First a background of our host in London, the only place in England visited. In 1987, so many years ago, Elaine & I moved to New Zealand my doctoral studies at the University of Auckland. I was offered a half-time teaching position at the Uni and was assigned a team of graduate student tutors to help administer the several hundred students taking my classes. One tutor was a young kiwi, Bruce Hardie. Bruce was an outstanding assistant and we became friends. Bruce followed the academic career path and ended up at the London Business School where he teaches graduate marketing courses and is now department chair. Thanks to email, we have kept in touch all these years. Bruce offered accommodations should we ever find ourselves in London – such a generous offer. That is how London became a place to tour on this trip.
London, England’s capitol city, was founded by the Romans around 43 A.D., then known as Londinium. Avoid going to London next summer (2012), as it hosts the summer Olympics and costs will skyrocket during this time. (although I have read in The Economist that Olympic hosts actually have experienced a decline in visitors during the games, i.e. Beijing and Sydney.)
Bruce met us at London Heathrow airport upon arrival at 8:30 AM. After depositing our luggage at Bruce’s, we took the underground (subway) to a location on the Thames River, which bisects the city.
If ever in London, use public transport – it is quick and the only cheaper way to get around would be to walk – not a good option in this sprawling city of 7.8 million (metro area has more than 13 million). The prepaid Oyster Card, (available at entrance to the underground) sets a daily limit on how much transport will cost in a day – if you exceed this amount, further rides that day are free.
The oyster card can be used on the underground and on buses.
That afternoon was spent viewing some of London’s famous and not so famous places. The London “Eye” on Canary Wharf is a gigantic ferris wheel; each car holds 15-20 people comfortably. The view from the top gives a birdseye view of London. The wait line stretched from the “eye” back to Kearney it seemed, so we left that for a future trip.
However, right next to that endless line, was a very short line for Thames River cruises, which we did take. Several sights viewed from the cruise were: Cleopatra’s needle (taken from her temple in Alexandria, Egypt), St Paul’s Cathedral (more on this later), Parliament & Big Ben Tower Bridge & the tower of London (a grouping of buildings that will be treated later).
The cruise dropped us off near the Tower of London, where we had tour tickets for the following day. Walking about London you see helpful tourist hints.
These signs are very helpful to visitors, as most of the world drives on the right side of the road, whereas England and several Commonwealth countries drive on the left, and some drive on either side (Bangladesh, India, Italy and others). One drives on the left side, not the wrong side. You soon find that your road crossing habits from USA lead you to look for traffic coming from the wrong direction – if you try it your normal way, expect dire consequences.
After the cruise, the spire of an ancient church caught our eye, and we proceeded to determine if we could gain entrance to All Hallows Church. I didn’t see information on this church in any tourist info, but it looked interesting from the outside. Good luck, it was open.
A church was first built on this site in 675 A.D. and its history apparently goes back even further, as in the crypt underneath the church are remnants of the Roman road that once was on this site. Other Roman artifacts have also been found when digging below the floor of the church. That was quite interesting in itself.
All Hallows Church has a strong American connection as William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania was a member of this church. Furthermore, our 6th President, John Quincy Adams, was married in this church.
Friday morning, we took the tube to the Tower of London Station, where we were to spend the day. The underground ride was entertaining, as a group of 3 musicians boarded the car we were in and proceeded to give an impromptu concert to the riders. After a few numbers, they passed the hat and exited. If you click on the photo, you can see the guitarist and violinist (fiddle for you midwesterners).
The Tower grounds are in downtown London, a 5 minute walk from the underground.
First thing I found out was that booking my tickets online at www.hrp.org.uk in advance gave us a better deal by several English pounds (they do not use the Euro, which they are presently very thankful) – that was a pleasant start to our time at the Tower. Upon entering the Tower grounds you are given the option of getting a guided tour by one of the Yeoman Warder’s, popularly known as Beefeaters. No one knows for sure why they have that name, but it has been surmised that the job paid well enough in past times for the warders to be able to afford beef on their pay, thus beefeater.
The present warders are all retired from the British military at a rank of Master Sergeant with no conduct blemishes on their record and must pledge not to smoke or use alcohol.
Their tour lasts about an hour and gives one an orientation to the Tower grounds and buildings. The reputation of the Tower of London being a stark place where those out of favor with the crown were held and or executed is well-deserved. However, there is this and much more to the Tower. The warder did take use into one building, the Chapel, where many of those executed rest under the floor of the chapel. Interior photos not allowed.
