Home

I am home, safe and sound finally after a long day of traveling yesterday! I have stuffed myself with many of the american junk foods that I have missed already! I suppose this means that this is my last post for my blog so I just wanted to say thanks for reading it this whole semester! I'm writing this post right now with 1,662 blog views so it was a lot more popular than I thought!!

Month 4

Today marks my fourth month abroad! Its crazy how fast the time was gone by since being here and its still a little weird to think about everything I've done - like even though its been 2 months since my trip to Paris but it doesn't seem real yet that I've seen the Eiffel Tower in person! I'm sure it will seem very real once I get home and begin to print out pictures! While I didn't get to see all of Europe, I am still amazed by how much I did see. I've been to 4 different countries (United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Belgium) - unless we just want to go ahead and count Scotland as its own country since they most likely will be as of the coming fall, making it 5 countries. I have seen things I've only dreamed about and tried things I've never imagined (aka snails). I don't plan on this being my last trip out here (I mean come-on, I still have all of Italy to see and lots of pasta to devour!) but I've definitely learned a lot since coming here. 

Kevin headed back to the states today and I am only a few days behind him! By this time Friday I will be back! The first thing I am going to get my hands on when I get back? American Coke, Salted Pretzels, Taco Bell, and Reeses. Or that's what I'm thinking about right now. I know the coke and pretzel part will be a definite though! 

You sound like you're from London!

three post in 24 hours?? lucky readers!

I saw this again on pinterest and realized it was the perfect of the odd differences in word choices between home and here

West Minister Abbey & Camden Market!

Today Kevin & I went to an afternoon service at THE West Minister Abbey. I'd like to think of it as I was attending church basically with the royal family as well as a bunch of famous dead people. Now typically, it would cost 18 pounds (27 US dollars) to get in and tour the church - but being the sneaky people Kevin & I are, we figured we'd just go to the actual church service and get a look at the inside for FREE. However, we didn't get to tour around the whole place :( I was able to sneak a few pictures too!

After the service, Kevin and I headed to the northern part of the city to go to Camden Market. It wasn't entirely what I had expected, but it was still a very neat place to go! We walked around the shops, got a few gifts/souvenirs, ate on some really neat patio seats and enjoyed the sun!

Overall, it has been a pretty successful day! 

Taking a Final in a Different Country

Today was my first of two finals. It was a pretty easy one since it was the Jim Crow American History final (buts lets be honest, neither finals were be what I consider to be hard). However, while the actual test may be easy the set-up of the test was not as pain-free. 

Imagine 350+ students in a giant warehouse that are all taking some test (but not necessarily the same one because there are 5 or more classes assigned to each test period). On top of that since there are multiple test going on, not all of them have the same time-limit. Some kid has a 30 minute test for an education class, another kid has 2 hours for his philosophy test, another gets an hour for his english test, and so forth. Every few minutes students were getting up,shuffling around, or being escorted to the restroom (flash back to standardize test, right?). The room also has assigned seats (yes, assigned seats for all 300+ kids) so this distracting nose is coming at you from all sounds and with it being one giant warehouse the sound students make on one side of the room, can be heard on the other. You can already picture this been a crazy, loud environment, especially for students that are taking their finals.

But that's not all. On top of the sniffling noses and obnoxious coughing, it decides to rain for a brief period of time. So now, there is the not-so-smoothing sound of rain pattering (LOUDLY) on the tin roof of this warehouse. 

Add all these noises and distractions up and you can picture the setting for St. Mary's finals. Beautiful, right?

Changing of the Guards - Video!

Changing of the Guards

Yesterday, Kevin and I went down into Central London and got to watch the Changing of the Guards! It was not the best day to go down because this weekend is a bank holiday weekend (basically a 3 day weekend) so it was VERY crowded, as you'll be able to see in my pictures. Despite the crowds though, Kevin and I were able to hop onto a stone wall thing (there is no really good way to explain what it is haha) and got a great view of the whole thing from there. The event last roughly 45 minutes and they do it  everyday during the warm months and every-other day during the cold months!! I was able to get pictures and videotape most of the event, but in the last 5-10 minutes it began to down pour on us! Despite the 15 minute drizzle, the day was very nice (I still laugh at myself for saying that because it was only 65 degrees and if I was back home I'd be freezing haha).

