Departure from London

I was interested in doing this trip last year but there weren’t enough students that signed up. However, London was well worth the wait to go a year later. Of course, I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to, but I did get a good majority of it.

Sunday was a short tour of some sites of London that Dave and Jessica brought us to. We got to see the London and Millennium Bridges, and the outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Monday, we got to go to Warwick Castle, the birthplace of Shakespeare, and see a little bit of Oxford. Tuesday, I went to the Harry Potter walking tour with Jordan and Bri. The whole group also went to the Lion King production. I was really impressed. Wednesday I spent by myself and traveled around South Kensington to the main museums that were all commissioned to build by Queen Victoria. I also went to see the Sherlock Holmes Museum off of Baker Street. Finally, on Thursday I went to the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. Both places have so much history and are so beautiful that it overwhelms a person.

The only time I have been out of the country was to Canada before passports were required. I was more out in the country and not in the city where I got to see historical places. London was by far the best trip I have ever gone on and well worth the wait. I didn’t want to leave. I just wanted to spend more time and travel through the city more.  In the future, when I have the money and more time, I will be going back for longer than 5-6 days and travel so much more. 

I have always wanted to travel, but never really getting the chance. This was the first time that I have even been on a plane. After going to London, I want to travel to other places and just explore. I am going to miss London, and I hope someday I can get back there.

The Two Princes in the Tower

3/20/2014

The Tower of London started being built while William I (William the Conqueror) was king. It was finished during the reign of his son, William II. Part of the Tower was to hold the kings or queens the day before their coronation, other parts were to torture prisoners or hold them captive including future and present kings or queens.

While Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) was reigning, she tried to bring back Catholicism back to England after her father King Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Church and created the Church of England when he was infatuated with Anne Boleyn. She is called Bloody Mary because she had many Protestants burned at the stake for not converting to Catholicism. There happened to be an uprising during her reign and she thought that her sister Elizabeth was behind the uprising of Sir Thomas Wyatt and brought her to the Tower. Two months after being in the Tower, Queen Elizabeth was set free. 

Another incident that someone of royal blood was cast into the Tower was King Edward V. His father died suddenly when he was only 12 years old. His uncle, King Richard III, was protector of the realm and of young King Edward. To keep both King Edward V and the King’s brother “safe,” he put both of the princes in the Tower. Both Edward V and Richard are known as the Princes of the Tower. It is believed and most probable that they were both killed while they were in the Tower. 

It is believed that King Richard III, the boy’s uncle, ordered the boys to be killed. It is said that they were killed by smothering while they were asleep. When no one saw the boys, they believed that they were indeed killed and word got to Henry Tudor (later known as King Henry VII). Henry marched into England with an army and fought Richard III for the crown because he was a usurper and committed treason by killing the rightful King of England. That is how the Tudor line came to be on the throne and later Queen Elizabeth I being Queen best known for the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

In the mid-1600s, two bodies of children were found in the Tower of London and it was believed to be the bodies of King Edward V and his brother Richard. For over 300 years since the time the bodies were found, there wasn’t any DNA testing to determine if it was in fact those children. Only measurements of the bodies and analysis of the bones were able to determine that they belonged to two male children most likely of those of the princes. Today, I have heard that it was in fact not the boys and I have also heard that it is not for certain if it is or not. I hope the truth will be able to be discovered, for the little boys deserve to finally be at peace.

Seeing the Tower of London and the approximate area that the two skeletons were found, it made me sad. Sad that someone could be so power hungry that they are willing to kill their own nephews just so he could be on the throne. I was overwhelmed with that thought and I felt even angry towards Richard III for what he did to the boys. Karma is a wonderful thing, he got what came to him when Henry VII overpowered him and took the crown away from him. If the skeletons were in fact not of the two princes, I hope that they can be found and laid to rest. 

                                                        approximately where the Two Princes where found.

