Routes

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Alrighty! My turn. This morning... potatoes & eggs. Not bad. Could've used some salt though. After breakfast Sarah and I made a list of everything else we wanted to do in London before departing. It was extensive. It would seem that in 2 days of being in London, we discovered more that we wanted to see than we initially knew existed. We also became quick at using the tube, which makes life a little bit easier to navigate.

We started the day at Big Ben. Westminster Abby. We didn't actually go into Westminster Abby as it was 15 pounds/person, but we enjoyed the architecture from the exterior of the building. After that we hopped back on the tube and headed towards London Bridge. We walked across the bridge. Very beautiful.... it holds a nice view of Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge is thought by many (including myself once upon a time) to be the London Bridge. This is not the case though. I think we'd all like the Tower Bridge to be the London Bridge. It's Prettier.

After crossing the bridge we looked for a place to sit and eat our lunch, some chicken sandwiches. The birds came by and decided they wanted some of our lunch. It would seem they were intimidated, but they still wanted some food very badly. After we departed a flock of about 10 pigeons swooped in to eat up the crumbs. This all took place in front of what we discovered was the London stock exchange.

St. Paul's Cathedral was next. Like Westminster Abby it had admission charges for visitors but was also open for free for services. The question spins through my mind as to how the church might differentiate between believers and tourists. Who gets charged the nearly $20 Canadian, and who enters for free? It may not actually be that complicated. It may come down to a matter of patience. What tourist is willing to sit through a service and participate while refraining from taking a photograph? The question probably only complicates itself for me because I really wouldn't mind sitting through a service. But I am a tourist.

We went to the Museum of London. While not necessarily big, this museum was one of the best parts of the day. I took some notes of things I learned/found interesting/or learned more about:

1.I saw the remains of a human skull. In the top of the skull was a hole. The display informed me that the hole had been drilled in the skull sometime around 1600 BC. The hole was likely to have been drilled to relieve pain in the subject. Apparently, regrowth of bone around the hole indicates that the patient survived the operation. After pointing out the skull to Sarah she told me this was a common practice for people to release demons from the mind.

2.London was originally named Londinium under Roman ruling. Sometime around 50 AD. Londinium included bath houses and a style of architecture similar to what might have been found in the Mediterranean. While the museum made no mention of the temperature, all I could help but think about was the temperature and rain of London under Italian design. I think I'd personally have opted to LIVE in the bath houses.

3.Mithraism was a secret society that existed in Londinium around 250 AD. I had no idea that fraternities existed this early. Historians might just slap me upside the head for calling Mithraism a fraternity, but I'm gonna go there anyway. Secret stuff.

4.In 1290 all Jews were expelled from England.

5.In 1348 the Black Death occurred. I knew of the Black Death before, however, I may not have appreciated the magnitude of its effect. Half of London died - roughly 40 000 people. That's a lot of people!

6.Combs were used for grooming way back then. And the combs were made of bone. I have honestly wondered once upon a time what combs used to be made of before plastic. Now I know. And I even saw a couple.

7.Prior to the Fires of London, St. Paul's Cathedral existed as an entirely different structure. A model of the original St. Paul's Cathedral is included in this blog posting. After the fires of London, a new St. Paul's Cathedral emerged. It would be slightly smaller in size though.

8.In 1665 the Great Plague happened in London. 100 000 people died - 20% of London. Between the black death and the great plague, that's 140 000 deaths in just one city.

9.In 1666, one year after the great plague, the great fire of London happened. While few deaths are reported from this incident, 100 000 people were left homeless. And, truthfully, just because deaths weren't reported back in 1666 certainly does not mean they didn't happen. It's terrible to think of this time for people back then. I imagine families, that may have lost one or two members of their family to the plague. And then, a year later, these same people may have watched their homes burn. When 100 000 people in one city go homeless, it can be rest assured that several are likely going to die. The museum didn't talk about this, but it doesn't take an expert to imagine what dark end might have come to several thousand people in 1666/67.

