Day 7 was extra early with a 6:30 leave time from our apartment in Paris. We headed to Gare du Nord and took the Eurostar to London! We didn't take everything that we owned, just a couple of backpacks with the absolute essentials. It was a bit stressful to try to minimize what we were taking so much (we are such over packers), but it all worked out. We had to use a luggage holding service while we explored the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. I was grateful that there is such a service. It was in the basement of a tourist shop and felt a little sketchy but worked out just fine.
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| I spy the English Channel!! |
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| We're under the English Channel. That's why it is so dark. |
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| Google maps found us again when we came out of the tunnel! So so excited to actually be going to London! |
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| "I want my time with you" Absolutely yes. |
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| Eek! |
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| Oh yes, we are in front of the Tower of London! |
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| Fish and chips with vinegar like the English and with tarter sauce like the Americans |
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| I loved all of the students matching clothes on their fieldtrips. |
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| The White Tower |
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| Where the crown jewels are kept |
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| The White Tower |
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King Richard I built the Wardrobe Tower on top of the old Roman city wall in about 1190. The tower became part of a large building that housed the Great Wardrobe. The king or queen stored portable valuables there, such as jewels, furniture and armour. Later the Ordnance Office, which supplied military equipment, used the building. It was demolished between 1878 and 1883. |
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The Romans established a town called Londinium here after they invaded Britain in AD43. It became an important settlement and by AD225 a strong wall surrounded it. The lines in the ground trace the Roman wall. William the Conqueror chose this strategic site for the Tower of London 800 years later. The old Roman walls were re-used to defend his new castle. |
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| This crow almost looked like a statue. |
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| This armory is so much. I love the armor for the horses. |
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| I can't remember which English king this armor was for, but the audio tour made a big deal about how we could tell the stature of him because of his armor throughout his life. Apparently he had a very large bum. I can hardly make any judgment on people and their booties, but I did think it was funny. Poor guy, getting body shamed hundreds if not thousands of years later. |
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| But like how did he see really? |
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| It all feels so excessive, but I guess this was their military's supplies. |
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| "The Dwarf and the Giant" The tallest suit of armour currently on display measures 2.057 m (6 ft 8 in) high. Traditionally it was said to have been worn by England's Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, in the 14th century but is actually German in origin and dated to around 1535. |
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| The Chapel of St John the Evangelist in the White Tower at the Tower of London is a unique survival. It is the most complete surviving example of early Anglo-Norman royal ecclesiastical architecture. The Chapel was built as a place of worship for William the Conqueror, but it was not completed until after his death. |
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| That book is massive! |
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| A tradition of displaying British military strength by creating trophies from masses of weapons has long existed at the Tower. From about 1700 visitors to the Grand Storehouse were stopped in their tracks by John Harris's stunning displays and models, including a serpent and a seven-headed hydra, which he created from a variety of weapons including muskets, pistols and swords. |
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| If I remember correctly this cannon melted in an armory explosion |
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NORMAN FOUNDATIONS Beneath this floor you can see parts of the original late 11th Century foundations of the curved chapel apse and the main basement of the White Tower. The break between them suggests that the rounded apse may have been added during construction, perhaps copying the one at Colchester Castle which was built at the same time. |
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Robert Devereux 2nd Earl of Essex Essex was the last person to be beheaded inside the lower walls, in 1607, the former soldier and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I was found guilty of treason. A scaffold was built on the Parade Ground just outside this building, records suggest that for his beheading the face down with head a short block It took three blows of the axe remove his Dead |
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Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross The Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross was made for the coronation of Charles II in 1661. It has been used at all coronations since. The world's largest diamond In 1910, the Cullinan I diamond was added to the sceptre. Weighing 532.2 carats, it is the largest colourless cut diamond in the world. Cullinan I is the biggest stone cut from the magnificent Cullinan Diamond. Discovered in South Africa in 1905, it is the largest uncut diamond ever found. |
Next we had to walk the long way around the block to see Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge was constructed in London between 1886 and 1894 to provide a new river crossing and alleviate traffic congestion. Designed by Horace Jones and engineered by John Wolfe Barry, the bascule and suspension bridge is a feat of Victorian engineering, officially opening on June 30, 1894. It has since become a global landmark, notable for its Gothic style, and has seen historic events like The Blitz and the 2012 London Olympics.
