London~ Day 3

On my last day in London, I headed to the Tower of London! I was hoping to take the tube, but the green line that I needed to get to tower hill was closed for maintenance, so I took the bus instead. I am really glad I did too! In order to get to the Tower of London, I had to switch buses at St. Paul's Cathedral. I hadn't had the opportunity to see the cathedral because it was on the opposite end of the area that we had been exploring.

St. Paul's Cathedral is magnificent! I'm so glad I didn't miss seeing it! Right across from the Cathedral was the Millennium Bridge; this Bridge is famous from the Harry Potter Movies. Specifically the one where they are all flying on brooms fighting the death eaters. So, I decided to walk across it; the bridge provided some beautiful views of the Thames River and the London Bridge.

Barrack Obama in London??

Right beside St. Paul's Cathedral, the Occupy London movement has set up camp. It is a pretty big occupation movement and one of the first that I have actually seen, myself. I was quite surprised to see a movement that started in the U.S. to be going so strongly halfway around the world in the U.K.

After I finished exploring around the cathedral, I moved on to the Tower of London. The Tower is massive and has a lot of historical significance. There was a free tour given by the yeoman wanderer. My Yeoman Wanderer was called George and he really enjoyed telling us stories of execution. Most of the executions took place a little ways away from the Tower on Tower Hill; this is where the regular citizens were executed for treason and crimes against the crown. But, 3 queens and one a favorite of one of the queens were executed within the tower in a private execution area. The Tower wasn't originally meant for executions, instead it was one of the first royal palaces. Two princes actually vanished at the tower and their bodies were later found over 100 years later behind a staircase. They Royal family kept many exotic animals there that they were given as gifts by other countries because zoos really didn't exist at the time. They even had an elephant at one point, but it died after 2 years. There is a legend that unless 6 ravens reside at the tower at all times, the white tower will fall and crumble to pieces. So, to this day the tower keep 7 ravens on hand just in case something happens to one of them.

Lions were (and still are) very important symbols in England

One of the infamous Ravens

George! The Yeoman Wanderer.

This building area is where the private executions took place

Apparently there were large amounts of monkeys at the tower.

The staircase are where the 2 princes' bodies were found

 

The London Bridge! 

 After the tower of London, I got back on the bus and headed to meet up with my friend Ashley to go to the British Museum. The British Museum is really cool and they have tons of exhibitions. It reminds me of one of the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.

The British Museum!

The Rosetta Stone

 

An art piece- these are all of the pills/medicine that one man and one woman have taken throughout their lives. The woman is still alive.

Buddha

Apparently the Egyptians actually mummified their cats too...kinda creepy

The ceiling of the British Museum- really cool looking!

After the British Museum, we went and grabbed dinner at a pub. Then we went and checked out platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station because what else would two girls that love Harry Potter do on a Sunday evening?? After that we headed back to Manchester; we didn't get back to Manchester until 3am, but it was definitely worth it!

Off to Hogwarts!!

-Cheers

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.” – Lillian Smith