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The Hall of Enlightenment
It seemed like every tome on exploration was represented on the lofty shelves of the hall of Enlightenment.I suppose it technically happened in Zurich when I stepped off of the plane and walked through security to the gate for my onward flight, but I never left the airport, which makes me think it doesn’t count. I watched its undulating landscape go by beneath me in the early morning sunshine, but I was thirty-thousand feet above its green fields and ancient cities. So it was that on the morning of July 25, 2007 I strolled out of Heathrow airport in London and completed a quest that had started on a soggy, sleet-pounded patch of Andean soil twelve-thousand feet above the sea back in July of 1998. The words that started the quest were uttered by a fellow traveler on the Inca Trail. It had been my first solo trip out of America, an insanely short, but typical American vacation of eight days. The people in my group haled from every corner of the globe and I was awed by their amazing stories from the road - I thought I was surrounded by extremely wealthy people, because I knew how much I had paid for my eight days and many of them had been on the road for months. The
conversation eventually evolved into a discussion about everyone’s dream destinations. One of the girls in the group, a teacher from Texas, said that her goal was to visit all SIX continents and several people in the group enthusiastically agreed with her. I immediately countered by reminding everyone that there were actually seven continents, not six. I was then informed that Antarctica was an impossible place to visit and that none of them counted it in the list of places they could go. I then said, “Well, my goal is to visit all SEVEN continents.” As I climbed the stairs out of the Holborn tube station and entered the frantic crowd of pedestrians on London’s sidewalks, I knew I had done it - I had walked on all seven continents. My family thought it was amusing that Europe was the last of the continents for me, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I only had a short time in England and I had grand plans on where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see. My main priority, after finding a hostel to stay in, was to get in touch with my cousin and his
The Duck Pond
This was one of my favorite scenes from England. It was part of the Abbey grounds. wife who were living north of Cambridge and plan a get together. I walked a few blocks, cautiously reacquainting myself with the hustle and bustle of big city life - It had been nearly eight months since I had plied the leafy streets of Buenos Aires, the last large city I had been in. I lugged my bags a few blocks, passing a few very nice little parks along the way, and then I found the hostel I had been looking for. I had arrived several hours before I could check in, so I stored my bag the baggage closet, left a message for my cousin and then I set off to explore. My first stop was somewhat of a pilgrimage for me. I was heading to one of the Earth’s greatest storehouses of antiquities, a building filled with unimaginable treasures from every corner of the globe all collected in the name of science and knowledge. I was going to the British Museum. It was by no mistake that the grand museum building was directly across the street from my hostel.
I followed the black, wrought iron fence around the corner to the giant stone pylons on Russell Street,
The Lion Hunt
There were entire rooms filled with the story of the lion hunt - No wonder the Asiatic Lions are just about gone. which marked the entrance gate to the museum complex. I passed through the huge ornamental gates and then I paused for a moment and stared up in awe at the towering, colonnaded edifice that rose up before me. Even with the huge crowd gathering at its steps, the stone, Greek Revival façade of the museum was an imposingly beautiful sight. I spent a few minutes taking the inevitable photographs of the lovely exterior of the building and then I climbed the steps, passed beneath its towering ionic columns and entered one of the greatest houses of exploration and knowledge ever built. I walked through the lobby and entered the great court, where I was greeted by yet another architectural wonder, the modern, translucent roof that flowed out from the circular Reading Room in a graceful, visually pleasing manner. I spent the next several hours strolling slowly from one amazing exhibit to the next. I excitedly moved my way through the flash-happy crowd for my chance to study the famous Rosetta Stone, possibly one of the most important archaeological finds ever made, since it was instrumental in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. I found the magnificently carved stone lintels from Yaxchilan, on the
The Rosetta Stone
The highlight of the Egyptian collection at the museum and possibly one of the most important archaeological finds ever. Usumacinta River in Mexico - I remembered the pain I felt as I toured the jungle-bound site on the border of Mexico and Guatemala a few years before and learned how the stones had been pried apart and carted off to England. I toured the halls containing the famous and hotly contested marble carvings that Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon in Greece and I wondered what that building would look like today if the marbles had been left in place. One of the most blatant cases of archaeological ‘plunder’ in the museum was also one of my favorite exhibits - The Assyrian collection. I marveled at the colossal winged, human headed lions that once guarded the inner sanctuaries of some of the most magnificent palaces and structures the world had ever known and I enjoyed the wonderfully carved stone friezes that detailed royal lion hunts and amazingly artistic fishing scenes, but again I wondered what the ancient sights that the carvings came from look like now that their treasures have been removed. Famous artifacts and educational descriptions waited around every corner. I could have easily spent a week exploring the museum’s halls, but I didn’t have a week, in
fact, I didn’t even have a full day. The last room I walked through destroyed any misgivings that had been growing in my mind about the value of museums. It was a long, bright hall lined with bookshelves and display cases that contained nearly every tome on exploration ever written and portions of many of the most famous scientific collections. It would have taken years to read all of the books in that room, yet many of the books that have influenced me on my travels were present - I searched out the shelf highlighting polar exploration and was surprised to find Admundsen’s heroic account of his journey to the South Pole sitting prominently near the record of Scotts tragic last expedition.
