hop online for the London Eye Experience, a must-do for all tourists!

It was absolutely the most beautiful and wonderful hour of my life.... for that day at least! The next day was spent traveling again! We decided to escape the big city and head to Oxford for a day! Oxford is absolutely incredible, my brother studied abroad there two years ago. We hopped on the train and found ourselves climbing up the dizzying steps of Carfax Tours within two hours!

Oxford

What a view! Now, for those of you who are searching for some giant university, you are sadly mistaken! The University of Oxford is made up of 38 colleges including Christ Church, Magdalen, All Souls and the Queen's College. There were 39 colleges; however, two combined, so now there are 38! These colleges and their respective grounds are located throughout the city of Oxford. Within this view are Christ Church, Oriel and Magdalen! Oxford University can find its routes within the walls of the infamous Oxford Castle, which we took a tour of!

Originally a stronghold, Oxford Castle was a strategic cite. Though Oxford itself was not important to the Romans, it became very important for the Saxons. Even more importantly, it became the new capital of England during the English Civil war. After King Charles I was expelled from London he made Oxford his new capital. After its use as a castle and stronghold were outlived, the castle became a prison.... this seems to be a trend doesn't it? In fact, Oxford Castle remained a prison up until 1996, which is appalling seeing as it was condemned as "unfit" for human use in the 1930s!!! YIKES! Today it is an interactive museum where tours are given by actors who dress up and pretend to be various important figures of castle's history! Within the Castle you can find all sorts of creepy and cool things such as crypts complete with human bones, intact prison cells, and bonus feature, you can try your hand at Victorian prison "hard" labor. I say "hard" because it was really just busy work to make prisoners miserable. Such tasks included climbing the height of Mount Kilimanjaro every day on Victorian stair steppers or turning a crank that was attached to nothing. Awesome. But Oxford is not all about the castle! Here are some famous spots within the city/University:

above ground connections of the University cites

 Now I feel I should mention that while this bridge in particular is quite famous, it's not the only cite where the University buildings of Oxford are connected. In fact, all of the Colleges and the main library of Oxford University are all connected... underground. It's pretty odd to think that while visitors see much of Oxford University on various tours, there's a whole HUGE section of the University most people don't even know about under their feet!

Library

Now, I know this must be the longest blog of all time! I promise it's ending just two more things!
1) SHAKESPEARE... I mean how can you go to London and not go to the reconstruction of the Globe Theater!?!?!?!?

Shakespeare's Globe Theater reconstruction

This is known as Shakespeare's Globe because it is the third reconstruction. While it is not on the actual site of Shakespeare's Globe it is built to resemble the first and original Globe, which burned down during a play due to faulty special effects in the seventeenth century (why they thought firing a cannon in an attic with a straw roof was a good idea, I don't know). The Second Globe was rebuilt exactly on top of it, however the second Globe was finished just in time for Shakespeare to move out of London, so it is questionable that he ever actually worked in the second Globe. Thus, this Globe was fashioned after the Globe that Shakespeare himself would have worked at! Complete with the first straw roof in London since they were banned after the great fires! It's BEAUTIFUL and was constructed as close to original construction methods as possible. Hand carved railings and wooden pillars, open roof and almost no electricity to boot! And bonus: they still put on shows!

Interior of the Globe

And so that brings me to 2. 2:

Big Ben

El Fin!

To find out more about the Tower of London click here
To find out more about Oxford Castle click here
To find out more about Shakespeare's Globe Theater or book a show click here
To ask me any questions about this trip or any others add a comment!