MC Celtic Connections: London Calling

As of yesterday morning, the twelve of us arrived in London on little to no hours of sleep. After checking into the hotel, we took a walk around Trafalgar Square and the surrounding areas checking out famous London sites such as: Big Ben, The London Eye, The Calvary Guard, Westminster Abbey and where the Prime Minister lives.
We finished off the day with a group dinner at Gig's and headed off to bed in preparation for our first full day in London!

Our first full day in the UK began with a short tube ride over to the Tower of London where we learned about the history of Great Britain and the Monarchy.

We saw the rooms where many of history's famous men/women awaited their death or were imprisoned like: Sir Walter Raleigh, Ann Boleyn, Guy Fawkes, William Wallace, Richard the III, Lady Jane Grey, Rudolf Hess and Josef Jakobs. The Tower of London showed us the struggle many British people faced throughout history with freedom of religion which ties into what we are learning about: the connection between Celtic and Appalachian cultures. Both Celtic and Appalachian cultures feel strongly about the practice of religion, and believe that freedom of religion is important. The importance of religious freedom played a small part in the immigration of the Celts to America which lead to the formation of Appalachia.

History fact: apparently, during the 1940's the Tower of London was restored as a prison and held the two semi-high profile Nazi's, Rudolf Hess, the Deputy of the Third Reich, and Josef Jakobs, a German Spy, and one of them was even executed there.

After the group split up, students went off and did activities of their own choosing. Students visited various museums like the Sherlock Holmes' museum and toured famous sites.