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Published: March 30th 2009
Ok, I'm sorry for the long delay since my last entry. I have been receiving many queries and complaints concerning the absence of my blog. I do apologize! I'll be better about keeping it up to date. Here you go!
The Tower of London! The Tower was extremely fascinating to me because of the many dramatic historical events that happened there. It was strange to look at a square patch of green lawn and know that handfuls of English noblemen and women were beheaded there. The original tower is almost 1000 years old and this year, 2009, is the 500-year anniversary of the crowning of Henry VIII so lots of the museums and historic sites have exhibits about Henry and his wives, two of which were beheaded at the Tower.
Beauchamp Tower was the most fascinating to me. It was less of a tower and more of a room, but it was where noble or royal prisoners were kept while awaiting their impending doom. The walls are made of soft limestone so the tradition for those about to die was to carve their name, or coat of arms or some sort of personal message into the walls. There are hundreds
of these carvings, many of them still legible after hundreds of years.
I didn't get to see the Crown Jewels, which are kept at the Tower, because I didn't want pay the exorbitant amount they were charging and I didn't want to wait in line for two hours. Maybe next time.
Funfact! : There is a large flock of ravens kept on Tower Green. They are very pampered as far as ravens go and apparently fed biscuits dipped in blood, or so the people say. Why? There is a superstition in England that if the ravens are ever killed or leave the Tower then the monarchy will fall. The ravens are highly protected and kept in cages at night. They're not taking any chances with those ravens.
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