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| View towards downtown London |
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| Phew we didn't fall! Actually these things don't make me nervous at all. I get nervous at plenty of other things though so I'll take it. |
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| Without people blocking the view. I can't get over how few other tourists there were. |
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| The other side was closed maybe to replace that top piece of glass? |
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| The stairs are just pretty |
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| Tower Bridge originally used a steam-powered hydraulic system to lift its bascules, with steam engines pumping water into hydraulic accumulators, which then released pressurized water to power the lifting mechanisms. Since 1976, the bridge has been converted to a modern, electro-hydraulic system driven by electricity and oil, though one of the old steam engines remains on display. |
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| These hydraulics are huge! And I love that they were painted lime green. |
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| The bridge colors almost felt whimsical to me |
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| You can see the glass floor panels |
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| View of the Tower of London in front of the modern sky scrapers |
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| Picked up our bags and headed to the British Museum. It was so fun to walk around London. And I really like the Underground. No passes or anything. Just tap in and out with your credit card. |
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| Sleepy girl on the Underground |
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The Holy Thorn Reliquary Made to display a thorn, supposedly from the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ at the Crucifixion. The reliquary was made in Paris around 1400 for Jean, duc de Berry (1340-1416). It was listed as being in the Viennese treasury of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1544. In 1860 it was sent to Salomon Weininger for repair. He returned a replica. The original was later acquired by Baron Ferdinand's father. Details of the forgery and substitution only surfaced in the 1920s. |
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| Okay this staircase isn't quite as majestic as at the Louvre, but still quite nice |
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The Townley Caryatid In Greek and Roman architecture Caryatids are female figures that stand in place of columns. This example was found around 1585-90 near the Via Appia outside Rome. It was acquired by the Peretti family and was kept at the Villa Peretti Montalto, later Negroni. In 1784 the contents of the Villa were sold, and the Caryatid was afterwards bought by Charles Townley. Roman, about AD 140-170 |
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Tiles from a cenotaph in the form of a mihrab Made in the shape of a mihrab (prayer niche) and missing its lowermost tile, this glazed stonepaste panel marked the tombstone of a qadi (Islamic judge) named Jalal al-din Abd al-Malik. Its central inscriptions in Arabic describe the judge as a malik al-ulama ('king of learned men') and provide a genealogy of judges over seven generations. The celebrated ayat al-kursi, or 'Throne verse' (Qur'an 2:255), adorns the outer frame. Probably Kashan, Iran, 1300-50 |
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Astrolabe This exceptionally large instrument was made for the last Iranian Safavid ruler, Shah Sultan Husayn (r. 1694-1722). The leafy design of the star pointers may refer to the gardens of paradise, linking the skies to heaven itself. Bequeathed to the British Museum by Sir Hans Sloane as part of its founding collection, this was one of the first Islamic objects in the Museum. Iran, Sha'ban 1124 AH (Sept-Oct AD 1712) |
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Fired clay figurine Stylised human figures were common in the Neolithic cultures of eastern Europe. This seated figure is modelled in one piece and has incised decoration to indicate clothing and body ornaments. The holes in the ears, neck and shoulders could save held other decorative materials. It may have been a cult object, possibly a household deity. Late Neolithic, about 4500-4000 BC Vinca, Serbia |
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The Oxus Treasure The Oxus Treasure is one of the largest collections of Achaemenid gold and silver objects and dates to about the 5th and 4th centuries BC. It was found in the 19th century at the site of Takht-i Kuwad, close to the river Oxus (modern Amu dar'ya) on the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. This region was part of the Achaemenid province of Bactria. |
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Gold chariot model The Egyptian god Bes is depicted on the front of this object. Bes was the protective deity of the young and this would have been appropriate if this model was made for a boy. Chariots with the same profile and wheel construction are shown on sculpture at Persepolis and the so-called Darius seal, also in this showcase. 5th-4th century BC |
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Chief Librarian Ashurbanipal was always proud of being literate and boasted of his learnedness. Some of these texts were written in his own hand, others are about him. His sister and his wife also learned to write. |
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Brick by brick King Nebuchadnezzar II's building programme at Babylon used around 15,000,000 baked bricks. Thousands bore his name and titles stamped into the clay 'Nebuchadnezzar... the eldest son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon, am I'. On this brick, a workman wrote his own name 'Zabina' using the Aramaic alphabet. Reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 605-562 BC From Babylon, southern Iraq |
