Tower of London

Hello from London! Yes I know it has been some time since my last entry (2 weeks)… but it doesn’t mean that I have not been experiencing London, and some places just outside, to their full potential…. I had a long conversation with Daddy the other day about how I am not really exploring London enough and that I am just experiencing its nightlife. Although both of my previous entries have involved the participation of activities at local bars of pubs, it does not mean that I haven’t been taking in London’s many sights and monuments… to prove such point, I will now start posting a “monument tour reflection” a day to show you all what I have ACTUALLY been learning while on my trip…

Tower of London

The Tower of London in located in the City Of London, one of the two cities in London (The City of London and Westminster) London is similar to New York in that it is made up of 33 boroughs. The original London is located in The City which was in whole only 1 sq mile. William the Conqueror became king in 1066AD and built a fortress right off the river to protect his kingdom from his enemy’s who would attack him from the river…. Yes… the Tower of London is not actually a tower… but in fact a Castle… One of the first castles in London… When it was completed in 1097 it was the tallest building in London…. It really incredible to look at… it still amazes me that people back in day were able to build such elaborate building and castles without the use of modern tools…. The Tower was expanded by Edward I, who was said to be a little bit of a control freak. He built 2 walls to surround the Tower. Little of the original outside wall remains today, but there are diagrams of what it used to look like. There were look out towers that were evening spaced. Each entrance had a draw bridge and a guard gate, with series of traps that one would have to get through in order to get to the inside of the Tower.

The Tower today is still functioning. It is used to hold the crown jewels, because it is said to be the most secure place in London… That is probably due the fact that the Tower is protected 365 days a year by the Beefeaters: the guards of the Tower. The term Beefeaters came from what the original beefeaters use to do. They were the ones that use to eat the meat before the monarchy would to make sure that is wasn’t poisonous… This is another thing that I am learning in London. TRADITION! I thought USC was crazy with their traditions…. London has for sure blown us out of the water on that…. Every building had a story and a tradition behind it…. Tower of London Story: When King Edward ruled, he went on vacation or something… anyways… he left the castle… when he came back early he found that he could have easily gotten into the gates without a struggle because everything was unlocked….. Being the control freak he was, he demanded that the kingdom be locked-up entirely every night at 10 pm. SO Tower of London Tradition: To this day, the Tower has been looked at 10pm with a keys ceremony. Yep… Every night at 10 the procession of beefeaters and the keeper of the keys lock up the tower… EVERYNIGHT….. They have never missed a night locking up the Tower… they have only been about 8 minuets late one night due to a bomb during WWII…. But it was ok because they wrote a letter of apology to the king….. Crazy….

Anyways… back to the most important part of the Tower…. THE JEWEL ROOM! All of the crown jewels for the coronation and state events are kept in the Tower. I saw a 350k and a 500k diamond… it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! This is just another reason why I should be Royal…