Free Day!

Wednesday we had a free day! We chose to spend this day going to the Tower of London. Here we got to see lots of history. The first thing we learned about was the making of coins back in the day. They shop had a computer program that was set up in a game type fashion. The program walked us through the process of making coins in the mint. It is quite the process. From weighing the old coins so you know how much the new ones need to weigh from melting the metal and chipping away the pestol from the final result. They even had a bag full to show how heavy they were back then just for a little bag of them.

The next thing we saw was the animal tower where there used to be a bunch of animals around the tower. There were lions, monkeys, alligators, Ravens and even a Polar bear. The only animals still there today are the Ravens which they keep there and we got to see them. The raven we saw actually got a piece of food out of the plastic from the trash can and ate it. It was truly a sight to see.

The most exciting part about the Tower of London was seeing the real Crowned Jewels. All of the jewels were so beautiful! The one diamond was over 3,100 Karats and was originally from South Africa. It was so sparkly and humongous! I can't even imagine how much it weighs! There were also rings and Queen Elizabeth's crowning video was playing. I can't imagine how much all the items in the vault cost.

The last part of the Tower we visited was White Tower. This tower had a ton of stairs and was quite the workout to get in and out of! In this area were the means of armour,  weapons and torture. We got to see the armour that evolved throughout history which was really neat. We also got to see lots of neat guns and muskets. My favorite part was seeing the executioner's mask and the executioner's sword which looked like an axe on steroids.

At night we got to go to Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. I have to say this was by far my favorite thing I did while in London! Lion King was my favorite childhood movie and seeing it in the theatre was quite special. We sat next to the aisle where many animals ran past is up to the stage. The sound and lighting design were spectacular! The whole thing was so realistic and almost exactly like the movie. It truly was an amazing experience I will remember forever!