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King Ashurbanipal's Flood Tablet The cuneiform text on this clay tablet is startlingly similar to the biblical story of Noah and his Ark in the Book of Genesis. When George Smith, an assistant in the British Museum, first read this inscription in 1872 he 'jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself! The tablet describes how the gods sent a flood to destroy mankind. Ut-napishtim was warned in secret by the god Ea to build a boat to ensure the survival of humans and animals. Birds were released before the boat landed safely on Mount Nitsir in northern Assyria. Versions of this story are known from at least 1000 years earlier. Late Assyrian, 7th century BC Excavated at Nineveh, northern Iraq, by Sir Austen Henry Layard Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh |
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| Mummy of Katebet, late 18th dynasty, 1300 BC |
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Gebelein man Middle Predynastic 3500 BC This man died more than 5500 years ago. He was buried at Gebelein in Upper Egypt, where he was found in a shallow grave covered with stone slabs, as partly reconstructed here. His body was naturally mummified by rapidly drying in the hot desert sand. This also preserved his hair, but its colour has probably faded with time. Around him are objects typical of the Middle Predynastic period, about 3500 BC, the time we think he lived. All are from Gebelein, and some may have come from his grave. From CT scans we know he was a strong young man. He died from a stab wound in his left shoulder, rare evidence of violence at this time. Visit the virtual autopsy table to learn more about this remarkably well preserved Predynastic person. |
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The Portland Vase Cameo glass, probably made in Rome About 15 BC-AD 25 The Portland Vase is one of the finest surviving pieces of Roman glass, and is named after the Dukes of Portland who owned it from 1785 to 1945. It is made of cameo glass, a technique in which vessels and plaques, sometimes free-blown, sometimes cast, are created with two layers of glass. The outer layer (usually white) is carved away from the underlying dark layer (usually blue) to create decorative scenes and patterns. Cameo glass disc with the head of a young man Cameo glass, probably made in Rome About 15 BC - AD 25 The original pointed base of the vase was broken in ancient Roman times, and was replaced with this disc, made from a large flat plaque of cameo glass. The disc may show a scene from mythology in which Prince Paris of Troy judges a 'beauty contest' between three goddesses Juno, Minerva and Venus. His choice of Venus over Juno helped to spark the Trojan War. |
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Tomb procession This group of sancai figures is reputedly from the tomb of Liu Tingxun, a Tang dynasty official who died in AD 728. He was buried in Luoyang. Among the tallest and the most intact set known to have survived from this era, these figures were probably placed at the entrance to the burial chamber. Similar processions were also represented in wall paintings in high-status tombs. The number and scale of the figures matched the social rank of the deceased. A mural showing a royal entourage in the tomb of the Tang prince Yide (AD 682-701), AD 706, Xianyang, Shaanxi province. |
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Shiva Nataraja In many parts of South Asia, abstract ideas have traditionally been imagined in human form. This gallery, filled with human imagery, demonstrates that idea. Here, the Hindu god Shiva embodies the concept of the cyclical nature of life. He is depicted in his most famous form as Nataraja (Lord of the Dance). Although this image of the god is especially connected with the temple at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu in south India, it is known throughout the world. The flames that surround him remind us that his dance ends one cycle and begins the next. He is both the lord of creation and of destruction. The sculpture was made using the lost wax process, a technique which south Indian bronze-casters mastered to a degree rarely seen since. About 1100 Probably cast in Thanjavur, south India |
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The Benin Bronzes The Benin Bronzes are a group of sculptures which include decorated cast plaques, human and animal heads and figures, and ritual and personal objects. While commonly referred to as "Bronzes', they are made of bronze and brass. The Benin Bronzes were being produced in the West African Kingdom of Benin by the 1500s, by guilds of craftspeople working for the court of the Oba (king). The Kingdom also supported guilds working in other materials, including ivory and coral. The Benin plaques are the best known of the Bronzes. They were probably made between 1550-1650 to cover wooden pillars in the Oba's palace, and mostly show scenes of palace life and ritual. They also reference Benin's trade and diplomatic exchange with Europeans, which commenced in the late 1400s with the Portuguese. Few records exist that show how the plaques were originally arranged. However, two 'palace plaques (see plaque to right) depict plaques around a doorway. When the British attacked Benin City in 1897, the plaques were found in a storehouse, having been previously removed from the palace walls. |
