Tower of London and Traditional Pies

On Friday, after a few more hours working away on one of our projects, we left the classroom and took the Underground to Tower Hill. The Tower of London is a great experience, and we had the perfect weather for it. We started just outside the main gate on the south-west side of the tower. There is a field where the moat once lay, and the very green grass (due to an error in sewage runoff in the medieval times) ads a great contrast to the intense brick fortress that rises above it. Here is where the visitors meet the Yeoman for the official tour. The Yeoman of the Tower, more commonly known as Beef Eaters, are the official guards of the Tower and the official tour guides. Each Yeoman has had a career in the British Armed Forces for a period of a minimum of 22 years. When the Tower was still mainly used as a prison, their main job was to make sure the prisoners stayed put. This building has served as a fortress, battlements, armoury, prison, home of the Royals, and now a museum. It has seen the deaths of over 100 prisoners, the last being Rudolf Hess in 1941 and was the sight of the deaths of Mary Queen of Scots, Mary I (Henry's first daughter and commonly known as Bloody Mary), and probably most famously Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife.

There is a ton of history that once again dates back to the Romans, much like the rest of London. Nowadays, the tower is most well known as the home of the Crown Jewels. I've seen them twice in my life and I think I liked them better the first time. This last time they didn't hold the same awe and I wasn't as impressed. I think part of it was that I was acting more as a tour guide for my American friends who had a lot of questions about the British Monarchy. With the Royal Wedding coming up next week, I've been filling them in on all things Windsor. The queue for the Jewels took us about 45 minutes. The exhibit has been redone since I last visited and while before it felt more like a museum, my friends and I noted that it felt a bit like waiting for a ride in Disneyland. The queue snakes through the building and on the walls there are portraits of past monarchs. There are videos that come up on display with trumpeting music and roaring crowds. They convey a sense of pride and importance about the Crown Jewels which are quite majestic, but it doesn't take that long to admire them.

I would like to talk quickly again about British identity, this is something that we are studying and each area we go to reveals a little bit more about what is British and how the identity formed. This tower, this great building that embodies strength and power, has stood guard over the city of London for centuries. It symbolizes an unmoving strength that the citizens of the UK seem to feel they have. It also represents the monarchy. Each monarch has left their mark on the British people, be it the most famous invoking fear such as Henry VIII or Elizabeth I, or paving the way for greatness, such as Victoria. I would argue in the creation of the British identity, the argument of instrumentalism (that is to say that there have been people or institutions that have paved the way for identity or etnicity to come about) is reflected in the history of the monarchy.

Other attractions at the Tower include the beheading of Anne Boleyn, tours of different areas, and the Line of Kings, which is an exhibition of the armour and weapons that have been used by old kings and knights which is housed in the White Tower.

My friends and I finished pretty quickly at the Tower and set off to find traditional English Meat Pies. After consulting the very successful and helpful blog London Cheap Eats, we ventured towards a restaurant called Piebury. This pie joint has several locations throughout London including King's Cross. It took us a while to actually get everyone through King's Cross Station because we all were in awe of the place where Harry Potter first got on the Hogwarts train. When I was last in England, I had a meat pie that was structured off of those served in King Henry VIII's court. I found it disgusting. I was sceptical to try one again, but being adventurous paid off and I think I have a new favourite food.

I'm loving exploring new areas of London every day and finding new foods and experiences to try. I am so grateful to have this experience and continue to make the most of it.