Here are few pictures from the event! I'll hopefully have some videos up soon too!

Tourist Thursday: Jack the Ripper

Today's Tourist Thursday activities was a Jack the Ripper tour. Now, I know that I didn't really know much about who or what Jack the Ripper was. And part of me still wishes I didn't know, because it is gruesome and terrifying. The tour started in eastern part of the city of London and the guide gave a brief introductory to the lifestyle of the area during the time the story takes places. In this portion of the city it was estimated that close to 7,200 people lived in the close quarters and was highly associated with crime & poverty. Many women in this area made ends meet by becoming prostitutes in the area, working only for 4 pents (equivalent to 4 pennies). They only worked for 4 pents because that was the cost for them to  pay for a bed for the night at dormitories (and by bed, I mean hay with a cloth over it). Clearly, not the best of times for Londoners. But this was the scene of one of the most mysterious murderers of all time.

Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in the Fall of 1888 that gruesomely murdered 5 young prostitutes. I don't even think gruesome describes the disgusting nature of what Jack the Ripper accomplished. (I won't  disclose any of the actual details here but I will put links up to websites and pictures if you are super curious!) On the tour we saw the murder scenes of  Mary Ann Nicholas, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly (as well as a few others who are debated about weather the Ripper killed them or someone else). There have been numerous people who have been suspected as being Jack the Ripper, from Queen Victoria's grandson (Prince Albert) to one of the women's boyfriends to Mary Jane Kelly. Still, the true identity of Jack the Ripper is unknown as well as his motives for the violence and terror he caused. 

It was definitely a spine-chilling experience - I mean, its hard to think that someone could even imagine of doing the things Jack the Ripper did. Along with the fact that his identity is still (and most likely always will be) a mystery. If you dare to look at pictures or want to hear what exactly he did, here are some links: Jack the Ripper History, Jack the Ripper Photos, 

How long does a Queen last?

I found this link today and it looks into how long a queen last. I thought it was a really funny and interesting look at The Queen

http://www.funri.com/how-long-does-a-queen-last/

Scotland!

I have just returned from one of the most amazing trips I think I  have ever been on. The past few days have been extremely busy, but it was an absolutely amazing experience! So, as usual I will break down the trip by the days for you all to follow along!

Thursday

Since the trip up to Scotland is a 9-10 hour drive, we decided to take an overnight megabus that way we didn't waste a whole day traveling. We took a bus that went from central London to Glasgow, Scotland

The drive up was pretty much what you could imagine it would be like, a little crowded and loud, but hey it was a cheap ride up. We left around 1 am and got into Glasgow around 11:30am. We spent the day exploring Glasgow, backpacks and all. We went to a neat place called the Lighthouse (which is not really a lighthouse) which is basically a museum about architecture. The neat thing about this place was that it had a view tower that you could climb up and get a birds eye view of the city. We climbed the 135 steps up to the top and were memorized by the amazing view this little tower in the center of the city had.

view from the tower

After visiting the Lighthouse we walked around town, visiting the Glasgow Museum of Art, town center, and a few other places. One place we went to was the Tenement House. This was an apartment building dating back to the very early 1900s. The room of one of the occupants has been left unchanged since 1935, and is now used as a museum. We explored the city a little more and grabbed some dinner then visited the city's Modern Art Museum. The place is full of odd pieces, including this one:

If you can't read it, it says: "It doesn't matter which one you pick, they are all poison

After the museum, we hopped on a bus that took us to Edinburgh. It was a little late when we got there, but we did have enough time/light to take a few snapshots of the city before calling it a night

the Edinburgh Castle

Friday

On this day, we booked a group tour that took us out into the Highlands of Scotland! I don't think my words could do nearly enough justice to how pretty Scotland is! Hopefully my pictures on here and on facebook leads you all to think the same thing. Here is the route we took to for the trip:

One of the first places we stopped on the trip was the Deanton Whiskey Distillery. We got a short tour of the place and a talk on how it was made followed by a short breakfast break. 