The ‘Hall of Enlightenment’, as that series of rooms was known, forced me to think about what museums actually stand for. Though some of the collection methods of some of the earlier explorers were a bit harsh by today’s standards, much of what is on display was collected in the name of science and knowledge. Removing the artifacts from their country of origin is a big issue today and it seems like every nation is jumping on
the bandwagon, wanting their antiquities, which were mostly collected with permission from the same governments that now want them back, returned to their already overstuffed museums. Part of me is always saddened by the missing art and artifacts when I explore the lonely ruins of once grand cities such as Yaxchilan. It is difficult to stroll through the ancient, overgrown alleys of a ruined city and not feel such sadness, but if you stop and think about the part the museums have played in resurrecting the mysterious piles of rubble and bringing them back into the realm of knowledge, it is difficult to feel any ill will towards them. If you then consider the inspirational and educational value of having a broad collection of art and artifacts that span the globe all located in one giant house of learning, which is what a museum is, then you will see their place in the world. Without the museums there would be no archaeology, there would be no excavations, there would be no public interest in ancient history and, ultimately, there would be no knowledge. Countries such as Greece and Egypt, who are the most vocal offenders of the new ‘return our
The Elgin Marbles
This is a portion of the hotly contested Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Greece. antiquities’ movement, would be vastly different places were it not for the museums and their push for knowledge. The huge tourism industries that have sprung up in those nations that are rich in archaeological heritage would not exist, there would be no funding for excavations and the ancient piles of rubble and mysterious art would be reserved for only the most eccentric and adventurous of travelers - Until the day that the last of the ancient ruins was paved over in the name of progress or collected by private individuals for their artistic value or locals for their value as readymade building materials. Many months have passed since my visit to the British Museum and in that time I have explored the wonders of both Greece and Egypt. As I stood on the lofty Acropolis in Athens and admired the gleaming white façade of the overwhelming Parthenon I though back to my time in the museum and the group of Boy Scouts from America, who were in London for a big Jamboree, that I had talked with while we admired the Parthenon’s carvings. At that moment it became clear to me that the value of having the carvings prominently on
The Palace Guard
These were all over the museum. They once guarded the Assyrian palaces they came from - I hope to have a few guarding my house too. display in England, or in other museums around the world, where they are accessible to a great number of people, far outweighed the value of having them in Athens where they would have been locked away in a dusty basement awaiting the restoration of the Parthenon, or lost in the massive museum exhibits of their national museum where the importance of the carvings would have been lost in the sheer volume of high quality artifacts - After all, a magnificent artifact sitting on a shelf with several similarly magnificent artifacts would not seem as special as the same artifact prominently displayed half a world away as the highlight of an exhibit.
I left the museum mentally exhausted, but enriched with knowledge and I headed back around the corner to my hostel. I got in touch with my cousin and we formed a plan to get together later that evening in London and then I headed up to my first European hostel bed, which resembled just about every other hostel bed I have ever had, to stash my bags. I had about four hours before our planned rendezvous, so I borrowed a map, filled up my water bottles and I
All the Fish in the Ocean
I thought this scene was one of the most artistic carvings in the Assyrian collection. set off to explore.