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Moai known as Hoa Hakananai'a Basalt ancestor figure, made about AD 1000-1200 Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Chile The Polynesian peoples of Rapa Nui created the extraordinary stone figures (moai) for which the island is famous. From around AD 1000, Islanders invested huge resources and effort in quarrying the stone and carving the statues. Many of the moai were transported across the Island and erected onto platforms known as ahu. Ahu generally faced away from the ocean and moai gazed inwards to the land and its people. Across Polynesia, Islanders worshipped ancestors who traced their lineages back to the gods. Moai were raised in honour of important deified ancestors and could embody their spirits. Hoa Hakananai'a is different from most other moal. He is carved from hard basalt, rather than the softer volcanic stone which was generally used. On his back are a number of carved symbols depicting frigate bird heads and human/bird figures, amongst other things. These relate to the island's 'birdman' ceremonies which were associated with fertility and access to resources. From about the 1600s, Islanders began to topple the statues. Hoa Hakananal'a was probably one of the last moai to be a focus of rituals. |
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The Rosetta Stone carries an inscription in different languages which helped decipher the ancient Egyptian scripts. The fragment was part of a larger stone slab (stela) recording a priestly decree issued on 27 March, 196 BC. The decree ordered that the text should be 'inscribed on a stela of hard stone in sacred, native and Greek characters and set up in all temples of Egypt'. The 'sacred' writing is the hieroglyphs at the top. The 'native' characters in the middle are known as Demotic, the everyday script of Egyptians, and the bottom is inscribed in Greek, the language used by the government. At this time, Egypt was governed by Macedonian Greek rulers, and the decree was issued in honour of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The text begins by praising the king, before listing the honours bestowed on him by the priesthood. The Rosetta Stone was the first decree stela to be found, but others have been excavated and are still being discovered today. |
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The east pediment Pediments are the triangular gable ends of a Greek temple, which were often filled with sculpture carved all the way round. An explosion in 1687 destroyed much of the Parthenon. Jacques Carrey's drawings, made in 1674, show that the colossal figures which once occupied the centre of the pediment were already missing at this time. Pausanias, a Greek travel writer of the 2nd century AD, reports that the east pediment of the Parthenon showed the birth of Athena. The goddess was born fully grown and armed from her father Zeus's head, which was split open by the axe of Hephaistos, the smith god. The time of Athena's birth was marked in the corners of the pediment. On the left, are the remains of the sun god, Helios, rising at dawn in his horse-drawn chariot. In the opposite corner Selene, goddess of the moon, was shown descending in the western sky, her horses exhausted by their journey. The sculptors have cleverly arranged the figures to fit into the triangular pediment while retaining their scale. |
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The Parthenon Athens, 450-430 BC The Acropolis dominates the skyline of Athens today as it did in ancient times. This sacred rock and its buildings include the Parthenon, a temple that once contained a colossal gold and ivory statue of the goddess Athena. The outside of the temple was richly decorated with marble sculpture carved with figures from Greek myth and idealised Athenian life. The statue of Athena is lost but much of the external sculpture has survived. Largely divided between London and Athens, these remarkable portrayals of human form have transcended their ancient past to become a representation of humanity itself. |
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| The building behind Ellie almost looks like a painting |
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| A double decker bus! |
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| Piccadilly Circus |
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| Okay that street is cute. And that guy in front of it. |
Dinner that night at Nando’s. It is a restaurant that John’s coworker, who was from England recommended. I believe she said it was Afro-Brazilian. We went in and actually went down a circular staircase into the restaurants. I was really nervous about it because the air was very full of smoke type fumes from the frying oil. My lungs and throat definitely reacted to the smoke, and I thought it must’ve been peanut oil. But I asked, and they said they don’t use any kind of peanuts or peanut oil. I was so surprised! I was still pretty nervous, testing the food. We waited for our orders to come out, and mine was mistakenly brought out with hot spice instead of medium. The people please in me thought, "Oh well, I’ll just eat the hot," but I seriously couldn’t do it. It was a way too hot. So we ended up having to send it back and get fresh food, and felt bad about the waste. But it was seriously so good. I want to eat there again someday. They have so many different kinds of dipping sauces, and we got yummy gelato for dessert.
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| I loved her dress for the evening. |
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| We loved how they used the sides of the sets too |
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| So so excited! |
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| Such a pretty playhouse |
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| Our view! |
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| Happy, teary faces at the end. |
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| London just has a whole different feel than any other city I have been to - it's like New York City and Paris put together, happy medium. |
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| <3 |
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| Our home for the night, it felt serendipitous that it was named the Phoenix Hotel |
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| Three little beds! |
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