Deanton Distillery 

Afterwards, we drove into the mountains making occasional stops to get out of the caravaan and take pictures followed by a quick lunch break in Glencoe! This area is known widely around here due to the Massacre of Glencoe. This occured during the reign of King William, who was king of both Scotland and England at the time (long story behind that one). He wasn't pleased with the clan of Highlanders that lived in Glencoe (the Macdonald clan) because they did not immediately pledge their allegance to him. Because of this he had the town brutally massacred one morning, which started lead to uprisings against the King's ruling. (more information can be found here: Massacre of Glencoe, Glencoe Massacre) 

In the Highlands

Driving through Glencoe

After lunch, we made our way up to the famous, Loch Ness. Sadie and I got to go on a boat cruise on a small portion of the lake (and by small, I mean very small since the lake is the 24 miles long!) The rumor of the Loch Ness Monster was first recorded 1,500 years ago!! While there is no proof of the existence of a monster living in the lake, the people in the area are strong believers that there is some sort of monster down there! On top of that, even though you can't really tell in my pictures the lake's water was pitch black. It definitely made the situation a little spookier!

Nessie!

On Loch Ness

After Loch Ness, we made our way back to Edinburgh which also included a few more photo opportunities and some snack time.

Saturday

The day started off pretty early with a hike up a hill in the center of town called Calton Hill. This hill is a public park with tons of greek/roman-like statues. The Hill offered a nice view of the entire city, included the now-extinct volcano, Arthur's seat. On my way back I managed to walk right by Mel Gibson!!! Crazy start to the day right?? Afterwards Sadie and I went an ate breakfast at the Elephant House, which is where J.K. Rowling did most of her writing for her first few Harry Potter books!

view from Calton Hill

Afterwards we got to go on a walking tour of the city and learned a lot about Scotland and Edinburgh's history! The walking tour went all over the old town (Edinburgh is split up into the old town and new town, which are both pretty much self explanatory). We learned about some of Scotland's crown jewels, major battles that took place, the development of the town, as well as some interesting facts related to Harry Potter!  After the tour, Sadie & I went to visit Dolly the Sheep, also known as the first organism to be cloned.

Dolly the Sheep

We then walked around town for a little longer, both the new and old and eventually decided to take a long hike up the extinct volcano! We definitely worked our muscles and killed our feet getting up there, but the view was totally worth it!

on top of the extinct volcano overlooking the city!

We then had some dinner, hung around the town for a bit and then took another overnight bus back to London this morning. Here was the route back for us:

As you can hopefully tell by my pictures the trip was gorgeous! I hope to back here again and see more of what Scotland has to offer!

Last Week of Lectures!

Today is my last day of lecture courses! Which is odd to think about since yesterday was High Point's last day of classes and they will be home in less a week and a half, and I still have over a month left in London! 

Next week most classes are optional or you have a revealed exam/presentation to finish off the year. Its weird to think that classes are over, because I feel like I have been to hardly any classes! With classes only being once a week, it means I have only had 12 or 13ish lectures per class. Back at home, I go to more than 12 classes in a week! And I am not the only one who sees the huge difference between schools back home and here. One of the girls in the program said that her teacher told her that its so different because only a small portion of kids go to college here, unlike America. Another girl said that her teacher told her that its so much easier because they make sure the students pass so that they receive the student's awarded grant money, because if they don't pass then the school doesn't get the money. 

Tonight my friend Sadie & I take off for Scotland! Prepare for photos, blogs, etc. to be up Sunday when I get back!

Tourist Thursday: Oxford!

Yesterday, Kevin and I took a day trip our of London to the famous university town of Oxford! I have wanted to see this famous college for years, and it finally happen! But it was certainly not what I expected! 

For starters, Oxford University is the 3rd oldest University in the world! However, when the students founded the school, they were not welcomed by the town what-so-ever. If you can tell from my pictures in my Facebook album, all the colleges are closed in, by walls/fences/whatever. This is because the town folks use to try and kill the students around the 13th century, so as a mean of protecting the students the university developed residence buildings and gates so that the students could remain in the university and not worry about being killed (According to our walking tour guide, there was one period when 60 students were killed by the townsfolks. CRAZY). But this wasn't the part that I would describe as "what I didn't expect." 

