London England (St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Eye, Buckingham Palace)

 1 August 2024 - London England (St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Eye, Buckingham Palace)

About halfway through our London stay and we have made good progress on our bucket list. We walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Strand and Fleet Street.  There are beautiful Victorian-age and older buildings on these streets, as well as modern skyscrapers. We are going to walk this way again before we leave London - I really enjoyed looking at all the buildings. After touring St. Paul’s, we stayed for an Even-prayer service and an organ concert. The organist, Martin Baker, improvised to a showing of the1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera. The organ is magnificent, originally built in 1694 and expanded/modernized over the years; the pipes are located in several locations throughout the huge cathedral. It was an amazing experience! A few notes from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom even showed up!

On a semi-cloudy day, we rode the London Eye, a gigantic Ferris wheel which was built to celebrate the Millennium.  It was supposed to be a temporary structure, but when the city realized what a huge money maker it was, they kept it up.  During tourist season, it can generate over $250K of income daily. The views are spectacular!

We headed back to Buckingham Palace one day for a guided tour of the place.  We toured the State Rooms, the Mews, and the King’s Gallery.  We could only take pictures in the Mews. The State Rooms include a room with famous paintings including works of van Dyck, Rembrandt, Titian, Ruebens and Vermeer, as well as sculptures featuring several by Canova. The Throne Room displayed thrones made for several of the monarchs, from Queen Victoria on. Most of the rooms were decorated in the early 1800s and remain fundamentally unchanged. The rooms were beautiful in a symmetrical, Georgian style.  They are in distinct contrast to the robust and vibrant room designs we saw everywhere in Italy. The King’s Gallery had lots of photographs of the Royals, both portrait mode and casual.  It was nice to see pics of Elizabeth as a child and young adult. Coronation pictures were displayed of Elizabeth’s family, her father, herself and Charles. Many of them I have seen in articles and specials about the Royals. To have your whole life on public display - hard to imagine how to do that in a graceful manner.

The Gold State Coach was built a couple hundred years ago.  Because of its age, weight and lack of maneuverability, it is only used at coronations and jubilees.  It is pulled by eight horses at a walking pace.

In the middle of the parking lot for Charing Cross railway station is a memorial to Queen Eleanor, a reconstruction of the medieval Eleanor cross erected by Edward I in memory of his first wife.

We stumbled across the London Chinatown area while roaming around one afternoon.  It seems to be mostly outdoor cafes with a few markets.

This is a Swiss clock which has a very interesting hourly routine of rotating figures and ringing bells. It is on a plaza between a mega M&M store and a mega Lego store with lots of American fast food places (McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, TGIF).  And there were a million, supposedly Americans, in the area.

Statue of Eros in the middle of Piccadilly Circus.

Leicester Square, a popular place to sit, eat and people watch, has this very nice statue of Mary Poppins. New (installed in 2020), it is part of a series of sculptures in the area celebrating cinema.

The building behind the statue is the Royal Courts of Justice.

This Temple Bar memorial stands where Christopher Wren’s Gate once stood, marking the separation of Westminster from the City of London.  Queen Victoria is on one side, her husband on the other

St. Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican Church which is the mother church for the Diocese of London. The original Catholic church was founded in 604 AD. This church was completed in 1710, replacing the one that was destroyed in the Great Fire, and is considered Christopher Wren’s greatest accomplishment. The cathedral was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1963.

St. Paul’s was where Charles and Diana were married. 

When we were wandering around the gardens of the church, we found this statue of John Wesley.

Wren was strongly influenced by the cathedrals he saw in Italy and wanted to recreate their splendor in England.  The Anglican heads thought it was “too Catholic” and he had to make do is much plainer interiors.  It wasn’t until long past his death (actually during Queen Victoria’s time) that the mosaics of the ceilings were installed. She did not like the church and complained that it was too dark and dingy.

There were some sculptures, but not the quantity that we saw in the Italy cathedrals.  This very large 20 foot crucifix commemorates WW1 is part of a pair. The protuberances represent war torn buildings, both historical and contemporary (in Afghanistan and other current sites of war.)

The quire (pronounced choir to us Americans), was dismantled and hidden away in WWII after a bomb entered the nave and narrowly missed destroying it. It has since been reassembled and restored.

The high altar.

The two halves of the original organ facing each other.  There are at least 3 other areas for organ pipes in the cathedral.  Several of the pipes are original to the first organ.

The mosaics are composed of colored glass and gold leaf.

The main organ console.  It was fascinating watching the organist play this instrument.

The baptismal font sits near the entrance to the church. It’s huge!

There are few paintings in the cathedral. This one is being restored.

Below the church is the crypt.  Many famous people are buried here. This is a memorial to General Cornwallis.

Lord Nelson is buried in the cathedral.

Duke Wellington’s memorial.

A death mask of Christopher Wren and a fragment from his coffin.

