July 13th

Today I got up early and went running. I ran through Kensington gardens and Hyde Park, it was a beautiful morning. I did 12 miles and it felt really good. After running I came home and then we all went to class. I actually am really glad I am doing this program because it does not come naturally to me and it is a challenge, but I enjoy it. I am really interested in it and I like that it gets me out of my comfort zone. Just learning about English and seeing everyone else speak other languages has inspired me to learn another language. When I get home I really want to work on my Spanish. I already know quite a bit but I know that if I really put effort into it I could speak it well. Anyways in class we learned about two different varieties of English today, we learned about the R.P. standard British which is the “posh” English spoken by only two percent of the population and then also about Cockney English (which is the uneducated sounding variety.) Also we learned about ancient writing systems such as Ireland’s ogham and I learned how to write my name in their “letters.”
After class we went to the tower of London!! I was sooo excited for this because I have been reading up on it and I am fascinated with all of the history of the tower. It definitely lived up to my expectations. I took sooo many notes today so this might be a really long post but I just think it is soo exciting. Call me a nerd. I like touring things by myself rather than in groups so I went off by myself and bought an audio tour guide to walk me though the grounds. It started off in the White tower which was 1000 years old. They called it the white tower because every year they would scrub it so it remained white. It is no longer white but I can only imagine what it looked like back then. The tower was designed and built by the Normans to intimidate the Londoners and remind them of their power. It was built right next to the roman city and in fact you can see the remains of a wall that was the actual boarder of the city when the tower was built. It was only about 20 feet away from the tower. It was also in the white tower that the tower of London housed its first prisoner (Bishop Flambard). He was detained at the third level but actually escaped by first getting his guards drunk and then climbing out of the window down a rope.
There were also Raven cages and big black ravens all around the tower. I learned that nobody knows when they first got there but it was during the reign of Charles II that he decided that if the ravens left the white tower would fall and bad things would happen to the city. So ever since then they have always kept six ravens within the tower walls.
I also saw a sculpture that was placed over the towers execution site. Surprisingly only a few people were actually executed in the tower grounds. It was considered a privilege. Most prisoners were killed outside the tower walls in front of a large crowd. Only a select few were privileged to be executed inside the tower. One of them was the infamous Anne Boleyn who was beheaded at this site on the 19th of May 1536. her body is buried in the chapel next to the grass (along with king Henry’s VIII last wife Kathryn and also Miss Jane Grey.) there are about 1500 people buried in the small chapel that still is a running church today.
After I walked up into the prisoner tower. This was a little eerie. There were inscriptions of prisoners, graffiti that many of the imprisoned scraped on the walls with sticks. One that stood out to me was by Earl of Arundel 1587, and it said “the more suffering for Christ the more glory with Christ in the next life.” Also I saw the engraving of the word “IANE” which probably meant “Jane.” From my book that I am reading this is supposedly Jane Grey’s husband writing this on the wall. Jane Grey was unfortunate enough to inherit the throne for 9 days before she was beheaded. She was only 16 years old. There was also an etching that was made in memorial of her family, the Dudley family.
Outside of this tower is the Queen’s house where the Governor lives. It is the only surviving wood/Tudor house in London (nothing else survived the fire.) After this I went into the bloody tower which actually used to be named the garden tower. It was here that supposedly the murder of the two young princes took place. King Edward the IV were their father and when he died they were both first in line for the crown (which made them very vulnerable.) It was in this tower that the two boys were last seen. Nobody knows for sure what happened to them but many believe that they were murdered. In 16744 during a renovation two skeletons of young boys were found buried in the walls of the tower.
Finally I was able to see the crown jewels. While waiting in line I saw video footage of Queen Elizabeth coronation which was the first to be broadcasted by television. The specific crown that she wore is only worn at the coronation so it hasn’t been worn since 1957 (?). Something else that really caught my eye was the first star of Africa which is the worlds largest diamond…I think they said it was 57 carrots? I don’t remember but it was AMAZING! The doors that led into the area that housed all of the crown jewels as well as other things weighted 2 tons each! Talk about security measures. I also saw other interesting objects like the ampulla which is an eagle made out of gold. The head is removable and inside is what holds the holy oil that they use during the coronation procession. I also saw the crown (unbelievable) and the orb which I am not sure what it was used for.
Finally the last thing I wanted to mention was the guards that walked around the tower. They wore really cool uniforms and actually had a really cool background. I learned that they were the ceremonial guardians of the tower and they needed to have a background of at least 22 years in the military. They also had to be at least 40 years of age and no older than 55. They all live within the tower walls. About 140 people live there (about 40 families). How cool would that be to say you lived in the tower of London…
Anyways that took up most of my day. I got left at the tower and had to find my way home by myself which wasn’t a big deal. Then later in the evening we had FHE at Hyde Park and then went to a frozen yogurt place called Snog. It was fabulous. Now im off to do homework.