Nov 9 - 13: Remembrance Day, Lord Mayor

---

Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236

Nov 9 – 13: Remembrance Day, Lord Mayor

November 9, Wednesday

British Museum

The British Museum is a world class institution that is dedicated to the study of human history, art, and culture. It houses perhaps the largest collection in the world with eight million objects in it inventory. Because I had spent a full day exploring the British Museum on my 2014 visit to London I focused on a temporary exhibit titled "Sunken Cities" which was about two major port cities in Egypt which sank into the Mediterranean Sea around 300 AD due to liquefaction of the silts on which they were built following earth tremors. The underwater ruins were not discovered until the 1990s. Here is a description of the exhibition copied from the British Museum's website:

"Vanished beneath the waters of the Mediterranean, the lost cities of
Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus lay at the mouth of the Nile. Thonis-Heracleion was one of Egypt's most
important commercial centres for trade with the Mediterranean world and,
with Canopus, was a major centre for the worship of the Egyptian gods.
Their amazing discovery is transforming our understanding of the deep
connections between the great ancient civilisations of Egypt and Greece.Preserved and buried under the sea for over a thousand
years, the stunning objects in the exhibition range from magnificent
colossal statues to intricate gold jewellery. Sacred offerings and
ritual objects reveal the cult of Osiris – the god of the underworld who
held the "promise of eternal life. Renowned archaeologist
Franck Goddio and his team have excavated spectacular underwater
discoveries using the latest technologies."

Photos: D3-0001 thru D3-0006 (source: British Museum)

November 10, Thursday

Portsmouth - Marines and Subs

This day was a bust! I traveled two
hours by train from London to Portsmouth where I planned to visit the
Royal Marines museum and the submarine museum and maybe “Explosion”
the museum of naval firepower. Two years ago I visited the ship yard,
navy museum, and historic ships in Portsmouth which is where the
British navy is based. I got to the Royal Marines museum by taking
the train, a bus, and walking a mile or so. When I got there I was
disappointed to learn that the museum was closed for the day. It was
being used by the BBC for the filming of its program “Flog It'
which is similar to PBS's Antiques Road Show. I was wondering why
there were so many people there carrying bags of stuff. A conversion
with the museum bookstore clerk and a walk around the grounds to view
such things as the obstacle course, field cannons, and memorial to
the cockleshell warriors who raided a port in Nazi occupied France
using folding kayaks cooled me off. Photos: D3-0010 thru D3-0020

I returned to central Portsmouth and
took a ferry across the harbor to visit the submarine museum. It was
3:30 when I arrived and the museum closed at 4:30 so the only thing I
saw was the tour of the post World War II submarine. This was a very
informative display (e.g., the sub had a binocular periscope that was
used to scan the horizon for ships and a monocular low profile
periscope that was used when attacking a ship).

Photos: D3-0030 thruD3-0040

My round trip fare from London to
Portsmouth was $4 meaning I had to travel on off-peak trains. This
keep me in the town until 7:30, but a fireworks show broke the
boredom.

November 11, Friday

Sherlock, British Film Institute

The London Walks company let me retake
the Sherlock Holmes tour, and because the weather was great I didn't
get lost this time. We ended up at the Sherlock Holmes Pub and
Restaurant which has a small display of Sherlock's living room.

Photos: D3-0050 thru D3-0060

The British Film Institute is a gem ofa cultural institution which promotes and preserves film making and television in the UK. It has the largest film archive in the world and publishes the influential Sight and Sound film magazine. It operates a four screen theater in the Southbank area and, in partnership with cinema chain Odeon, operates the BFI/IMAX Theater a
few blocks away. The program which I wanted to see about the restoration of Able Glance's 1927 film Napoleon was sold out so I went to the IMAX Theater to see Dr. Strange on the largest cinema screen in the UK.

November 12, Saturday

Lord Mayor's Parade, St. Paul's Cathedral

The Lord Mayor is to London as Queen
Elizabeth is to England: a lot of pomp and circumstance but very
little power. Each year the Lord Mayor heads up a parade that is part
formal such as military marching units and bands and part off beat
such as the agency that manages retirement funds. It reminds me of
Seattle Solstice Day parade but at a much larger scale and no naked
bicyclists.

Photos: D3-0080 thru D3-0210

At the conclusion of the parade rendezvoused with a meetup group to visit St Paul's Cathedral and spent the afternoon exploring this fabulous facility with a meetup
member from Russia. A fabulous fireworks display over the Thames
ended the day.

Photos: D3-0220 thru D3-0230

November 13, Sunday

Remembrance Day

Today was a very solemn day in British history. It was Remembrance Day which commemorates the ending of World War I during which nearly one million British and Commonwealth troops were killed. It is the British version of our Armistice Day
except the formal remembrance takes place on the Sunday that is
closest to November 11.

The remembrance takes place at the Cenotaph which is memorial to all the war dead and which is located in the middle of Downing Street in the national government district
of London. Approximately two city blocks on either side of the Cenotaph are blocked with street barricades. I arrived near the Cenotaph around 8 am for the 11 am ceremony and had to go through a security check not unlike what happens at an airport. By arriving three hours early I was able to get a front row spot about one block away from the Cenotaph. From that spot I was hoping to take a photo of Queen Elizabeth II laying a wreath at the memorial on one of the few days of the year when she makes a public appearance.

Photo D3-0275 (source: Wikimedia)

Hopes for a photo op with the Queen were dashed at 10:30 when military units began marching into the blocked off area. Guards troops in gray coats and bearskin hats.
Bagpipers in kilts. Soldiers in what looked like colonial army uniforms. Sailors carrying the combat rifle of the UK. This was a visual and audio treat if you like military music. These units filled the street making it impossible to see what was taking place at the Cenotaph though the person next to me jumped on top of a stone wall despite the warning by Police Constable Leah (Photo D3-0290) who was stationed in front of us, and she showed me the photo that she took of the Queen walking towards the Cenotaph.

Photos D3-0240 thru D3-0270

At 11:00 sharp a cannon was fired in the distance and Big Ben gave off its distinctive ring eleven times. This was followed by two minutes of silence. At the end of the silence there were prayers and the playing of “The Last Post” by bugle. Then the military units opened a pathway through the center of the street so that a parade of military veterans could occur. This parade lasted maybe 45 minutes and including everything from injured veterans being pushed in wheelchairs to distinguished looking British gentlemen wearing suits and bowler hats and carrying rolled up umbrellas. Big applause went out to the military pensioners who wear distinctive bright red outfits. My favorites were the Gurkhas who are the tough soldiers who are recruited from Nepal to fight as part of the British armed forces.

Photos D3-0280 thru D3-0310

After the Remembrance Day commemoration
I took the tube to Queen Elizabeth Park which was the major venue for
the 2012 Olympic Games. There I watched a rugby match between England
and Australia in the former Olympic stadium which is now the home of
the West Ham United Football Club. From what I read rugby fans are
generally more polite than football/soccer fans, and I did not see
any obnoxious behavior here.

Photos D3-0320 thru D3-0330

The evening ended at a pub in the Victoria neighborhood where I had a Sunday Roast, a traditional beef-oriented meal for that day of the week, and participated in a
trivia quiz. Unfortunately there were too many British centric questions so I ended up with the low score.

---