My last blog!!! Our excursion this Wednesday took us to Buckingham Palace, the symbol of power for the British Monarchy. The Queen was sadly not in residence, having moved for the summer months to Balmoral in Scotland. Every room was incredibly magnificent and extraordinary; words cannot even describe the grandeur and opulence that can be found in the few rooms that we saw. This year marks the 200th year that Queen Victoria would have ruled so there was a special exhibit on her time in Buckingham Palace. She changed the face of the palace in many ways and changed its relationship with the people. Physically, she expanded the palace to include a more room for her many children and for entertaining. Symbolically, she was the first to make it truly a home for the monarch of the British Empire. 

     The day before this, I also had the privilege of getting a private tour of Parliament. Being an international affairs major, this was extremely exciting! With no crowds in sight, we saw the great hall where heads of state such as the Queen and Barack Obama have given speeches, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. I learned that the Lords are appointed to their positions and only get paid if they show up to meetings, which many don’t. The House of Commons is made of up elected officials led by the Speaker of the House. It was so incredible to see where so many global decisions, good and bad, have been made and where all the power in Great Britain rests.  

     This past Monday, our class took a trip to the Tower of London. I had never been there and was definitely not expecting to find basically an entire village instead of just a tower. The architecture that has survived hundreds of years was incredible to see, but what was inside was even better. One of the most interesting things to see what the graffiti left by prisoners of the towers. It makes their imprisonment more tangible to the people who are touring today.  

     We were also able to see the Crown Jewels which was absolutely amazing- definitely my favorite part. Between the precious stones, glittering gold, and giant salt holder, the wealth and magnitude of the British monarchy was very clearly conveyed. It was also a little upsetting to see this extreme level of wealth within these pieces created years ago when the British were still an empire. Many of their colonies were underdeveloped, and had slaves and other extremely poor populations so seeing the wealth that was available for no reason other than pageantry was very telling. The armory was also very overwhelmingly extravagant, with life-size models of horses clad in armor and even armor for children. War is one of the most important parts of history and shapes both economies and societies, and seeing all this historic armor really put that into perspective. War is expensive, only the rich (individuals or countries) can afford to have suits of armor such as those displayed in in the Tower of London. This makes it very easy to conquer other nations that do not have such strong, advanced armor for the time. 

    Not to be extremely negative about this beautiful structure, but all of it screams of extreme wealth and privilege that only a country like England could have. 

     This past Tuesday, our class got the privilege of visiting the ruins of a Roman bath house and a Roman amphitheater. Just walking down into the site was so awesome because we got to experience what a real archaeological site is like. There were boxes and boxes of paper, ladders, desks- it just all looked like a working site even though they are not allowed to touch the site according to British law. There were remains of the outside walls of the actual house as well as the bath house, the floors which had small tiles, and even the small pillars that raised the floor so steam could travel. It was astounding to see the work and technology that made the bath house function when everything relied on manual labor. The bath house was a private one in the middle of a house’s courtyard. The steam would have been constantly provided by slaves who heated wood and other materials. Bathing was a secular ritual for the Romans, and would have taken place almost every day. It was absolutely amazing to see the remains of a part of everyday life for the Romans. 

     The Roman amphitheater was also very interesting but very different from the remains of the bath house. The museum has built a modern rendition of what the rest of the amphitheater would look like around the ruins which looked interesting against the historical significance of the ruins. The amphitheater would have been used as a place of entertainment where slaves would fight to the death with and without weapons. It was very cool it be able to see a structure with similar function to the colosseum right in the middle of the city. 

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    This past weekend, we visited the beautiful and charming city of York and the surrounding area. After exploring the historic streets, our first stop was at York Minister. The Minster is one of the oldest in Europe and was built in a gothic style. The city of York has changed hands of power many times, therefore the whole Minster and surrounding area sit on top of the site of a Roman fort. In the basement of the Minister, there are ruins of the fort than can be viewed as well as a fascinating museum on its history. Around the city there are also ruins of the wall the Romans built, along with the newer medieval city walls. The many different buildings that line the streets are visually and historically interesting, reflecting what one would thing of when picturing a quintessential English town. I felt immersed in a different time period as I walked around. This feeling is partly due to the lack of affect that the industrial revolution had in this area; most of the building are how they were hundreds of years ago. The biggest industry is sheep, which is very evident when driving around Yorkshire. 