The London Eye is a larger version of the Ferris wheel we rode in Las Vegas.  Very touristy, but great views.  It took about 30 minutes to go around once.

Big Ben from above.

The Parliament Building.

St. Paul’s dome amidst all the building cranes.  Lots of construction going on in London.

Buckingham Palace.

We went back to Buckingham Palace for a tour of the buildings.  Ran into these guys marching somewhere.

The palace is huge!

The Mews (garage area) had a number of coaches and automobiles on display.  There were stables also, but the horses were not there.  I assume they were out in the countryside somewhere enjoying their summer vacation.  Most of these coaches are a couple centuries old and pretty fragile.  I read that most of them are very uncomfortable to ride in because of their lack of suspension.

I think this is the newest coach.  The Diamond Jubilee State Coach was used to transport Charles during his coronation.  It also was used during Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. It has an aluminum body, electric windows, air conditioning and hydraulic suspension.

Another view of the Gold State Coach.

We encountered several protests during our stay.  This one was quite large with a very big police presence.  One day, when we were on Regent Street, shopping for some dress pants for Russ, we inadvertently got caught in the middle of a peaceful walking protest about Bangladesh. Took a bit to get ourselves untangled from that one.

Just across the street from our hotel, flanking the river is a wall commemorating those who died of COVID in England.  Over 250,000 people.  250,000 hearts were painted on the walls for blocks and  people were invited to write in the hearts, the names of the people they had lost during the pandemic. Kept thinking about what one million hearts would look like. That is how many were lost in the USA. Extremely sad.

London England (Thames, Greenwich, Imperial War Museum, Transport Museum)

25 July 2024 - London England (Thames, Greenwich, Imperial War Museum, Transport Museum)

Several days into our London stay and we are working down our bucket list.  A ride down the Thames to visit Greenwich, Royal Navy Museum and the Observatory was a bit nostalgic as we took that same trip on our honeymoon oh so many years ago. The Imperial War Museum is not really my cup of tea but Russ enjoyed himself. And there was a nice rose garden out in front. The London Transport Museum was quite interesting.  I was impressed that it was setup in a way that adults could enjoy while, at the same time, children could have fun climbing all over things and pretending they were bus drivers. We had a few nice weather days, but also several cool, cloudy, rain spitty days - typical London summer we were told. We did a guided walking tour around the area, but somehow the guide missed getting us to Buckingham Palace in time to see the changing of the Guards.  We did get to see them on their way back to the barracks. Tried more London pub food - still not impressed. But the local ale is good!

The Royal Horseguards Hotel.  Originally built, in the 1880s, as part of the Whitehall Court of luxurious apartments, the construction collapsed when it was found to be part of a pyramid scheme. When it was finished, it became a high end hotel.  

Cleopatra’s Needle, given to England by the ruler of Egypt in the 19th century in honor of Lord Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile. It had been in Alexandria for 1800 years.

A model of the Mayflower tucked away in a little inlet off the Thames.

The Tower of London. We didn’t revisit this spot.  When we were in London with Russ’ parents in the 1990s, I got halfway through the tour and decided it was too gory for me and left.

This is where you would enter from the river side, if you were headed to be a prisoner in the tower.

These modern buildings sit on what used to be a warehouse district until the mid 1900s.  The area is called Canary Wharf.

Many of the warehouses, if not torn down, were repurposed as apartments.

Apartment building designed so every apartment has a view.  One thing I noticed about London was all the new buildings.  It doesn’t appear that is there any kind of planning for the architecture of a new building to have any compatibility with its neighbors.  In places, it was jarring.

Tower Bridge.  You can walk across the top (for a price.)

The Horseguards Building. Our guide told us a story that Queen Victoria, when she first became Queen, noticed that the Horseguards spent most of their time lallygagging around and playing cards, not guarding her, so she demanded there be a schedule for them to stand guard at the entrances. The same schedule is adhered to today.

Trafalgar Square.  Lord Nelson is venerated in England. This square commemorates the victory in the Battle of Trafalger. While we were in London, there were several large protests in the square, some centered on the Israeli-Hamas fighting.  Lots of police were visible, so we stayed clear during those protests.

View of Whitehall and Horseguards Building from St. James Park.

Gate leading into St. James Park.  The park used to be closed to the public and only the Royal could have access.  They kept deer there for hunting.  That ended long ago.

The Horseguards coming back after the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace.  We are coming back in a few days to get a tour of the inside.

Queen Victoria’s Memorial.  You see this in all the pageantry videos involving Buckingham Palace.

This statue is on the north bank of Westminster Bridge.  Boudica was the boss of the celts, who ruled the area where London is when the Romans arrived. When she protested the annexation of her lands, she was publicly flogged and her daughters were publicly raped. She led her people in a revenge attack across the area, an estimated 70,000-80,000 Romans and Brits were killed. No one knows what happened to her. Nero almost made the decision to abandon Britain because of the Brits rebellion.

