London Part 4: Tower of London Parte Deux

That is the extent of my knowledge of French. Well not entirely true I could find the nearest restroom and such if need be, and that would be the extent of my French. Luckily I speak Spanish, so I could get by okay in a French speaking area.

This is the final installment of my Tower of London posts. As I have said before it is a HUGE location and is best known for its bloody past and its ghosts (if you believe in that sort of thing). There is one thing I loved about the location is that they have actors who reenact scenes that give light into the ToL's past. There was one which was an argument between a constable and a coin-maker, from what I recall from memory they used speech that is best associated with Middle English but wasn't pure Middle English. I am sure this is to ensure that the public understands them. For my readers who are unaware of Middle English, the best example I can give is Shakespeare for the usage of thou and thy and the suffix -est for verbs. 

Moving on to the best part: the pictures!

The White Tower- I mentioned this in the last post. It was the most fortified portion of the castle and is where the King lived. It contains the Royal Armoury, which you can see the armour of past knights and Kings.

Armour of King Henry VIII. I think he was overcompensating for something. Hmmmm

Yes that's a dragon.

Some were imprisoned in this tower, those imprisoned made use of their time by carving into the stone walls. There was even a prisoner who wrote a book that was published in the 1600's. One was imprisoned because he was thought to be a sorcerer, he made use of his time by  carving a astronomical clock that can be seen below.

Hugh Draper of Bristol who was thought to be a sorcerer carved this clock into the wall of his cell.

A diagram that showed the Tower of London during the time of the Peasant's Revolt in 1381.

Another tower that held prisoners during the 16th-17th centuries but its original use was as a guards tower.

The carving within the Broad Arrow Tower that was by a Catholic priest.

The famous Bloody tower. This where the 'little princes' were murdered. I remember watching an episode on the Discovery Channel as a child that spoke of these 2 princes and how they had recovered their bones. This is the reason why it is called the Bloody Tower because they are believed to have been murdered in this tower by their uncle. It was also used for imprisonment of other folks.

 Well that concludes this portion of the Tower of London. I would love to go back and explore some more!

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Ghosts of Tower of London?

I was messaged by a friend who is a viewer who wanted to see my throne room pictures from the Tower of London. I decided to post them for your amusement, I had a lot more of these type of pictures of ToL but I deleted them without a  second thought. With that being said, if there are other kinds of pictures you want to see that you don't see on my posts. You may ask and I will see if I have them!

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The Southern preps guide to packing for 6 weeks of Ireland's summer

Now to let you guys know my personal style is more preppy but in a southern sense.  Southerners are known for being very colourful with their outfits. The best example I can think of is Lilly Pulitzer, most of my items from her are not clothing but accessories because I like Tommy and RL for clothing. This is what I packed and wish I packed for the trip. It was an archaeology field school so my clothing options were limited and I wore certain clothes for the site and others for outings. Perhaps I'll do a post on what to bring for an archaeology site. I had to bring the large suitcase so I could have clothes to where for different occasions when not on site but the non-site clothes I brought would have fit into a carry-on.

I also brought a backpack with me which I carried on the plane. I had 2 shirts, a weeks worth of undergarments, some basic toiletries, and pair of shorts. I did this just in case my luggage got lost and I still had some clothes with me to get by until I could get it back. I learned that part through a friend's experience whose luggage got lost when en route to Italy.

I had brought 4 pairs with me. The boots I wore for site and some of the hiking I did around. Since they were bulky I wore them on the plane and a pair of Sperry in my backpack's bottle pockets.

I brought 2 swimsuits because the condo had a pool and I was planning trips to places where I could go swimming in the Lakes/Oceans. For Glendalough, Fowey, Tintagel.

2 AE Artist jeans, Adidas shorts, Yoga pants, AE shorts. I also wore the Adidas and Yoga for sleeping.

4 Button-up shirts; they're classic and in style no matter where you are in the world

A sweater, I also brought a raincoat with me.

4 regular shirts that are for nice dinners and lounging around

All in all I chose clothes that I could mix and match and make different outfits with, so I chose the colours to be blue, white and pink. All of which I could mix together and jeans, yoga pants go with everything. Don't forget your sunglasses, I brought wayfarers and aviators with Lilly Pulitzer croakies. 

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London Part 4- Tower of London Part 1

When I  was in London I visited the Tower of London, there were a lot of tourists around, and it was unfortunate because it was difficult to take clear pictures. The entry price was pricey and it was about 18 pounds  for students; BRING YOUR STUDENT ID everywhere with you! I am going to make this into 2 parts because it is such a huge location.

Anyways it is known that the Tower of London was a symbol of oppression and many people who spoke out against the royal family were imprisoned and some never made it back out. There are many stories that say that the castle is haunted. That's right, did you know it was a castle? A castle where the monarchs lived, like Buckingham and Windsor?!  As well as housing the monarchs and jailing the dissenters the tower had other functions within the walls. It was an armory, a menagerie, a treasury, a mint factory, held public records and the crown jewels.

The first king to commence building was William the Conqueror in 1078, and it had progressive expansions throughout the next few centuries.

This cobbled area is towards the main entrance of the castle but it known as Tower Hill, which is where over 100 people were executed in a 400 year period.

Throughout the castle they had animal statues which represented the fact it was also a menagerie.

The Bell Tower

King Edward I bedchamber in St. Thomas Tower

King's thrown, took me 4 shots to get this picture. It kept coming out blurry! Was it the ghost of the King? Who knows.

The Lost Palace- in front of the White Tower (which will be discussed more in detail in another post), this was the Inmost Ward. It was a set of buildings built to serve the residence but they are gone now.

Lanthorn Tower- construction began in 1220 and possibly used as the private residence of the queen. 

Candle Tower

They had these guys all over the castle.

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Cliffs of Moher

Located in County Clare, Ireland near Galway, and the Aran Islands can be seen in the distance on a good day. The cliffs are a 5 mile stretch along the Atlantic. The day we had gone it was misty and windy, it was so windy that I felt like I was going to go over the cliffs.
After doing some research on the cliffs I found out that they can be seen in pop culture, they are in movies like The Princess Bride, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Leap Year.
There is also something worth mentioning, apparently the Cliffs are a known suicide spot and I saw a couple of signs and barriers.
Cliffs of Moher is known for bird-watching and there is a puffin colony nearby, and other varieties of birds can be seen.
They have student priced  tickets, so make sure you bring your ID with you!
Unfortunately my camera had died on the trip so I apologize for my lack of photos.

O' Brien's tower in the distance, he believed in developing tourism as a way to boost the economy at the local level.

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