Oxford University is not a unified campus, so-to-speak. Instead it is made up of a bunch of little colleges, and I don't mean a bunch of specialized colleges (ex. College of Pharmacy, School of Education, etc.). Each college offers more-the-less the same courses, so when applying to Oxford University, you have to also apply to the college you want. And they are treated as if they are all different colleges, not just one big Oxford University college. For example, If I was a student attending New College at Oxford University majoring in English and Kevin was attending Balliol College at Oxford University also majoring in English, I couldn't just waltz my way into Balliol College and see Kevin. I would have to be invited in as a guest. But I still couldn't use the facilities on my own, such as the dining hall or the libraries.  It's rather confusing (or at least I think so). But the map below shows how the colleges are spread out ll throughout the town and not necessarily even connected/close to one another - all the lettered dots on the map represent the colleges of Oxford Univesity

But anyways, itinerary wise Kevin and I went on a walking tour of the city and got to go into some of the colleges: Balliol College, Wadham College, New College, etc. We also went around and saw some other important pieces to Oxford University, such as the Sheldonian Theatre which is where some of the university's graduation takes place.  

 Entrance to Balliol College - the oldest college of Oxford University

Chapel at New College

After the tour we went and had some lunch at the oldest pub in Oxford, Turf Tavern! Following that, we headed up to Oxford's Museum of the History of Science and got to see a collection of old instruments that the university has collected - such as teloscopes and instruments used to create penicillin. But the most cherish item that the museum held was the blackboard used by Albert Einstein when he taught at Oxford University briefly as well as the his notes that were left on the board!

Official Chalkboard & Writing of Albert Einstein!

We then headed down to the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum! the Museum of Natural History is known for having the most complete collection of the Dodo bird! Unfortunately, the museum was going through renovations, so most of their items (including the Dodo bird) where wrapped up and moved for protection. After the museum we took another stroll around the town to see Christ Church College (their dining hall is what Hogwart's dining hall is model after in Harry Potter). We didn't get to go inside, but it was nice to walk around the building, which is next to a large park full of dear! Afterwards, we headed to the train and headed home!

But before I end the blog, there is one last thing I must share - that I believe is BEYOND cool. First off for any Harry Potter fans reading this, you should be familar where I am from my picture below. But if you haven't seen Harry Potter, I included a clip for you to watch!

Here are the pictures from my walk down Harry Potter lane:

Less then a week till I'm off to Scotland!! 

Scottish Travels! And Other News

I am excited to announce that I will traveling to the lovely land of Gerald Butler and Kilts. That's right, I'm going to Scotland! Kevin is going to be skipping out on this trip, instead I am going on a little girls weekend with one of the girls here, Sadie! We will be seeing Glasgow, Edinburgh, and I will also be tracking down the famous Loch Ness Monster!! Now, this trip isn't until the end of April, but I am so excited for it! Let me know if anyone is interested in any kilts, I can help you out :)

In other news, some major events are taking in place in London this week with the recent death of Margaret Thatcher. There will be a state funeral for her on Wednesday which includes being marched throughout the city from the Tower of London to Westminster - its the same funeral that Winston Churchill had. We are still deciding if we want to go down to witness this event (because even though it is a funeral, it would be really neat to be an eye witness to this event that doesn't happen very often). 

Along with that, Kevin and I will be spending our Tourist Thursday in Oxford, England! My dream school (well, at least it was my dream school in the 6th grade)!!! So keep an eye out for some new pictures and post coming soon!

Back into the Routine

Now that classes have started back up again (after being on break for 2 and 1/2 weeks) I am starting to get into the routine of things again. I only have 3 weeks of classes left and then basically a month for "finals" (I'll explain later) and last minute exploring! 

These next few weeks will mostly consist of finishing up the remainder of the work for the year, which frankly is equivalent to a weeks worth of homework at high point so it's not very stressful. Following the ending of classes is a short window of "finals" that not every class participates in - I only have 2 out of my 4 classes. The reason I am using quotation marks is because finals over here are kind of a joke when compared to the finals I know of. When I think of finals I think of hours of studying and preparation for a three hours exam that makes you want to cry at the end of it. But here, finals are a 1 hour revealed essay. Now I know you must be thinking the same thing when I heard of it, what exactly is a revealed essay? Well, it is exactly like it sounds. It is an essay where they tell you the question(s) weeks in advance so you can practice writing it before the day of the final. I don't exactly understand the effectiveness of this type of final, because you're not really being test on the semester's worth of material.   But I'm not going to complain.

