Off With Their Heads

Today was exhausting. I seem to be feeling that a lot when I'm here, but at least now it's in a good way.

A few of us signed up for a BU-led trip to the Tower of London. It turns out it was a little more than that -- for a few hours we had a bus tour and got to briefly see a lot of stuff all over the city, like Buckingham Palace, Fleet Street, and Oxford Circus (where I'll be working once my internship starts). We stopped at Westminster Abbey and walked around for a bit. I got some gorgeous pics of Big Ben. Then we stopped at St. Paul's Cathedral. There were some carvings outside of a lot of secular figures including Martin Luther King, Jr, but also Charles Darwin (which seemed a little oxymoronic, being on a church).

Finally, the Tower of London. We drove over Tower Bridge and walked into the courtyard, which was awesome. It was all just really pretty and powerful. Obviously, I headed off to where the Crown Jewels were first. Prettttty. I like sparkly things, as you know. It was so strange, though, because none of it seemed real. The tiaras were like the pink plastic one I sent Anna Katherine, with huge fake-looking stones. There was a scepter (the official title has something to do with an orb) that had the Star of Africa at the top -- that's a reeeeally big diamond. 530.2 carats, to be exact. Like rock candy. I probably could have stayed in there for an hour.

We went to a bunch of the other towers, including the torture tower (I didn't read the descriptions), a place where they had life-size models of horses, and rooms with armor and artillery. And we climbed a lot of stairs. In circles. Somehow, I managed to stay upright.

Things I learned this weekend:

1. Piccadilly Circus is named after the piccadill, the name for the ruffled collar that women wore back in the day. Queen Elizabeth is wearing one in her portrait. They used to be made in this area; hence, Piccadilly Circus.
2. One tiny piece from the room of the Crown Jewels could easily pay for my college education.
3. In a certain part of SoHo there are urinals outside. Like, not stalls with urinals. Round stations where you can walk up and pee. In public. Um...