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Published: April 8th 2006
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Duckie and Paddington
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (completed in 1860) in the background. Breakfast was pretty good at the hotel, and I saved a roll and some cheese for later. Then I took the underground from Old Street to Angel to the Internet cafe to check email, etc. and then took Angel to Westminister.
Exiting the underground, the first thing I saw was Big Ben towering above. I then walked across Westminister bridge to get a better view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament on the other side of the river Thames. Next up was Buckingham Palace, so I doubled back and wandered through some parks and neighborhoods (took the long way) and then got to St. James Park and Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace wasn't that intersting, but the fountain in front of it and St. James Park were beautiful and, the park particulary, were very interesting. Then I took the underground from Westminister to Tower Hill.
By this time I was hungry, so the first line of business was to get a chocolate shake from Ben & Jerry's and a sandwich from Subway (very near the entrance to the Tower of London). After eating, I bought a ticket to the Tower of London.
The first thing I did
The Burghers of Calais with the Houses of Parliament
In Victoria Tower Gardens. On of my favorite sculptures by Rodin (right up there with "The Thinker"). These guys were, presumably, marching off to their death, nooses around their necks, in order to save Calais. I also saw this sculpture for the first time at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burghers_of_Calais was take the tour given by a Yeoman Warder ("Beefeater"... he said he doesn't know how they got the Beefeater nickname). The Warders and their families live at the Tower of London and must of served in the Royal military. Very intersting stuff. Lots of history, obviously, especially when it comes to Henry VIII. Lots of executions and imprisonments there. Also, it was the location of the Royal Palace for many kings and queens. It was also where Anne Boleyn was executed (one of Henry VIII's wives) and was buried at the chapel on the grounds. Anne Boleyn was the woman he left Catherine for... Catherine died of cancer three years later (but kept her head!).
We also went to the chapel and saw where Anne Boleyn, as well as many others, were buried. After the tour, I walked through the White Tower (a multipurpose building throughout history... part royal palace, armory, chapel, library, etc.). Henry VIII was obviously obsessed with weapons and torture devices. While meandering about the White Tower, there was a British man and his daughter, about nine years old... and she was asking him questions that I overheard...
Daughter: "What happened to her?"
Father:
"Well, the killed her."
Daughter:"How did they kill her?"
Father: "They set her on fire."
Daughter: "How did they set her on fire."
Father: "They tied her to a wooden pole and lit it on fire."
That is paraphrasing, but you get the gist. And it went on for a bit longer, and I don't remember the exact questions after that. I thought it was very funny because the dad didn't try either to soften or embelish it... he just told her the facts and she kept shooting away with the questions. And I looked back and smiled at him, but I'm not sure if he saw the humor in it, but he didn't smile back... though, neither did he seem offended at me finding humor in it.
Moving on, the Tower of London was originally founded by William the Conqueror in 1078 and "over 900 years of British history have been played out within its walls". After reading a book on Irish history over the past three weeks, it was interesting to be at the place where so many decisions were made that had huge impacts on Ireland. For instance, Henry VIII started the Church of England
St. James Park - 1
Just east of Buckingham Palace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James%27s_Park to solve the problem of divorcing Catherine and marrying Anne Boleyn... because it wasn't allowed under the Catholic Church (which later excommunicated Henry VIII).
The Crown Jewels are also on display at the Tower of London. What do I have to say about that? Think "530 Carat diamond in the Sceptre of the Cross". I also saw salt trays a few feet high and maybe a foot wide... of gold. There is also the Wine Cistern (1829), which weighs nothing more than a quarter-ton of gold. And, of course, there were the Royal crowns. Just an overall awesome display of gold and jewels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Jewels_of_the_United_Kingdom
Personnally, I think they should auction it all off and give the proceeds to charity, since the wealth was not obtained honestly (and was often obtained violently and through oppression). All of this wealth sitting there doing nothing for anything except vanity and holding the interests of tourists like myself.
Think about the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849) where between half a million and a million Irish died of starvation and disease... and the English said "Well, they shouldn't have so many children." and "They misused the land" (that the English owned and took
by force and then rent back to the Irish). However, besides potato blight, the famine was also caused by England's economic policies. At any rate, the English did have the power to prevent and certainly mitigate the effects of the famine... but it would have cost a lot of money. Yeah, feeding starving Irish was too much, but holding on to the Wine Cistern... that makes a hell of a lot of sense.
Also, 4,000 ships carried food out of Ireland, for export, during one of the worst years of the famine... food likely grown on English owned farms.
Anyway, see... visiting the Tower of London is such an impressionable experience. Well worth it. It was kind of surreal to stand on the land where the Romans (traces a wall from a fortress built, nearly a thousand years before William the Conqueror, by Claudius, the Roman Emperor, are still seen within the Tower of London), William the Conqueror, Henry VII, and other kings and queens stood before. Lots of history.
After the Tower of London, I took the underground from Tower Hill to Victoria... then took the Gatwick Express to Gatwick Airport. Hung out there a few
hours and then took the 50 min. flight on Ryanair to Dublin.
In Dublin, there was a huge line to get through customs... probably took about 30 min. And then the customs guy made me fill out a landing card (haven't had to do that anywhere else in the EU) AND give proof of a planned departure. Thankfully, I had my Air Lingus flight confirmation to Paris. Maybe the guy was just having a bad day.
At any rate, I took a cab from there to Thea and Damien's, where we spent the evening talking, eating cheese, salami, humus, and crackers as well as having some wine. A great end to a long (but great) day.
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Augusta
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London comments
You're forgetting one important part of the equation---every city a guy and his horse....and SWORD! Don't forget! Too bad you didn't ride the London Eye. That seems like a lot of fun and might have been a good photo op, but I understand why you didn't in the interest of time. Love the pictures of Duckie and Paddington by Big Ben and Buckingham Palace---they're really starting to look natural at this whole traveling thing!