Other than the last minute work and the brief period of finals, I am hoping to get in a few last minute trips  before the end of the semester. I am hoping to get out into the other districts of the UK, especially Wales and Scotland, as well as some of the other cities in the area, such as Oxford and Brighton. 

Other than that, not much else to share about life in London! 

Stonehenge & Bath

The last part of this week's adventure was a day trip out to see Stonehenge and Bath! The trip was apart of a groupon deal that included the bus ride there and back, entry into Stonehenge, and a private tour guide. We left central London early yesterday morning and began our journey. The drive out to Stonehenge was a little over an hour and a half and our private tour guide told us countless information on the way there. 

The actual experience of Stonehenge was indescribable! It still doesn't feel like it really happen! However, even though the experience was incredible it was BEYOND freezing! The open field surrounding Stonehenge made it extremely windy, but I would do it all over again!

Just a quick hour away from Stonehenge was the city of Bath. Bath was built up by the ancient Roman Empire. Its architecture was absolutely gorgeous! It was built along a hillside and the river Avon (sidenote: there are multiple rivers in England called Avon because it is the anglo-saxon word for river). The city is also the home to a set of Roman Baths, which still uses the same piping that the Romans put in centuries ago! We spent most of the time there walking around and eating!

Brussels, Belgium

The second adventure of this past week was our trip to Brussels, Belgium! Mom, Mikhaila, Kevin and I had a marvelous time exploring the city, but it was a little more difficult then previous cities because Belgians speak 3 main languages: French, Dutch  and German! So unlike Paris where there were some English on them, Belgium did not because they had to fit so many other languages to deal with. But despite the language barrier, it was still an interesting time!

Tuesday

We woke up early Tuesday morning (like around 5:30am!) and headed to St. Pancras International station. We then took a lovely train ride out of London all the way to Brussels. Now, you may be wondering how you take a train from England to the mainland. There is a tunnel that goes under the channel that trains travel through, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the tunnel is completely enclosed and there is no windows that let you see as you are traveling through the tunnel. When we got to Brussels, we took the subway and got to our hotel room for the next few days. After checking in, we grab a little lunch and began to explore!
The first stop that day was Saint Micheal's Cathedral. It reminded me a lot of Notre Dame back in Paris!

Afterwards, we walked down into the Grand Market which is in the center in the city. It was gorgeous! the Market was surrounded by some of the most important buildings in the city: The King's House, Guildhalls, the Duke's house, Town Hall, and many others! At night, the Market place was a scene of flashing, colorful lights!

We walked around some more before we headed back to the hotel to take a short siesta (which Brussels still takes part of as everything in the town appears to be closed between 3 adn 6). After the nap we found a local restaurant and stuffed our face with some of the most delicious pasta ever. We walked around for a little while after and grabbed some famous Belgian chocolate and then called it a night!

Wednesday

We started the day with traveling outside the city to Heysel Park to see the world's biggest atom! This 335 foot atom was built back in 1958 and still stands today! We goofed around for a bit and had a picnic just under the atom before we packed up and headed back into the city area.

After the Atom, we walked around Brussels some more through Brussels Park that looks upon the Royal Palace. A lot of the trees and plants in the park were still dead from the cold months, but we could tell that it would be stunning in the warmer months! 

 We then we went on the hunt to find the famous Peeing Boy! I don't really know the reason behind the sculpture of the peeing boy, but there are figurines all over the city for sale! the statue is also remarkably small - its about the same size as 3/4 of my arm. It is also reported that there is a "squatting girl" somewhere around the city as well!

After finding the peeing boy we enjoyed one of Belgium's famous waffle (which is more of a desert then a breakfast item) and then headed back for another siesta! Afterwards, we went out for dinner (another Italian restaurant where the chief made the pasta fresh each morning!!) and did a little more exploring at night before calling it a night!