I had no idea where I was going and it really didn’t matter. I was not in the mood to do any more real sight-seeing, museum burnout had ruined me for the rest of the day, so I decided to head in the general direction of the hotel my cousin would be staying at - I loosely set my sights on Hyde Park. I walked past the entrance gate to the museum and then I made a few turns this way and that until I found a street that roughly resembled the line on my map. It took several more blocks before I was able to confirm, in fact, that I was on Oxford Street. I was forced to adjust my leisurely pace a bit to prevent myself from getting trampled by the mass of humanity that was clogging the sidewalks and then I took in the somewhat overwhelming sights lining both sides of the street. The quaint old buildings in the area around the museum gave way to huge billboards and overstuffed, multi-story storefronts advertising products that all seemed alien to me. It was an odd feeling seeing so many stores packed with so
Assyrian Art (1)
This was my favorite part of the British Museum. many things that I didn’t need or want. I tried to place myself in the shoes I wore before I sold everything and hit the road, a time when I undoubtedly would have desired many of the things I was seeing in the stores, but it was not an easy task and, ultimately, I gave up. I was enjoying the walking, the people watching, even the hustle and bustle of the city, but I was approaching sensory overload - There was nothing like Oxford Street in any of the places I had visited in the previous eight months and it was a bit overwhelming! Out of the multitude of stores and shops I did manage to find one place that sold things I needed - I was bound for Ireland in two days and I knew very little about the place, so I found a book store and I got a book about the Emerald Isle. Ahead of me I could see the buildings on the left side of the street fall away into a green expanse. A closer inspection revealed the huge grassy lawns and shady paths of Hyde Park.
I walked past a lovely procession of stone
and bronze animals that marked the touching ‘Animals in War’ monument as I crossed Park Lane and entered the park. I ended up spending nearly an hour walking around the shady paths of Hyde Park, though I barely even touched the surface. I visited the strangely silent ‘Speakers’ Corner’ and the grand Marble Arch and I watched the activity on the expansive, green lawn of the parade ground. I wanted to continue exploring, but I was due to meet my cousin, so I said farewell to the park and turned back towards the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street. Another ten minutes of walking down a side street brought me to my cousin’s hotel where the manager waited with a message from my cousin - They were running about two hours late.
I retreated back down the road to Oxford Street. I had seen a welcoming sign on one of the storefronts just before I turned towards the hotel and I wanted to investigate. I found the sign, which read “Starbucks” in huge, green letters and I eagerly walked inside. I was overwhelmed by the heavenly scent of strong coffee and the garish noises of the espresso machine. After
nearly four months of suffering through the injustices of Nescafe in Southern Africa, where good cups of coffee were few and far between, I was standing in coffee heaven. With my coffee in hand I walked down to the subterranean seating area and found a cushy seat to sink into. I pulled out my book on Ireland and began reading, but that was as far as I got before I was thrust into one of the more humorous coffee house scenes I have experienced. There were two lovely college aged girls sitting across from me lost in a conversation. A young man, probably about seven or eight years old, wearing a nice suit walked over and sat down between the two girls, draping his arms around their necks. I thought, at first, that he was with the girls, but when he started hitting on them in a very polite, but very adult manner, I knew there was something strange going on. The girls were at first startled, but they ended up laughing about it, thinking that some man had put him up to it. The kid introduced himself as Sam and spoke very well and in a very educated manner
Lovely Carved Walls
Entire palaces are displayed in the museum - I wonder what the places they came from are like in their absence? - He was clearly a very bright kid. It was apparently too weird of a situation for the girls, so they excused themselves and headed for the door. Sam and I talked for another half an hour about a whole range of strange subjects. I was amazed, because it was one of the most intelligent conversations I had had in a long time and I had been surrounded by countless intelligent people over the previous months. I had a few more interesting conversations after Sam’s mother collected him and then my two hours was up and I headed back to the hotel where my cousin George was waiting with his wife Lisa.
