The Tower of London

On Wednesday we went to the Tower of London. I'd never been before. There were a lot of cool things I learned about royal history and of course it was fun to see the Crown Jewels! My favorite part was the wall walk- where you walk along the wall and can see all around the compound. They used to keep prisoners and torture people there. (I wish there had been more about the princes murder but there wasn't). But it was mostly used by the royal family as a home. It's where they also kept exotic animals the king received as gifts! That was my favorite fact. I also read on Wikipedia that they executed people there as late as World War I and II. They killed 12 people for espionage.

The crown jewels were mostly things used for the coronation of the kings and queens- like crowns and staffs. There was a staff in there that has "the first star of Africa" on it- a 530 carat diamond. It's the largest flawless cut diamond in the world. At first I didn't think it could be real. This diamond and "the second star of Africa," which is in the Imperial State Crown, were cut from the biggest diamond ever found- 3,000 carats! Crazy!

For the Stirlings

My favorite part was reading about the animals. Henry III had a polar bear that they would tie on a long rope and take down to the river Thames to fish! Can you imagine living in London and seeing someone walking a polar bear down to the river!? If only I could see it now.

Baby armor! Why this was needed is beyond me.

Also I learned that when they used the bathroom it would just fall down the side of the building. They thought it dropped into a ditch that was washed away by the Thames. Apparently they were wrong and one day someone found a cesspit 500 years in the making.