OK, first day of actually travelling is over. It was weird. So many times I wanted to share something with someone and couldn't, I actually found myself talking to myself. It sounds terrible, but when I got used to it it wasn't that bad. The only thing I could never get used to, probably, is the budgeting. Counting every penny that comes out of your wallet is a real pain in the ass, not to mention it spoiling the fun.
But anyways, I had a good day of travelling, so I might as well share it with you.
Yesterday was sort of an introductory day. All I did was to take the Tube to Westminster and walk around a little. Wasn't very exciting, but it was a nice way to start to get used to travelling alone.
Today, on the other hand was a full day of exploring. Well, maybe not that much exploring since I've only been to one place, but I've explored the hell out of it!
So today I visited the Tower of London. For those of you who doesn't know what that is, it's a castle in London, right on the river Thames, close to Tower bridge (surprise surprise) and The City. It was first built by William The Conqueror after his conquest of England, almost a thousand years ago, and have been rebuild a few times over the years. Today it's the house of England's Crown Jewels and a flock of huge fat crows.
Crows. Seriously, England?
The crow bit needs a bit of explaining. Apparently, someone sometime and for unknown reason had decided that if the six crows living inside the castle walls were ever to leave the castle, the entire castle would crumble and fall, the monarchy would cease to exist and Britain would succumb to total anarchy. So what's the reasonable thing to do? Keep a flock of crows in your gardens at all times of course! and also cut off their flying feathers so they can never ever escape. They are being fed daily, at least, and they seem to be quite alright with all the fuss around them.
Anyway, I was very excited for this visit, as this place is full of history. So many interesting things happened inside these walls, and I was itching to see it for myself. So you can imagine that I was a bit disappointing when I got to the ticket booth and I saw that these were the exact same thoughts all of the tourists in London were apparently thinking. I seriously have never seen a line this long, a record that will hold for about an hour.
Kids doing what I failed miserably to do almost 20 years ago
So after standing in line for the better half of an hour, I finally got to step inside the castle, and what can I say, it's a cool place. The tourists though, ugh, the tourists make it almost seem like a cheap Disneyland replica. When I saw a father showing his 3 years old daughter the place where the scaffolds were and said, "You see sweetie, this is where they chopped peoples head off", I wasn't sure if I was feeling sick and possibly disgusted, or actually proud that at least in one place in the world people are actually interested in history. I let myself believe it was the latter.
I started with a Yeoman tour. Yeomen are the wardens of the castle. You probably know them as the People-With-The-Funny-Outfit. Every half an hour they take a group of people around the castle and tell some stories. It was actually very nice. Our guide was very jealous of his football team, though. I'm still not sure what team he actually supports, but whenever he saw a kid with a shirt or a hat of a different team he mumbled, "what an ugly shirt, that is".
My Yeoman guide. Don't let the old fashioned costume fool you, they are actually quite funny
Despite now being old and fat (his words, not mine) our guide Colin was actually quite the bad-ass back in his day. apparently, all the Yeomen are individually handpicked out of elite military units. Colin used to be in the Royal Air Force, and he fought in a war, though he didn't mention which or where exactly he served.
After the tour I decided I'd go right to the main course - The White Tower. The White Tower is the heart of the castle. It's the oldest building in the compound, the most impressive by far, and the one with the most interesting history. This is where dozens of monarchs lived and rules, where hundreds of criminals were tortured and killed and thousands were held in captivity. By all accounts, it should have been the best thing ever for me. But it wasn't. And you know why? yeah, you guessed it - those goddamn tourists. So many of them! there were lines everywhere, and I couldn't stop for even a minute to read something or to examine a piece of armor, becasue some kind would start pushing my right away, or straight up jump in front in front of me and block my view. This is the kind of place where I need silence and time to appreciate the history and imagine what it used to look like. But it's very far from quite, the exact opposite in fact.
The White Tower. Should have been called The-Not-So-White-Tower, or maybe The-Sort-Of-Beige-Tower really
I was feeling a bit down at this point. Having no one to share these thoughts with I was kind of stuck with them. I began to feel cornered, like there were just too many people around me and I have to go out and take a walk somewhere more quiet.