The Transport Museum showcases the history and evolution of transportation in London.  If you could afford it, you could hire this one-person taxi to carry you over the mucky roads to your destination.

A horse pulled tram on rails.  The horses were able to pull more people and these became the working person’s way around London.

Introduced from Paris, this taxi was quite a step up, if you could afford it.

An old tube train.

Ad space on the vehicles was a revenue generator practically from day one.

This looks like an underground train in the 1960s, judging by the striped trousers and long hair.

I thought this was one of the better layouts for a museum.  They got a lot of vehicles in a relatively small space.

There are double deckers everywhere (I couldn’t remember seeing any other type of bus). Nowadays, the stairs and back steps are enclosed.

A predecessor of the London black cab.

One of the displays I found very moving was on the use of the underground during wars as shelters. The displays compared and contrasted the WWII experience of London during the Blitz and Ukraine’s recent experience during the Russian bombings.  Not much changed, and very disheartening.

Just next to the Transport Museum is Covent Garden.  If you saw “My Fair Lady”, you will be quite familiar with this historic shopping district.  The number of flower vendors is much reduced, replaced by swap meet kiosks and very high end boutiques.

St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Covent Garden has been here since 1600s. Plays and concerts are often performed in the church.  When we were there, an elderly pair of men were on unicycles in the plaza, juggling bowling pins.

Homage to the flower history with fake flower trees in areas.

The current location of the Imperial War Museum (there are actually five sites, this is just one) is housed in the Bethlehem Royal Hospital or “Bedlam”

While the rose gardens were past their peak, some roses were hanging on.  The fragrance took me back to my rose garden in Long Beach.

A piece of the Berlin Wall, used as an easel for some artwork.

The museum documents WWI and WWII from the views of the people who were involved.

A V2 rocket of which Hitler used hundreds to blitz London.  Russ explained to me that Hitler didn’t have a big bomber force to run nightly raids on London, hence the rockets.

Reminds me of scenes I saw in Eisenhower’s Presidential Library and FDR’s.  Shows a typical British family living room with the radio where they got all their real-time news.

A piece of the U.S.S. Arizona.  When I asked Russ why it was in a British museum when the Brits weren’t involved in the Pacific War, he conjectured that it showed the moment the United States entered WWII. Prior to that, the United Kingdom was fighting Hitler on their own. Now they would get the support of the American military.

The wreckage of a Japanese Zero fighter.

General Montgomery’s Humber Staff Car.  He would often address his troops by standing up in the back.

When we took the boat down the Thames, we were able to take a tour of the Cutty Sark, the fastest boat of its time. The well-to-do of London would pay top dollar for the first teas to be unloaded in London, so a big competition for fast ships was spawned.

Volunteers working on the rigging.  When all the sails are out, there are over 32,000 square feet of sail and 11 miles of rigging. They could get from China to England in around 2 months.

The Chinese weren’t interested in buying anything from the Brits, causing an imbalance in trade.  To compensate, the East India Company (which had a monopoly on trade with China), decided to grow opium in India and sell it illegally in China for silver. And the rich got richer. Eventually, this led to the Opium Wars and China’s opening of previously closed ports.

It was interesting to learn how the ship was pulled into drydock and this museum built around it.  You can walk underneath and all over the ship.  All totally accessible.  One of the high tech features at the time was the hull.  It was covered in a copper and zinc alloy which kept barnacles from clinging and slowing the ship down.

Inside the area where the tea was stored, they had a very well done display of the history.

The same week the Cutty Sark was launched, the Suez Canal was opened.  This cut off 3000 miles on the route to China and made it difficult for wind powered ships, like the Cutty Sark, to navigate. Steamships became the transport of choice. After only eight voyages, the Cutty Sark was forced out of the tea trade. It then entered the Australian wool trade and, it was here, that the Cutty Sark spent its most successful years.

The officers enjoyed pretty swank quarters.

On deck, several shops were installed.  This one is the carpenter’s workshop. There was also a galley kitchen.

A very large collection of ship figureheads.

The ship is suspended in air with these metal struts.

Greenwich is a very nice little village that has retained its Victorian heritage.

The Royal Navy Museum was interesting.  It had some beautiful naval paintings and lots of artifacts from various important British battles.

This is the uniform that Lord Nelson was wearing when he was fatally wounded.  You can see the hole in the right shoulder.  This happened in the Battle of Trafalger, which the Brits won. To preserve his body for transport back to England, he was placed in a barrel of rum. He is buried at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

My scooter couldn’t make the steep climb to the Royal Observatory, so Russ visited it on his own.

The original Prime Meridian.  With the advent of GPS, the line has moved 102.5 meters to the east.   

The Old Royal Naval College with Canary Wharf in the background, on the other side of the Thames.

A giant ship in a bottle (probably 4-6 feet) in front of the Royal Navy Museum.

This is the “Shard”. It houses businesses, restaurants and hotels and, for a princely amount, you can ride to the top for views of London.

A view of the full moon from the middle of Westminster Bridge.