Cross the King, Lose Your Head

Saturday we met up with Tom and Lynlee and, in the rain, walked to the train station early in the morning and headed into London. We visited St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was gorgeous. There’s a balcony that you can walk up to that circles around so you can see most of it from above. If you continue up the narrow, winding stone steps you can come out onto a viewing ledge. When you’re up there, it seems like you can see forever, it’s London from a completely different point of view. Continue to the top on a series of winding metal staircases and, 528 steps later, you arrive at almost the very top of the Cathedral. It was very windy that day, and if it weren’t for the railings, I would have thought we were going to be blown off of the top. The view from here is breathtaking; you can literally see all of London if you walk the whole circumference (which we did). You can see the Millennium Bridge, which was the bridge that the Death Eaters destroyed in HP and the Half Blood Prince. There are also a couple buildings much farther away that almost looked like they could be the Eiffel Tower (although we know they weren’t, it was crazy to feel like we could see that far).

Once back down all the stairs, we walked around a little more inside. On the back end of the main alter, there is a giant book (encased in glass) with all of the names of the Americans who died in WWII are written in. When you venture downstairs, there are the tombs of a few different people, including the Duke of Wellington and Lord Nelson. There are also numerous memorials to many different people and countries.

After St. Pauls, we headed across the street to a pizza parlor for lunch. Then it was off for some ice cream and a stroll in the park before meeting the rest of the group at the Tower of London.

We met up with the rest of the group and our tour guide at the tube stop, and our tour began. The guide first took us to a park (where we had already been through) that was not only the site of some memorials for those who died in WWII ships, but also the site of some beheadings. This was the site of the scaffold where over 125 people were beheaded, including Sir Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Darcy. From there we journeyed to the Tower of London. Inside the tower, 8 ravens find their home. These are still here because Charles II heard a myth that if they left, the king went with them. Since his father had already been murdered, he made an order that they should never leave. Ravens (like lobsters, Ainslee ;) ) mate for life.

We heard the story of King Henry VIII, who had 6 wives. He divorced two of them, beheaded 2 of them, one of them died, and one lucky one survived him. We saw the memorial on the site of the scaffold where Queen Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, and many others were beheaded. Those that were executed inside the tower were the ones with enough power or favor to have a private beheading. The tower had been the site of not only a royal residence, but a prison as well.

Next, we got to see the crown jewels. Outside of the door to the jewels, there is one of the stereotypical guards (also known as a beef-eater). Unfortunately, he is blocked by a short metal fence, so you can’t actually get pictures with him. The crown jewels were incredible. There was an entire set of completely gold dishes, cups and serving items that they used to use for a banquet after coronation. Once you get to the crowns themselves, though, they put you on a moving sidewalk, so you can’t stand too long and admire. I definitely saw some things I’d like to have in my jewelry box (:

After we were done at the tower, our tour guide took us on a walking tour of places where Jack the Ripper murdered his victims. At each spot, he’d stop and tell us one more piece of the story. As it was already growing dark, and we were not in the best part of London, I was definitely creeped out a bit. He ended the tour by telling us various suspects and saying that the story was never actually solved…comforting, good thing it’s so far in the past he has to be dead now. After that we headed back to school to rest up for the next day.

Yesterday, we headed into London again, but this time just to catch a train out with the rest of the group. We took an hour and a half train ride to Brighton, on the coast. This proved to be some good reading time, and I got one of my entire books done, which is good seeing as I have about 100 more to read.

Once in Brighton, we headed off to see the Royal Pavilion. This was a palace built by George IV when he was Prince, in order to escape from the watchful eye of his father. The palace was designed by John Nash, and is entirely in Indian and Chinese style, even thought neither man had ever been there. The dining hall was the most impressive room, which is how George IV wanted it to be. The chandelier is held in the claws of a dragon, and dragons and snakes seem to be a theme throughout some of the rooms. There are even a few bronze palm leaves at the top, making the ones painted on the ceiling seem like they are all actually sticking out from the ceiling. The kitchen is enormous, and employed many new (at the time) inventions to make cooking easier and faster.

The other room that is worth talking about is the music room. It is massive, with an organ and large floor that would have been good for dancing or holding large parties. The ceiling is covered with gold gilded shells, and the rest of the room is much embellished as well. This room, some say has bad luck because of the decoration focusing on dragons and snakes. First, an arsonist set fire to the room, and it took years and years to re-build and decorate. Then, soon after the re-gilding of the shells was finished, a large stone ball from the outside decoration fell through the roof in a hurricane. The room had to be re-done after this as well.

After the Palace, we walked to Brighton Pier on the English Channel. It was incredibly windy, and the waves sent up lots of spray as they broke on the shore. I could taste and smell the salt. The beach is not made of sand, it is completely stone, which sounds almost more painful to me than how hot the sand gets in the summer. The pier is like a constant fair, with carnival/fair food, little roller coaster rides and carnival games. There is an arcade which we went into and played a few games. They don’t use tokens though, they just use regular coins. Had it been nicer, we may have stayed a little longer, but it was getting very cold because of the wind and how late it was getting, so we headed back to the town to find some food. Because of the late hour (6pm, so late) most places were closed, so we had to just grab some apples and cookies from a shop at the train station before we headed back. Two train rides, a tube ride, a walk, and a few hours later, we ended up back home in Reading. Now it’s back to classes until next weekend.

-Barbara

UPDATE: Pictures are on my facebook, here.