Day 3: Tower of London

White Tower in the Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Kelsi and I at the Tower of London

The Diamond Jubilee Crown, the Queens 60th Anniversary Celebration

Tower Bridge

Armored Horse from the 16th Century

Materials used for a beheading prisoners from the tower of London

We wake up to eat breakfast, and leave the hotel promptly at 8:15 a.m. We know we have a full day of itinerary planned so we are ready to go, only to realize that the entire days itinerary is optional. We head out to tour the Tower of London. The history of the tower is immense, with executions such as Anne Boleyn taking place there. There were also many different torture methods used in the tower. Anyone who made the king mad or was found guilty of treason would usually end up there. It was beautiful with one tower holding the crown jewels. Coronation crowns graced the inside with diamonds over several inches in diameter. It was one of the best experiences of the trip. History graced every wall with armory and swords. The Tower Bridge and London Bridge can be seen over the walls of the tower. After the tower we travel to the Oxford area to eat lunch and do some local shopping. After a short stint with shopping around Oxford Circus, we expire back to the hotel for a quick rest before the guest speaker. We go down to the breakfast room in the hotel to listen to Tom Arms speak about his journalism career in England. Tom Arms was born in the United States, and after studying for a year in London during his junior year of college, he decided to move and work in London. He is an exceedingly interesting man with a witty and gregarious personality, and he had so much to say about his career and journalism in the United Kingdom. He reiterated several times that the biggest difference journalism has in the United States and the United Kingdom is the fact that England does not attribute information as much as we do in the United States. The readers expect the journalists to know their information and therefore no attribution is needed. I wonder how far that trust could get you in the United States? It might not go well since trust with the media from the readers is such a thin line, fragile that should not be toyed with. At least newspapers in the United States make an enormous effort to hold their status as reputable entities. With another successful day in London, tomorrow we have a tour of Westminster Abbey and a visit to a public relations agency, and I can’t wait.