"No!", I said to myself, "You are here right now, and you have paid way too much money to just run away. You will enjoy this, by hook or by crook!". So I decided to check the Crown Jewels. On paper, it should have been a huge mistake, the line was miles and miles long and definitely beat the lines in the ticket booth as the longest line ever, but it wasn't. It was actually just what I needed.
Maybe it was the unconscious shift of attitude, or maybe it was something else, but I really liked the Crown Jewels, touristy as they are. It was really a nice experience to have. Besides being incredibly beautiful and majestic, they actually have quite an interesting history behind them, like everything in this place.
These jewels are actually new. Well, not exactly new per se, as they were made in 1660, but they aren't the jewels that were used to crown all the monarchs before that. The original jewels were destroyed during the Civil Wars in the 17th century during which England was, for a brief time, a republic. the winning parliamentary forces broke into the Tower, stole the jewels and melted them into coins. Twelve years later, though, the monarchy was re-instituted, so new jewels had to be made, and these are the jewels that are on display today.
(Also on display are few other crowns that aren't part of the coronation regalia, like the incredible Crown of India, that was made for George V in 1911, and was only worn once. A good use of the tax-payers money right there)
I was on a run after that. I was getting kind of late, as the castle closes at 17:30, and there was still a lot to see. Lucky for me, the people who were in charge of arranging the whole place were pretty good at their job. There's a route that leads through the walls of the castle and its towers. except for one or two interesting towers (mainly the Bloody-Tower, where the twin princes were held and killed. An interesting story on its own. I'll just leave a link at the end for the Wikipedia article for you to read. Trust me, it's worth it) all the interesting bits are connected with a nice, organized route. More importantly, most people seem to only want to see the Crown Jewels and the White Tower, so almost any other attraction is empty, as it should.
Some of the prisoners in the various towers left graffiti on the walls. Some are as old as the 16th century
Needless to say, this was more to my liking. I got to see the medieval palace, where king Edward I lived for just 57 days (again, great use of taxes. British monarchs seem to really love throwing it away), his throne room, the tower where Thomas More was held (he later became a saint, by the way) and where Jane Grey prayed right before her death (she was queen for nine day. The conclusion - If someone desperately offers you to be the next king or queen of England, even though you have absolutely nothing to do with the royal family, refuse politely and walk away) . It was a lot more like what I came to see and when finally I came out of the castle compound I felt good about myself. My first adventure as a solo traveler was done successfully.
The Tower of London and I, in my first ever selfie
Just the Tower of London, no selfies
A few tips for you, if you plan to sometime visit the Tower:
1. You should, it's awesome, but read a bit about the British monarchy first. It's not a must, but it's a lot nicer to understand what's the big deal about Ann Boleyn and why everyone keep mentioning her name, for example.
2. Skip the whole 'Torture at the Tower' exhibition. The Queue is almost as long as the Crown Jewels one, and it's just not worth it. It's a small room with 3 exhibits you could as well see in pictures and not lose anything.
3. If you have a lot of time, skip the audio-guide. if you have average amount of time, take it. If you have very short time, it's your choice.
4. To see the Crown Jewels with a very VERY short line, come at 16:30 or even 17:00. By then most of the visitors are already gone and the line is maybe 5 minutes long (instead of the 45 minutes I stood in line).
Finally some links for you to read. I really recommend it, some very interesting stuff:
Also, I went to concert in a church called St. Martin-in-the-Field. Mozart's Requiem. Was awesome. The elder woman I sat next to thought I was some kind of phenomena. Probably because I was the only one there with a plain t-shirt and jeans. "What made you come to this concert?", she asked.
"I just love this piece and I wanted t osee it performed live", I said.
She was very pleased. So pleased, in fact, that when she later moved to a better seat, she saved a seat next to her for me. In the end, I thanked her and said it was excellent.
"It was, wasn't it?", shad said, smiling.
St. Martin-in-the-field. The thing about English churches is that hey are way too white
It was a good day, all in all. Still kind of weird, though.
Lior.
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