tower of london... escape if you can!

for our field trip this week we stayed in london. we went down to the tower hill tube stop only to enter the dreaded tower of london! baaaaaa! the tower was built by william the conquerer in the 1100's. he started by building the white tower and over time other monarchies added on to make it the complex it is today. this is the white tower.for centuries it was the most dreaded place on earth. this is what it looks like today.only the worst traitors to the crown were taken there, and few were ever allowed to leave. our first stop was, of course, the crown jewels! unfortunately, no pictures are allowed. i bought some postcards that i will try to send, but they dont do justice! the jewels are AMAZING! there is one diamond there that is, get this, 520 carats!!!! i know, it was crazy. the crowns are the ones that they use today. we asked the guy how much they are worth, and he said they are priceless because they can never be sold so no one knows how much someone would pay for them. but they were really cool. after that we headed back to the main entrance to jump on to one of the tours. they are led by the infamous "beefeaters", or yeoman guards as they like to be known. they look like silly guys in uniforms but they actually work very hard to get that job. they have to serve in the military for 22 years before they are even qualified. our guides name was chris and he was awesome! he was so good at storytelling. our first was the traitor's gate.this is where the different traitors would enter after sailing up the thames. after that we walked to the bloody tower. this is the tower where the two young princes were supposedly murdered. dont know the story? let me tell you... so the two young boys were the legitimate heirs to the england throne due to their father being richard VI. but in 1483, thier uncle richard III claimed them illegitimate and had them taken to the tower. they were often seen playing on the grass until slowly their appearances stopped happening. they were never seen again, and in 1674 two young skeletons were found buried on the grounds. they were said to be that of two boys, aged 10 years old and 12 years old. the bones were taken to westminster abbey. the story goes that richard III had them suffocated so that he could claim the throne. hence the tower is now named the bloody tower. our next stop was the church on the grounds. it is here that many of the victims are buried, including catherine howard and anne boelyn. like i said, our tour guide was awesome and he made it so much fun! here is a picture of us with him. our last stop was this monument, which was the execution spot for six people, including three queens, catherine howard, anne boelyn, and lady jane grey. unlike many people, we were fortunate to leave the tower of london... alive. ba ha ha.