Thursday

For our last day in Brussels, we split up into 2 and went to the museum of our choice. Mom & Mikhaila went to one of the Art Museums that had an exhibition of Kandinsky while Kevin & I went to the Belvue Museum that was about the history of Belgium. Kevin & I learned a lot from the museum, especially concerning the development of the country in 1830. With the country only being a little more than 180 years old there wasn't much history to it just yet as compared to France and England. The Belgian Revolution mostly took place in Brussels against the Netherlands, just shortly after the French Revolution  ended. Since Belgium won its freedom in 1830, there have been only 5 monarch to help oversee the country. The museum also went into some details about Belgium's place during both World Wars and it development over the years. If you are curious about the history of Belgium here are some links: Belgian Revolution, Belgian Revolution 2, Belgium WW1

After the museums, we walked around one last time and picked up some last minute souvenirs before we grabbed our bags and hopped on the train back to London! 

Mom & Mikhaila - Sunday & Monday

A LOT has happened this last week and I am very excited to share it all with you! To make it easier on all of us, I'm breaking the week up into separate blogs instead of just having one colossal blog post. This first post is about my mom & Mikhaila arriving into London on Sunday and the adventures we had that day and on Monday.

Mom & Mikhaila got in early Sunday Morning (around 7:30am London time or 2:30am EST). I met them at the airport that morning and brought them back to my homestay so they could drop off their bags and freshin up after their over-night flight. After introducing them to my host family and cleaning up, I took them around the college campus and introduced them to the Twickenham area! Kevin came and met us up in Twickenham and we had lunch at one of the local Pubs, The George. 

After lunch, we headed into Central London so that they could get a "sneak preview" of what they had in store for Monday. I showed them Trafalgar Square (where the National Gallery is), St. Martin in the Field Church, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey. and a few other things that were in the area. It was extremely crowded since it was Easter Sunday, but it made it all the more amusing! There was some sort of Easter festival going on in the square where people dressed up as bunnies and roller bladed around town.

We then boarded the train back to my homestay where Kevin made us some yummy Easter Dinner! (which I showed also add ended up being more difficult then we would have thought because in London almost all stores are closed down and many restaurants have early closing times, so Kevin had to go 2 towns over in order to find an open grocery store!)

After dinner, I helped Mom & Mikhaila with their bags and got them checked in at the hotel.

We got up early Monday morning and made a (stressful) trip down to Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace is currently the home of Prince Charles and Kate - or better known as Katherine here. Princess Diana also lived here! The Palace has a portion that is open to the public that walks through the history of some of the past Kings & Queens that have lived here. A large portion of the Palace is dedicated to the history of Queen Victoria and King Albert's family. It also goes through the life of Queen Anne and other monarchies as well! 

After spending most of the morning in the Palace, we grabbed some lunch and jumped onto a Hop on-Hop off Bus tour of London.  The Tour covered almost every inch of the city and also included an audio guide that pointed out neat facts about where we were as well as some history behind the buildings.  The Map below shows the route we took around the city and highlights some of the things we saw - we took the blue route!

Some of the things we saw included: Buckingham Palace,Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament  Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral  Trafalgar Square, Towers of London, Piccadilly Circus, Green Park, and Oxford Streets. With the tour being a hop on-hop off bus, we got to get off at any of the stops we liked and then get back on whenever we were ready to continue with the tour. One of the places we got off at was the gigantic Harrods' Department store! Big doesn't even begin to describe this place! It was 6 stories high, included everything from 5* restaurants to organic food supplies to designer clothes. All together, the tour took several hours to complete and included hundreds and hundreds of photos!

The Southbank and London Eye

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben

Piccadilly Circus

After touring the city for hours we headed back to Twickenham and ate at another local pub, Spoons (odd names, I know) and headed back so we could begin packing for our next adventure to Brussels, Belgium!

Mom & Mikhaila's Arrival!

The past 48 hours have certainly been eventful and there will be lots to write about at the end of the week and TONS of photos to upload!! We are off to Brussels, Belgium to gorge ourselves in chocolate and Belgian waffles!! Sorry to you guys waiting on all the juicy details :)

Tower of London

Today Kevin and I went to the Towers of London! It is crazy how much history is packed into one facility! Even from the information we got from the tour and the signs around the royal grounds, I had to do my own research to make sense of this place. I don't even know how to start there is just so that happened and so many Monarchs that walked through the halls of the Tower!