10.In 1687, the first fire hoses were based upon giant syringes that would squirt mass amounts of water onto the fire.

11.13200 houses burned in the Fire of London. And 87 out of 109 churches were destroyed.

12.While no one can for sure verify that cause of the fire, Robert Hobert was a French baker that confessed to accidentally starting the fire in the bakery. After his confession, he was hanged on October 27, 1666. London would later discover that Robert was not even present in London until after the fire had occurred.

13.The Fire of London happened on September 2, 1666. This gave birth to the first insurance companies - fire brigades - in the 1700s. The first official London fire brigade was not formed until 1865, 200 years after the Fire of London.

14.What I took away mostly from the Museum of London was its display of humility. My whole life, I have only known of museums that begin some 200-500 years ago (ish). We tell the story of Canada as a story of longevity. And we need to (as every country does), because what sense of identity might we have the right to if not for tradition and stories - an understanding of from where we have come? The museum of London though, welcomed us with an opening placard telling us that while London has a great story, “It is ONLY 2000 years old”. Before that was a time of hunters and gatherers living simply off the Thames. Here was a recognition of the great evolution of our global civilization within a short matter of time (relative to the history of the world). And yet, the history of London is roughly 4-10 times older than the history of Canada (depending on how we define the terms).

Here is a poem I also encountered upon entering the museum that I liked very much:

Routes:

Time has frozen this midwinter night. Outside,
the pavement coated with a transparent skin.

Inside, I retreat into down, sensing the vibration
of polar sheets creeping south, burying us

a thousand feet under blue ice, diverting the river
out of the vale of St. Albans into the London Basin.

Welcome home. Welcome home first citizen, chasing
reindeer over the hip joint with France,

tropical and glacial cycles, waves of migrators
your long trek north, from below the Sahara

circling a camp fire by the Thames
the hair of wolves overtight backs; dread-

locked beards, unpolished eyes, your slow
heavy mouths chewing fresh rhinoceros, roasted,

no spices; unaware that you are dislocating
from France as you eat, that the channel is rising

that my heated body floats above a London of Birch
and pine forest, of open grassland where gangs

of straight-tusked elephants gather in Trafalgar
Square, hippopotami wallow in the brown marshe

of Pall Mall and from Madole Arch I gaze longingly
on sheets of marigold, meadowsweet, mint.

(Bernadine Evaristo, Poet in Residence, 1999)

After the Museum of London we briefly visited County Hall and the London Eye. We didn't go on the London eye, but we enjoyed the river and the scenery around us. After that we headed out to watch a debate at Parliament. Thought it might be fun to watch something happen there. There was a debate going on regarding the # of police being supplied to a particular neighborhood in London. Unfortunately, the few people who were taking part in the debate looked immensely bored.

Supper: Spaghetti.

We headed to Cirque du Soleil this evening. Amazing 😊 Royal Albert Hall. We were near the top. It was a cheaper section, however it gave us a very good view of the immense volume of acrobatics taking place in the show. One artist had a slight stumble towards the end of the show, but otherwise it appeared to be a flawless performance including the use of nets, gymnastics, gypsy music, bright costumes, and a little bit of comedy.

Sarah and I went for a pint afterward only to discover that we had ordered apparently 15 min. before the pub was to close. An Italian man about our age had found himself in the same predicament, only he had ordered 2 pints instead of 1. When informed that he would be arrested if he were to go out in the streets with his full beer, he chugged the pint (did a good job), and we followed him out for the end of what was a very nice day.

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Photos

Supper night 2
Steamed Carrots, Chicken and Potatoes.

Comments

[Elizabeth]

London
Greetings o traveling ones. Thanks for bringing back so many great memories for us from last summer. I too would rather be in the 'baths' AND BE WARM.This will be fun traveling with you for free. How heavy are your backpacks? Take care Love Aunty Mrs. Wocks

[TimandSarah]

Our backpacks are 8.4 kg and 9.6 (we know because we had to measure them for ryanair!)