     The following day, we travelled to Riveaux Abbey, the ruins of an abbey once large and home to both nun and priests. The site was almost like a fully functioning town, with a tannery set aside and housing for the people of the abbey. While only ruins were left because of the sacking of Catholic churches by Henry VIII, the extraordinary size and beauty of the abbey was magnificent to behold. After this, we visited the seaside town of Whitby. From the charming buildings to the ruins of another abbey on a hilltop overlooking the sea, it was definitely worthy of more than a day’s visit. My one disappointment was choosing the wrong place to eat fish and chips. During the last day of this trip, we visited the Chatsworth House, home of the duke and duchess of Devonshire. The house was full of extravagant decoration and history dating back to 1687. Overall, this was a successful trip and I am so grateful to have been able to experience the history and beauty of Yorkshire. 

                 

     During the second week of class, we visited the Museum of London to take a look at the city during prehistoric times. This museum is one of my favorites so far because each exhibit shows London during a different time period in one cohesive story. Most museums can be overwhelming with the number of different exhibits from different locations and time periods; it was nice to have a museum about one sole city to help me focus on what is important. The prehistoric London room held human and animal bones as well as tools. There was an extensive collection of metal swords ranging from bronze to iron with different designs and handles reflecting the time, which I thought was extremely interesting. There were also tools such as flint and stone hand axes, bone and antler tools, and smaller flint tools. Each one of these tools would have used for different things such as cutting, scraping, making other tools, as well as for hunting or self-defense,  

      

     I also took a look at Roman and mediaeval London sections of the museum, which was well worth the time. There are some ruins of a Roman wall on the side of the museum which they allow you to view through a window. There was also a sizable collection of Roman coins as well as a room that was model after one from this period. There were also a few miniature models of Roman communities and a fort that were in the city. The mediaeval section of the museum held clothing, weapons, and a video on the black plague that consumed Europe at this time. Overall, this museum was one of my favorites because of its organization and specific focus.

     This past weekend, I visited Majorca, an island off the coast of Spain. The biggest city, Palma, absolutely blew me away with its beauty, sunshine, and complex history. While exploring the center of town, near a port of course, I was immediately struck by the sight of a gothic style cathedral overlooking the water and a palace that sat next to it. The Cathedral of Palma de Majorca, also known as Le Seu, is a Catholic Cathedral built after the Reconquista of Spain. The island was occupied by Moors, or Islamic peoples, until Spain decided to invade it in their mission to expel all Moors from Spanish territory. The palace next to the cathedral was was built by Muslim governors after the Arab conquest in 1309. It was converted to its now gothic style by James II and used as a place where monarchs had their court.  

     After sampling paella, a quintessential Spanish dish, I experienced the city at night and walked down small winding roads filled with modern art galleries. The next day, with the sun roasting me as a walked, I visited the Castell de Belver, which was built in the 1400’s. For defense purposes, it is situated on top of a hill overlooking the city and ocean. Inside, the various rooms had been turned into exhibits showcasing Roman statues, pottery, and other artifacts. The castle was built in a gothic style by King James II of Majorca as a home but was then used as a prison after the War of Spanish Succession.

     For our second day of class, we visited the Natural History Museum to take a look at an exhibit on human evolution. This exhibit included skulls of different species of humans as well as full body wax models of what these species would have looked like. It was very interesting to see the artist’s depiction of the entire face of a Homo heidelbergen since nothing is known about their nose or ear shapes. There were also various tools on display such as a wooden digging stick, Acheulean hand axes, and flakes. The differences in species can be very clearly seen by looking at each skull. The skull of a Homk floresiensis woman was very small compared to a Paranthropus boisei skull which had very large teeth and thick, long skull. Another very interesting thing was the long history of tattooing and how humans have used it has a a form of cultural expression and body decoration for thousands of years. I recognized the same tattoo pattern done on men in New Zealand on the body of a prehistoric human. This exhibit allowed me to see exactly how archaeologists determine where to draw the line between different species and the overall organization of human evolution. This exhibit was incredibly informative and gave me my first scholarly look into tools made by prehistoric humans. 

     We also looked at the dinosaur exhibit at the museum which was very interesting and included many skeletons and was looked like a full size mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex. There were a few smaller dinosaur skeletons still in the dirt they were found in which gave us a a snapshot of the perspective of an archaeologist.