From there we walked over to another building known as the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are kept. The building is guarded by well-armed soldiers on the outside and by who knows what on the inside. Again, no interior photos. Several crowns, scepters, orbs, gem-encrusted royal swords and solid gold dinner sets of enormous proportions are all part of the jewels. The largest diamond weighs 552 karats. King George IV had a solid gold punchbowl which held 144 bottles of wine. You can see some of this at www.hrp.org.uk.
There is a legend about the ravens that live on the Tower grounds. It is said that if they ever leave the Tower grounds, the British monarchy will fall. I looked and looked for the ravens, but never saw them. I’m still waiting for the demise of the Winsors.
When you did something that got royalty really mad at you, you were toast. If you were a noble, you were imprisoned at the Tower. In my mind, I always thought that you would be thrown in the dungeon and maybe even shackled in irons. It wasn’t always quite that way. If you were high enough, you were put up in one of the apartments to await your fate, which was off with the head, but you might be in the apartment for years in the meantime. If you gave your executioner a good tip, he would do his best to sever your head in only one chop. Some of the stories of botched executions were quite grisly. Today, the warders live in the apartments.
The White Tower was where the British monarch lived for over 500 years, several monarchs, that is, not just one 500 year-old royal. It also contained the Royal mint and Royal observatory. Today, it houses a museum of Royal armor, exhibiting many suits of armor and old time weapons.
Henry VIII of many wives fame has a few suits of armor here
A bit of a braggart old Henry was.
The Tower of London is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site, deservedly so. If you ever want to plan a vacation, you won’t go wrong by visiting such sites.
After 8 or 9 hours on our feet, we left the Tower and headed for a local pub for a pint or two. We struck up a conversation with two Englishmen, one of whom was dressed in a Scottish kilt, bagpipe etc. This was “Pat the Piper”. Later, we joined Bruce at a restaurant for a very good meal of fish and chips. So ended Friday.
It was up and on the go early the next morning, for we were going to spend this day at the British Museum. If I had a “bucket list” the British Museum would be at or near the top, for reasons you will soon hear and see. The holdings of the museum are like one great accumulation of all the illustrations that you saw in your high school history book.
Many of the holdings were acquired by means that would not meet approval today. Some might call it pilferage. However, I am quite sure that had they not been “acquired” by these means so long ago, they simply would no longer exist today; just like the giant Bhudda statutes that were blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan a few years ago. As London is a city welcomes visitors from all over the world, it seems to me to be a fitting place to display these artifacts to all comers. Besides that, it is free to all. We arrived at opening time and stayed until closing.
In 1799, Pierre-Francois Bouchard, a soldier in the French Expedition to Egypt found a granite stone with strange inscriptions etched onto it. Pierre had found the key unlocking the words spoken by the pharaohs of Egypt up to 5,000 years in the past. Yes, he had found the Rosetta Stone. The stone came into the hands of the British Army in 1801 and today lays in a protective case at the British Museum. It has a Greek translation of what is depicted in hieroglyphics – thus providing the long searched for key to unlocking those ancient texts.
Now the Egyptians want it returned to them. My opinion is, let it stay at the British Museum. Remember what happened to all the treasures held in the /Iraqi national museum? I’m sure that they would like all of the mummies returned to Egypt also. The collection features human mummies and artifacts associated with the Egyptian funerary practices.
Several canopic jars on display. These jars held the internal organs of the deceased. The Egyptians believed that the brain was a useless organ, and after removal from the skull, they threw it away. They were probably thinking of politicians when they thought it useless.
Egyptians loved their cats, and even mummified them along with many other animals
Staying with Egypt …. On display are several monumental pharonic statutes.
Assyria was a contemporary empire of Egypt, and many of their artifacts are also on display. Such as the winged bulls that guarded the royal palace. In the background of one of the photos is the recreated gate of the palace. The metal parts are original, the wood is not.
Moving along to ancient Greek items,including the famous and controversial Elgin Marbles, which were taken from the Parthenon in Athens during Greece’s war for independence from Turkey in the early 1800s. Boy oh boy, does Greece want them back. I hope England does not do this.
Lots of vases from ancient Greece
They have a pretty impressive collection of Etruscan items. These people predate the Romans in Italy. Just as an aside, we saw tons of gold items in our travels in Europe. Should they melt it all down to pay off national debts?
Then comes the Roman Empire. The lovely Aphrodite/Venus is the subject of many statues, as are Roman Emperors, such as Augustus Caesar.
Then viewed Mayan and Aztec items.
You get the idea, a whole history book on display. Viewed some more modern items, such as these 17th century porcelains and many other items from all over the ancient and modern world.