I had not met Lisa, so we did the obligatory introductions and then we set off to explore the area and find some dinner. Our wanderings took us past several pubs and other oddities. We eventually settled on a Japanese restaurant just off of Oxford and we sat down for an excellent meal. We were planning on spending the following day exploring the area around Stonehenge, but, as luck would have it, England had been experiencing an unbelievable deluge of rain over the previous weeks and flooding
was rampant all over the place. We were told that the area around Stonehenge was not affected by the floods, but that the whole transport network was running fairly unreliably due to the rising water. We decided to scrap the trip to Stonehenge and, instead, spend the day exploring the sights in London. I also decided to spend the following evening at their house near Cambridge. After dinner we picked a place to meet in the morning, the same Starbucks I had visited earlier, and then we headed back to our respective homes.
The following morning we met at the coffee shop at the appointed time - Ok, I was a little late. We enjoyed another great cup of coffee while we planned our day, and then we set off on our whirlwind tour of the city. The list of places we wanted to see was considerably more voluminous than the amount of time we had available to us, so we had to select a few ‘must-see’ places and sacrifice the rest. We unanimously wanted to see Westminster Abbey, so we decided to start there and we hopped onto the metro and headed towards the Thames. We exited
Yaxchilan's Lost Lintel
This is one of the magnificent lintels from Yaxchilan in Mexico. the metro at Westminster Station. We could see the abbey across the street, but we decided to walk over to the river first and take in Big Ben and the House of Parliament. The view from the bridge was one I knew well. The large stone building, with its multiple spires and excellent stone work, has appeared in countless movies, in fact, I had seen Harry Potter streak past it on his magical broom the week before in a movie theater in Lusaka, Zambia - It was a famous, and lovely building. The chocolaty brown water of the Thames calmly flowed beneath us, sightseeing boats motored up and down the timeless river as the excited package tourists blasted away with their cameras and, from its perch fifty-five meters above us, Big Ben tick-tocked the minutes away as it had done for the previous one-hundred and fifty years. We took the obligatory pictures, despite the bad lighting, and then we walked around the block towards the abbey. Along the way we passed the parliament building guards with their odd, Sherlock Holmes-eque police helmets.
The stunning façade of Westminster Abbey greeted us and drew us near. It was a building filled
The Turquoise Serpent
This is a famous piece of Aztec art that is showcased in the museum. with such an amazing history. Many of the most important happenings in England had taken place there and scores of the world’s most famous people, from kings and queens to scientists, musicians and poets call the abbey their final resting place. We joined the throng of tourists lined up at the main entrance, paid our entrance fee and walked inside. Parts of the abbey had been standing for a thousand years, a number that is difficult to comprehend. Construction of the current abbey walls began in the thirteenth century. It has been the place of coronation since 1066 and is the final resting place for seventeen of England’s monarchs. The architecture of the building in itself would have been reason enough for a visit, but the stunning architecture took a second stage to the multitude of monuments and tombs that seemed to cover every available space. We walked from monument to monument. I was awed by the grand tomb of Elizabeth, with its life-like statue of her lying in peace with her arms crossed, much like an Egyptian Pharaoh. I spent some time among literary genius in Poets Corner with the modest plaques and floor stones dedicating the lives of
Parliament
Yes, I know the picture is bad. Chaucer, Dickens, Tennyson and Longfellow to name a few. We visited the museum and the gift store and some of the more hidden parts of the abbey and we loved every minute of it, but I still had not seen the part of the abbey I wanted to see the most. I knew the little line on the map that designated the ‘path’ to follow through the abbey was nearing its end and I had not yet reached the tombs that meant the most to me. In the last leg of our walk I finally found what I was looking for. The tomb made famous in the movie ‘Da Vinci Code’ - The final resting place of Sir Isaac Newton. Not too far away from Newton I made an unexpected discovery - The tomb of Charles Darwin. Other tombs I found were emblazoned with names such as Handel and the explorer-missionary Dr. David Livingstone. We left Westminster Abbey enriched with history and we continued our exploration of London.
