Chinese New Year!!

This is a quick way to show you a little bit of London’s multicultural atmosphere, and mark the time of my blog. Chinese New Year fell on February 3^rd this year, and so this was the following weekend I believe. Crowds, performances, fun, food, and booze. A great celebration!!

Did I mention that it is especially fun when you are in Trafalgar Square :)

Tower of London

If you are ever in London you have to check out the Borough Market. It’s open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It offers an enormous amount of food both to eat there and to take home with you. I went there several times both with friends and by myself just for a cheap lunch.

I took that picture for my dad. What do you think, terra cotta flower pots a legitimate baking unit?

It is really close to the Tower of London, and it is really easy to work into a day at the Tower.

That's Tower Bridge by the way. They always expect Americans to call that London Bridge.

The Tower is right across from London city hall, which is a rather strange looking glass building…

The Londoners generally don't like it. They call it the glass [insert word for a part of the male anatomy, don't make me spell it out for you :P ] At least it is on the opposite side of the river from the Tower, and not right next to it.

The Tower itself has a very intimidating presence, even today…

The square keep in the center—the White Tower—was built by the first Norman King of England, William the Conqueror, in 1078. It’s still under construction…

It was expanded many times to; the layout you see when you visit was probably complete in the late 13^th century. It is probably most famous for its use as a prison, but its primary purpose was to defend the royal family while they resided there. They had little reminders of each use throughout the Tower…

Some of the famous stories about the Tower include Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up parliament on the 5th of November, 1605. One of the more tragic stories is that of the princes in the Tower. Twelve-year-old Edward V and his ten-year-old brother Richard, the only sons of Edward IV, were declared illegitimate by an act of parliament in 1483. Their uncle, now King Richard III arrived in London. The princes were seen playing in the summer of 1483, and then were never seen again. Two skeletons of children were discovered in 1674. It is believed that Richard III probably had them murdered, but modern science couldn't determine the skeleton's identity, even with DNA. So, use you imagination, Shakespeare certainly did.

Now then, the final story I will share is Anne Boleyn's. She was the beautiful woman who seized the lust of Henry VIII, and then failing to produce a male heir, became un-seized of her head. This is the Traitor's Gate, through which Anne passed by boat--it used to open onto the Thames--never to return.

Of course one of the most famous icons identifying the Tower are the Yeoman Warders, the beefeaters.

They were formed in 1485. Today, they are selected from numerous Armed Forces of the Commonwealth. They are senior non-commissioned officers with at least, twenty-two years of service.

Another icon are the ravens…

It is a traditional belief that if at least six ravens are not kept at the Tower, then the kingdom will fall. So, they haven't been absent for a very long time.

No pictures of the Crown Jewels, certainly the most expensive sight in the Tower. Fun all the same. Huge diamond!!

All around, a good day in London.

Leeds, Canterbury, and Dover

London is a great place to be if you want to travel and see more of Europe, or the world for that matter. That is the main reason I have been so incredibly remiss in my updates, and I apologize.

But London is also great for going around and seeing the main sights in England. There are a ton of well priced day trip tours, that usually have good discounts for students, and take a lot of the pressure of planning off you. It is also great if you are in a group and the hassle of public transport over longer distances would crimp your ability to do things, especially when driving is required, in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road.

One of the combination tours that we decided on as a group took us to Leeds Castle, Canterbury, and a brief stop at Dover. For the record, the stop at Dover was totally unedifying, completely dissatisfying, and forced me to go back. That’s a subject for later though…

Now then, Leeds Castle is not in the big city of Leeds, which is up in Yorkshire. This Leeds is in Kent, way down in southern England. The location is what makes the castle really interesting…

A moat that is in actuality, a decent sized lake; now that’s a solid defense. It’s an old location. It was built in 1119 for Edward I, aka Longshanks and his wife. So it was something of a royal country retreat.

A lot of old parts were in pretty good shape…

The castle passed into the hands of some private lords and ladies who dolled the place up, so the mix of old and new was a bit of a constant. It was even more fairy-taleish because we were sitting in the middle of lake…

It’s a pretty popular place now for receptions—expensive ones—and weddings. This lady was playing the theme from Schindler’s List, so I am really hoping that it was for a reception.

More old-new dichotomy, though I am sure you would love backgammon in an old parlor in a castle mom :)

And the library…

Only downside to the day was that it was fairly cold and rainy. Though I remember handling it better than some of the others *cough cough Florida people* Of course, I spent the Christmas in Norway, and that would pretty much prep you for anything.

After a good couple of hours at Leeds we moved on to the City of Canterbury, where the Cathedral of Canterbury naturally sits, and where the Archbishop sits. He’s the head of the Church of England and has been since Henry VIII decided to break away from the Roman Catholic. You may hear a lot about him in this blog. He is the king always portrayed as a large fat man—except in The Tudors—and he is the one with all the wives. There weren’t eight, only six, and they taught us a nice little rhyme to remember the fate of each. “Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorce, beheaded, survived.” And no, I can’t remember their names without looking them up.

Anyways, Canterbury: still got the old style gate the pilgrims used to pass through…

The Cathedral itself is really pretty, but you can’t see it until you get through the gate. I found that a little strange after seeing so many other cathedrals in Europe.

I actually found quite a few things about it that stood out as different. In most cathedrals you can see from one end to the other, but this one has a huge wall right in the middle…

It also had a strange central space for the choir and the altar…

Still pretty though…

Another interesting bit of history is Edward the Black Prince’s burial regalia.

The cathedral itself has a long and violent history. It was damaged many times from various Danish viking raids in its early history. The most famous act of violence was when several knights killed Thomas Becket. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170. He was originally a friend of the king, Henry II. They butted heads over several issues and when the King supposedly said "who will rid me of this turbulent priest," some young knights took it literally and assassinated Becket. Ironically his death put Canterbury on the map, as he was admired as a martyr all over Europe. He was canonized only three years after his death. The pope excommunicated the four knights who killed Becket. They went to Rome begging forgiveness, and then went on to the Holy Land on crusade for fourteen years in penance.

Canterbury is a cute little town and we had a good time…

As I said, our trip to Dover was disappointing. We just pulled in down by the docks, and saw the castle and cliffs off in the distance. The cliffs we saw weren’t even white. Mom really wanted to see the cliffs and this brief stop actually irritated me enough that I vowed to go back.