South Kensington

3/19/2014

A whole day at museums in South Kensington and the only one I especially liked was the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Victoria and Albert Museum was filled with art on every floor some dating back to the 1100s and sooner, made out of almost anything. I saw tapestries, sculptures, architecture, and even fashion from China. The paintings and all the art in general was so beautiful especially anything that had to do with Jesus Christ and God. I just found them so beautiful that words cannot describe them.

After I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, I went to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. I was impressed with the inside of the buildings and the architecture of the buildings, but when it came to the exhibits, I wasn’t overjoyed. They were good but they weren’t amazing. There was stuff that I wouldn’t see if I went to the science museums down in the Twin Cities but I still felt like I was attending one of those museums. The only main difference was that it was free to enter these museums.

                                                      outside of the science museum

                                                     three pictures of the inside of the Natural History Museum

I was more impressed with myself getting to and from somewhere completely on my own and not getting lost then with the Science and Natural History Museums.

Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus

3/18/2014

That is the Hogwarts’ school motto in the Harry Potter films and books. 

I started getting into Harry Potter a few months before the first movie came out when my aunt bought me the set of the first four books for Christmas one year. I wasn’t quite done with the first book when the Sorcerer’s Stone came out in the movie theater. Ever since the first book and the first movie, I was addicted. I would go see all the movies at least two to three times in the theaters when it came out, I’ve read every book at least two times also. 

Starting with the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I started going to the midnight showings of the movie with my previous daycare teacher who absolutely loved the series. She also took me to go get the new books at midnight on release date at the closest Barnes & Noble to home. I just couldn’t get enough of Harry Potter. I grew up reading and watching the movies, that to me, no other “children’s” series could compare. So when I found out that there would be a walking tour of Harry Potter that showed places that were inspiration or used for filming in London, naturally I wanted to attend!

We started at King’s Cross before the tour started and took pictures with the carriage that was in the wall where we took pictures of ourselves pretending to be running onto Platform ¾. 

                                             Me at King's Cross pretending to go to Platform 9 3/4

When we started our tour, the first stop was where a portion of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was filmed. The section where the knight bus comes to a screeching halt outside of the Leaky Cauldron after Harry blew up his aunt. 

Next there was an inspiration for the Azkaban Prison which happened to be the Clink Prison. Apparently the Bishop of this area built this prison to deter crime from the city. If the person was jailed in the Clink Prison, it was a very good possibility that they would never get out. And if they tried to escape from the Prison they would be hung in a metal cage just outside of the prison, completely naked in the public and people could throw fruit or whatever else at them when they passed by.

We ended up going towards the London Bridge to see the Millennium Bridge. Here was where the Death Eaters destroyed the bridge in the Half Blood Prince.

                                                 Millennium Bridge

One of the next stops was Westminster tube station. Here the Harry Potter company was able to close the tube station for a whole day to film a portion of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was the portion where Mr. Weasley and Harry get off the escalator to get out of the tube station and when Mr. Weasley was trying to get out of the tube station by just waving his hand over the magnetic sensor.

                                               Mr. Weasley comes down from the left escalator (#12)

                                       Mr. Weasley haves a difficult time getting out of the tube station

We also went to go see Big Ben and the London Eye since they were used in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry and part of the Order were flying towards Grimauld Place after Harry used the Patronous Charm to save himself and Dudley. We also went to go see the building that the studio used to film the inside of Grimauld Place.

                                                    House used for the filming of Grimauld Place

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One was the scene that they had to hide the bodies of three Ministry of Magic workers and pull out some hairs to be able to try and steal the real Horcrux of Voldemort.

And lastly but not least we were able to see J.K. Rowling’s inspiration of Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley.

                                                                        inspiration for Knockturn Alley

                                                     inspiration for Diagon Alley

Overall, the tour was a great one! My feet ended up hurting in the end but it was absolutely worth it to see some of the places that were inspiration and used for filming in the Harry Potter movies and books!