Enjoy the Ride

Instead of going out and experiencing the London nightlife on Saturday September 10, 2011, a few of my Western New England friends and I decided to enrich our knowledge of London by going to explore the Tower of London. However, we learned more than we bargained for along the way. After waking up at an ungodly early hour we made our way to the Tube Station, which we thought was going to be an easy, but long, 22-stop ride, but when we got there we learned that the Tube was being worked on by engineers…in other words we had to figure out another way to make it to the Tower. After much discussion we got onto the above ground train. Once on the train a friendly angel sent from above saw that we were a group of young adults who were very confused and offered to help us out. He told us that we had to get off at the Victoria stop and switch to another train, then get off at another stop to switch to the underground where we would finally be on the direct route to the Tower. After finally arriving stress levels were lowered and everyone seemed ready to explore and enjoy the day. We had the option to take a guided tour or to explore on our own and being the curious American tourists we are we decided to explore on our own. This turned out to be a great decision because we enjoyed taking our time to read all the signs that were available, try on the various hats worn during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, and take pictures of everything. My favorite fact that I learned was that the Tower held many royal beasts, from snakes to a polar bear. The snakes were kept warm by living in a pot above the stove covered in a blanket and the polar bear was on a long leash in the Thames River where it could fish. Another interesting fact I learned was that a Priest escaped from the Tower by writing to his friend in secret messages only seen if lifted up to the light because they were written in orange juice! This trip was a huge learning experience in many ways, not only did we learn a lot about the Tower, but we learned a lot about ourselves too. I know I learned to appreciate this experience for how amazing it is, because it is definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and that we are much more independent than I thought previously. I am truly enjoying this ride, no matter how many times I have to switch stops along the way.