The building includes an outer-wall, inner-wall and finally the main tower itself (also referred to as a castle in some cases) So now, I figure the best way to discuss everything the Towers has to offer is to break it down by building/exhibitions

The White Tower

The White Tower was the only piece to this royal ground when William the Conquerer first began building it around 1080. The additions to the facility began almost 150 years later until eventually there were 21 towers in total.
This became the official "home" of the Royal family from the time it was built until the very beginning of 1600. It was the home to  King Richard II and III, King Henry VI and VII, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary I, and so many more! They lived on the 2nd floor of the tower, there was a banquet hall  and st. john's chapel on the 1st floor, kitchen and the servants lived on the first floor and the basement was used as a dungeon at one point, and later as a wine cellar!
Today, the White Castle holds some of the previous Royal family's collectibles such as their armor, swords and guns. For more information on the White Towers (and trust me, there is a lot of history in just this building alone!) here are some links: White Tower 1, White Tower 2

Armor

St. John's Chapel

The Bloody Tower

This tower was used frequently to hold some of the state's prisioners. Its original name was the Garden Tower, but its name was later changed after the multiple gruesome deaths that took place in just this tower. It is famous for the deaths of the two young princes, Edward V and his brother Richard the Duke of York, who were around the ages of 9 and 12 at the time of their death. They were living in the Garden Tower when the mysteriously disappeared, and not found until hundreds of years later during restoration work on the White Tower. It was also the tower that imprisioned Henry Pearcy, Sir Thomas Overbury, multiple bishops and archbishops and was the site of Henry VI's death.  Links to more information about the Bloody Tower and those associated with it: The Princes in the Tower, The Bloody Tower

The Green

This spot was commonly used for the beheading of prisioners. If you were beheaded here and not in front of the public it was to prevent bad publicity. Others prisioners were taken to another location, right outside the towers to be executed for the public eye. There have been 3 Queens that were executed on this spot as well: Queen Anne Boleyn (wife of Henry VIII), Queen Katharine Howard (also the wife of Henry VIII), and Lady Jane Grey (who was only Queen for 3 days or something very short). Several others have been executed on this spot as well. More information: Tower Green 1, Tower Green 2

East Wall

The east wall is composed of several towers: Salt Tower, Broad Arrow Tower, Constable Tower, Martin Tower, & Bowyer Tower. There really wasn't much on these towers, but they have all held prisioners - some have even left their engravings on the walls of these towers. They were all also essential in the defense of the grounds and the Royal family. 

Chapel of St. Peter and Vincula

I was unable to take pictures in the chapel (it is actually a federal crime, so it wasn't worth the risk.... unless the guard was teasing me, but I have a feeling he wasn't.) It is said to be the 2nd most important church in England, following Westminster. Beneath the chapel is the burial place for majority of those executed at the Towers - when Queen Victoria had the chapel renovated and asked that the floor be leveled, they found close to 1,500 behead skeletons beneath the old floors!! Some of the bodies beneath the chapel included the 3 Queens that were executed on the green, 2 Roman Catholic Saints, and many others! More info: Chapel 1, Chapel 2

The Crown Jewels
I can know say I have seen the worlds 2nd largest diamond. It is 530 carrots and is about the size of my palm. If you can't grasp that, then just trust me, its HUGE. The Tower of London is home to what appeared to be all the jewels that England uses for the coronation of their Kings and Queens. However, all these jewels are much younger then the towers themselves! After the civil war and the execution of King Charles I in 1649, all crowns and symbols of the monarchy were destroyed. After peace had restored and Charles II was invited back into England, a new line of crown jewels had to be made. It is these jewels and the ones made thereafter that are now on display here! I wasn't able to take any pictures of these jewels, but I found a few on these sites to help give you a visual of what I got to witness! For more information: Crown Jewels

What did I tell you, large diamond or what???

some other facts that didn't really fit into any of the other categories above are:

- the Tower was also home to many exotic pets, such as lions, elephants, and a polar bear! (another fun fact about the polar bear, they use to put it on a leash and let it go fishing in the Thames River!)

- All of the men & women that work at the Tower today are apart British military and the also live in the tower of London as well!! This was our tour guide in his military uniform:

- just like they do at Buckingham Palace, the guards go through a special procedure for their "changing of the guards" 

- From the walls of the Tower, you get an amazing view of the Tower Bridge!!