Phew, what a day!! Bruce prepared a wonderful dinner for us and we recounted our day at the museum with him.
Sunday Mass was at Westminster Cathedral, the largest Catholic Church in England. Westminster was once an independent town, but now is part of London. The bottom 2/3s of the interior is full of inlaid designs, side chapels and a very large pipe organ. The top 1/3 of the interior is bare brick.
After church, we walked to the Tate British Art Gallery. The guide books rave about the Tate, who’s holdings date from the 1500s to modern art. Frankly, it was somewhat disappointing. While there were some very works by Waterhouse (The Lady of Shallot),
Burne Jones (The Golden Stairs),
and others.
I found that the old masters’ works were absent, and some of the modern art was mystifying to me why it was called art at all. Guess the name of this “art” by Roger Hilton.
Give up? It is called February 1954. No explanation as to why. I attempted to find out what happened in this month and found that the polio vaccine and DNA molecule were in the news then. Also:
• February 3 – Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.
• February 10 – After authorizing $385 million over the $400 million already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
• February 23 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
• February 25 – Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes premier of Egypt.
I fail to see anything that relates to Hilton’s painting. I guess art is in the eye of some other beholder than I. I wondered how they knew which was the top of the painting.
Bruce met us at the Tate and afterward he gave us a walking tour of the Westminster area. where Big Ben is located. Actually Big Ben is not the name of the clock, it is the name of the bell that chimes the times. Ben is located on the grounds of the Parliament Building, which I believe, is the largest Parliament Building in the world, followed by The Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest (which Elaine & I toured in 2003).
Westminster Abbey is where the royalty are crowned and where Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor, & Kate Middleton held their nuptials. Yes, they do have real last names, rather than just Prince this or that. As it was Sunday, no tours are allowed – it is reserved for church services only. As you can see, this is an impressive structure.
Hi Bruce.
Right next to the Abbey is St. Margaret’s Church, built in 1523; however, there has been a church on this site for over 900 years. It was the church Sir Walter Raleigh attended and has close connections to other names familiar to American history.
Our walk took us near #10 Downing St., residence of the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the terrorist have put this off limits to tourists on a stroll, as the street is blocked off an d staffed by some heavily-armed soldiers.
We walked though the equestrian parade grounds toward Trafalgar Square. Saw several ceremonial guards there.
Apparently the children were not dissuaded by the warning sign.
Sprinkled throughout London are statues of the famous. Such as FDR and Winston Churchill;
that lovable General Montgomery, aka Monty;
William Pitt (the younger)
Richard the Lion-Hearted,
and many others.
We stopped in one of the famous squares and had a bit to eat with our tea. Looks yummy and it was.
Watched the city hustle and bustle and even saw those ubiquitous army ducks hauling tourists around the town.
That evening, we met up with another friend from NZ, Megan O’Callaghan, the daughter of our good friends Dennis & Liz. Shared some stories and a few pints at a local pub.
Monday morning we said our farewell to Bruce and then took the tube to see the Temple Church. If you saw the movie “The Da Vinci Code” this is that round church that the protagonist searches for clues to where the Holy Grail may be found. Alas, the church is closed for remodeling in 2011. So, I did not come home with a souvenir grail. If you are there this year, it probably is open.
Our train was leaving for France at 1:30 PM, so we still had some time to tour. Off to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Built between 1675 & 1710. This is quite a structure and both inside and out can be found many historical features. There has been a church on this site since 604 AD, and if memory serves me right, was the site of pagan rituals before then
Outside stands Queen Victoria, up until now, the longest reigning monarch (1837 – 1901). For those keeping count, Queen Elizabeth (1952 – 2012) is fast closing on Vicky & in 4 more years will gain that record, God willing.
Inside, we find Lord Kitchener, who gained fame by defeating the forces of the Mahdi in Sudan, later fought in the Boer War and met his end in 1916 when the warship he was on was sunk by a German mine.
Outside we find a statue to the eponymous namesake of the cathedral. I too had trouble for years remembering what that word meant – it means the place or thing is named after this person (like Ford motors is named after Ford).
John Wesley, whom Wesleyan Churches and University is named after has his bronze on the grounds also.
Nearby, we found a plaque honoring Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless transmission (i.e. radio).
The oldest and last remaining city gate has been moved to the cathedral area.
London was heavily bombed by German Air Forces in WW II, one of its victims is left standing as it was after one such bombing.
We left London on the “Chunnel” train, the one that goes under the English Channel. With much excitement we anticipated this ride.
To be continued in the upcoming Slutigram named “France 2011”.
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