Day 15

Sorry, I'll get Thursday up tomorrow!


Today was actually a very good day. I woke up to a beautiful blue sky and a nice warm day. I got up a little earlier than normal so I could do some last minute prepping for my exam. We were given two questions at the beginning of the week and told we get to pick one to answer in an essay format. The first question was to describe the change in London’s economics between the Roman times and 1066. The second question, and the one I chose, was to describe how the artifacts in the museums we’ve visited have helped us to better understand either the Roman or Medieval period of London. I used the Museum of London website to look through pictures of their Roman artifacts to choose a few topics to write about. I think I did a really good job on the exam, so I’m not worried about it at all. And I got my first paper back and I got a B on it. Maybe not the best grade in the world but it’s the first essay I’ve written in three semesters, and it was on a topic that I’m not very interested about, so there was only so much I could do. Anyways, for the rest of the class period (the exam was only 40 minutes long) we talked about the Stuart era, the reformation and the restoration. The Stuarts are particularly interesting. I already told you the story of Charles I (which I learned about on my tour on that first Saturday), and today I learned a lot of the background to why he ended up being beheaded. He was a terrible king. The Church of England had been formed at this point and was basically protestant, but Charles I was catholic. He appointed a catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, which made a lot of people mad, he taxed the people without ever calling parliament to get permission, and he did a lot of other terrible things. He eventually ended up at war against parliament itself when he tried to have 6 of the MP’s who most staunchly refused his proposal for raised taxes (when he finally called parliament together YEARS after he took the throne). These 6 MPs were all from the City of London, and they fled Westminster Palace to the city where the citizens put up blockades to keep the King and his men out. They even chased the King all the way back to Westminster. He raised his royal standard and declared war on parliament. He raised his feudal armies and they brought together the trained bands of London (basically the militia), and they battled. There was one particular battle which most historians see as being the one that signaled the imminent victory of the people. This was when 20,000 soldiers from London stood against the King and his men. No battle was even fought, they just squared off, and Charles eventually packed up and left, knowing he wouldn’t beat this enormous force. In the end, a few years down the road, they fought alongside the Scots to take down and capture Charles. The Scots got him and sold him back to parliament, where they started deciding what to do with him. He escaped and tried to raise one last army, but he was defeated and captured yet again, at which time Oliver Cromwell, the leader of London’s army, decided to execute Charles. He stood trial and was subsequently found guilty of treason against the people. He was beheaded. Anyways the rest of the Stuart history is interesting, but I’m not going to write it all down.


After class I came home to take a nap, because I just felt too tired to go out yet. I wanted to appreciate seeing the sights, not just be tired and grumpy the whole time. So I got up at about 2 and went to grab some lunch, then exchange some more traveler’s checks because I ran out of cash, and then hop on the tube to Westminster. I went to Westminster Abbey today! It cost 12 pounds to get it, but it was worth it. I got one of the audio tour headsets for free and walked through listening to the history on my own. I saw the tombs of quite a few Kings and Queens. Going there really brought it all home for me. I’m learning about all this history and then there it was, right in front of me. Westminster Abbey is so incredibly old, and so much of it remains intact to this day. The coronation chair, for example, has been used in every coronation since the 1300s. And it’s still there! That chair is literally hundreds of years older than America. I wish I could’ve taken pictures of the tombs and the inside of the Abbey, but it’s not allowed. So I made my way through the whole church and at the end there was a monastery. I lit a candle where all the candles are. To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what the real reason is for lighting the candles, but I lit a candle for Grandma Myers. I know it’s weird that I would light a candle specifically for just one of my grandparents, but I remember going to big churches in Seattle with her as a little girl, and being inside this church made me think about her a lot, so I lit a candle in Westminster Abbey in her memory. I know this church is Anglican, not Catholic, but the idea’s the same.


So I headed home after that. I got home and worked on my blogs. I feel bad that I’ve been getting so behind, plus it sucks having to do it all now. I went to dinner at about 6 (I had a hotdog that was twice the length of a normal hotdog), and at 6:45 Jamie and I left for Peter Pan. We went to will call to pick up our tickets and then went on in. It was an interesting theater because it was constructed entirely new for this production. It’s basically in a big tent. The stage was round and in the middle. It was pretty plain. The ceiling of the tent was a big screen that wrapped all the way around. The best part of the whole play, in my opinion, was when they flew to Neverland and up over Kensington Gardens and out over London. I could pick out a lot of landmarks which was very cool. The play was really well done and it was especially good because there were so many little kids in the theater oohing and aahing and laughing the whole time. Unfortunately there’s a flip side to that coin, as kids aren’t very good at staying quiet during the whole thing, but that’s okay. I had a great time. I wanted to get a t-shirt but not for 18 pounds! I think I might try to find one of the smaller signs in the park and “borrow” it to hang on my wall. After the play we headed home and now here I am, trying to get my blogs finished and up to date!


Love you guys!
Jaime