We didn’t really have any additional plans as far as sites to see, so we decided to walk along the Thames and take in the sights there. We started by getting
The Clock Tower
I suppose Big Ben is actually the nick-name of the bell. a few pancakes filled with cheese, ham and mushrooms and then we walked along the embankment towards the Tower Bridge. At first the streets were crowded, but as we distanced ourselves from the Westminster area the crowds thinned out. We passed the Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges, stopping to admire the giant Egyptian obelisk from the now vanished city of Heliopolis and the sphinx at its base - The sphinx had a hole in it left over from the bombings during World War II. We reached the Millennium Bridge, which is a futuristic pedestrian bridge across the Thames, and we crossed over to the other side. There we found a modern reconstruction of Shakespeare’s famous Globe Theater with its whitewashed walls and thatch roof - The original burned down in the 1600’s. There were no plays to be seen, so we continued walking. We passed several more interesting sights including a magnificent recreation of the Golden Hind, which was the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world on his grand buccaneering adventure on the Spanish Main. We eventually made our way past the HMS Belfast museum ship and the odd, Deathstar-like city hall and arrived at the imposing Tower
Westminster Abbey
Walking through the ancient halls of the abbey was amazing. Bridge. It was getting late in the day and the storm clouds were darkening, so we made our way across the bridge where we studied the exterior ramparts of the apparently misnamed Tower of London - I saw no tower, but it was a nice castle though. The rain started falling in earnest, so, instead of touring the castle, we decided to end our explorations on a dry note and we headed to the nearest metro station.
We had to make our way to King’s Cross train station to catch the train up to Kennett, but first we needed to run by my hostel to get my bags. We made it back to the hostel without getting too wet, but, while we walked back to the metro, the dark clouds unleashed a deluge of epic proportions and we were all soaked. We made it to King’s Cross, where we got our tickets and we snacked on some tasty brownies. As we walked to our platform, we passed Platform 9 ¾, but I was unable to get through the barrier and the Hogwarts Express left without me. I had to be content with my train to Kennett. After an hour
or so of green, English countryside and one train change, we arrived in Kennett and made the short walk to where my cousin lived. That evening we went out to a local pub and had dinner - I went for the new English standard, curry, which was delicious. We spent the rest of the evening watching some humorous English movies and then it was off to bed.
The following day we did some exploration around Kennett. We paid a visit to the military base where my cousin and his wife worked (I suppose it was actually two bases) and then we headed out to Bury St. Edmunds and visited the ruins of the Abbey Church of St. Edmunds. We spent a few hours walking around the ruined abbey, which is now a lovely park with grassy fields intermingling with ruined walls and well manicured flower gardens. It was amazing to see the contrast between the ruined Abbey of St. Edmunds, which was one of the largest Benedictine Abbeys, and Westminster Abbey - Both were built at around the same time, but one is pristine and one is virtually gone. We ended up back at their place towards the late
The Golden Hind
This reproduction has actually sailed around the world following the route of the original, though I would bet there were fewer raids on the Spanish Main the second time around. afternoon and we said our farewells and I headed back to the train station.
I had not seen my cousin much over the previous ten years, but we had been fairly close as children, so it was great to spend some time with him and his new wife. As I rode back towards King’s Cross Station I stared out across the green English countryside. I had never really had any great desire to explore the area, but as I sat there I realized how attached I was to the history of England and I discovered that I had a longing to get to know the area better. At about the time I made the revelation, a bright red fox emerged from the green trees lining one of the emerald fields along the track, looked in my direction and then disappeared into the forest on the other side. If there was one image from my childhood that made me think fondly England it was the fox hunt scene in Mary Popins and one of the last things I saw in England was the same scene played out in real life before my eyes, though without the hunters and the barking
The Tower Bridge
I am not sure if the bridge gets its name from the two towers or from the nearby Tower of London. hounds - It was a wonderful farewell from England!
I made my way all the way to Gatwick Airport, I grabbed a bite to eat and then I found a nice bench to call home for the evening and I drifted off to sleep. In the morning I was off to the Emerald Isle and an important birthday dinner with my parents, who I hadn’t seen in nearly seven months!
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denidax
Deni, Dax and Ella
egg
Hey!!! I've been reading your blog for a while and I love it because you go to many places I don't even think of as a possibility... I always thought the round building looked like an egg too, but they call it "The Gherkin"...and I guess if you let your imagination flow a little it looks more like a gherkin than an egg...but it's up to everyone to choose what they want it to look like... Keep exploring!!! Deni