{"product_id":"tower-of-london-poster","title":"The Tower of London, London · Travel Poster","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEach poster comes with a letter home. Ella writes about the place and its hidden history, and the details that never makes it into the guidebooks.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEveryone comes to the Tower of London for the crown jewels and the ravens, and almost nobody knows that for a while it was also home to a polar bear that went fishing in the Thames. In 1252 King Haakon IV of Norway sent Henry III a great white bear, most likely a polar bear, and Henry kept it in the royal menagerie he had started inside the Tower. The upkeep horrified him, so he handed the bill to the sheriffs of London, and then in 1253 he gave a wonderfully practical order: make the bear a muzzle and a long, stout rope so it could be led down to the river to swim, bathe and catch its own supper. So most days a Norwegian keeper walked a polar bear through the streets to the Thames, let out the rope, and let it dive for salmon in the middle of medieval London while crowds gathered on the banks to watch. The menagerie went on for almost six hundred years, gathering lions, an elephant and more, until the animals were finally moved out in 1835. The guidebooks tell you about the executions and the jewels. They rarely tell you that Londoners once lined the river to watch a white bear fish for its dinner.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis poster is an original illustration in watercolour and ink, painted exclusively for the Ella's Adventures travel poster series.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNo frame included.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ella's Adventures","offers":[{"title":"A5 \/ With","offer_id":57328037036407,"sku":null,"price":12.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A5 \/ Without","offer_id":57328037069175,"sku":null,"price":12.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A4 \/ With","offer_id":57328037101943,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A4 \/ Without","offer_id":57328037134711,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 \/ With","offer_id":57328037167479,"sku":null,"price":32.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 \/ Without","offer_id":57328037200247,"sku":null,"price":32.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2 \/ With","offer_id":57328037233015,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2 \/ Without","offer_id":57328037265783,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1 \/ With","offer_id":57328037298551,"sku":null,"price":60.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1 \/ Without","offer_id":57328037331319,"sku":null,"price":60.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0969\/7339\/0199\/files\/TowerofLondonTravelPosterWITH.png?v=1785241196","url":"https:\/\/www.ellasadventures.com\/products\/tower-of-london-poster","provider":"Ella's Adventures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}