Bits and Pieces in London

OK, so this will be a blog with a different flavour - I'm not going to format the photos as much as I've done in the past - it's too much effort, and about the only way I'm going to post blogs is to keep my workload down - the alternative is to e-mail you a PDF of sections of our journal (with nicely formatted, but low resolution photos). The PDF is about 2MB for 10 pages, so not that much to e-mail, but you don't get the same resolution of photos as in the blog (which is still relatively low, but you can click on the image to get a better view). Let me know what you think, and that will determine if the blog persist. The other issue is privacy - we're getting random hits from all over the globe (from Google), but if I lock down the blog, you'll need to log in to view it :-( . . . . so, please let me know your preference :-)

With that said it's on with the blog. I wasn't going to include a map of the route as you should all know where London is, but then I thought of puting Salisbury into context. It's 90 miles by car (OK so we think in miles when in the UK - backward I know, but they haven't yet embraced the 20th Century concept of common metric units - 90 miles = 144 km). It's about an hour and a half by train, which gets in to Waterloo station. The google map approximates the route.

Westminster Abbey

26th October 2012

Really, there is not a great deal to say about this day out. I had to pop into the High Commission for a brief visit while Cal went shopping. We then met up at Westminster to cross off some dead monarchs :-). It was a good deal more interesting than that though :-). Along the way to the High Commission I stopped to take a photo or two. There is a weird sculpture just out of Waterloo station – but the other two pics are easily recognisable.

After paying our £16 to get in to the Abbey we wandered around the many tombs in Westminster. Apparently, x-rays have shown that there’s stupid amount of people buried under the flagstones – the number of runs into the thousands, but I can’t remember exactly how many. We walked from the north entrance to the main west door, where the tomb of the unknown soldier is, and then on through the quire. On the outside of the quire were the tombs of many famous scientists, including Sir Isaac Newton, and a memorial to Charles Darwin – which we found quite bizarre given that Darwin was a self acknowledged agnostic.

Of course the main reason we were there was to see the tombs of lots of English monarchs. Again, without cameras it will simply be a case of our word. After we went through the quire we asked a steward if it was possible to see the tomb of Edward the Confessor – the answer was “yes” but only if you participate in the afternoon prayer session at the shrine of Edward the Confessor – let us think about that for a second . . . OK, we’ll participate in prayer.

The prayers at the tomb were quite fascinating, and it was very Roman Catholic in the approach – it was an intercession through Edward to God, rather than Christ interceding on our part. Cal and I just made our prayers personal, so we were OK with the focus of the prayers – we just did our own thing in how we went about them and the saying out loud of them. After the prayers we had an opportunity to kneel at Edward’s tomb (there are about 6 spots where you can get real close) – we passed on that, but did take the opportunity to view the tombs of St Edward the Confessor (no kidding) and the tombs of Henry III, Edward I (not the confessor), Edward III and Richard II.

After this, we viewed the tomb of Henry V, who died in 1422, and whose chantey at the east end of Edward the Confessor’s shrine was completed in 1431. We then went on to the Lady Chapel that held the tombs of many of the monarchs:

Henry VII

Edward VI

Mary

Elizabeth I

James I

James VI

Charles II

Mary II

William III

Anne

George II

Some were highly ornate, whilst others were a simple flagstone measuring no more than 30cm square laid in the floor (George II for example). We both found the tomb of Elizabeth and Mary fascinating. Whilst both had been part of a power struggle, with Elizabeth succeeding Mary on Mary’s death in 1558, they share the same tomb (with an effigy of Elizabeth, not Mary). The Latin inscription on their tomb: Regno consortes et urna, hic obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis (affixed there by James VI of Scotland when he succeeded Elizabeth as King James I of England) translates to "Consorts in realm and tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters, in hope of resurrection”.

Defence Autumn Reception

26th November 2012

Cal and I received an invitation to the Defence Autumn reception, which was held on 26th November (closer to winter than autumn, but there you are). We took the opportunity to visit the Christmas lights that are on display along Oxford Street.  As it happened, we were there at about 4 pm, which was plenty dark to see the lights. After a wander around we also did some shopping at Debenham's for Cal (hair straightener) and TM Lewin and Savile Row for some shirts for Mark (sounds expensive, but it wasn't really: £20-25 per shirt, or about $30-40 for good quality business shirts is a good price).

On the walk to the High Commission we also passed by Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery in the background – it was only about 4 pm when these photos were taken. Actually, we were in search of a brief bit of sustenance, and headed on to the café in the croft of St Martin in the Fields for some soup and bread (it’s no longer in the fields ☺).

It was then down to the High Commission for the reception in the highly decorated Bruce room. However, it's not all play, and there was work to be done in the form of networking and flying the flag.

When it was polite to do so (and quite well into the evening), Cal and I took our leave of the High Commission, along with a colleague from Dstl and his wife and went to an Indian restaurant for a very late dinner. It was quite an experience, as it was (in our view) very authentic Indian, although I don't think it went down too well with our UK friends who, whilst liking Indian, would have been more comfortable with the more English kind!

The Tower of London

8th December 2012

Having exhausted the local supply of places to visit, it was time to head off to old London town and visit the tower. So Cal and I headed off to the station and caught the train to London. The train from Salisbury to London takes about and hour and a half and costs anywhere from £73.60 each at peak periods to £23.65 off-peak with a rail card . . . guess which option we chose.

When we got to the tower (after a couple of changes on the tube) it was a case of lining up for 30 minutes. We wanted to buy a pass for the Historic Royal Palaces, which gives us access to all the HRPs for a much reduced price (in fact it’s about 1.5 times the cost of just the visit to the tower to cover us for all the palaces). So anyway, after a 30 minute queue it was a case of “oh, you could have gone to that window over there “ (no queue – thanks for that ☺). So, we got our tickets, just at the time that Cal decided to use some of her unspent broadband and Skype Jess ☺.

It was a brilliant blue sky – cold day! Cal even got the sunnies on (with her portable blanket wrapped around her). Here are some of the sights that were on the outside (whilst we were queuing) – there was even a portable ice-rink in the moat.

With the HRP pass it was straight into the palace . . . only to wait for the next tour that start-ed in about 30 minutes . . . no wonder the Poms love their queues. Whilst waiting we spied some interesting sculptures that were too good to pass up taking a photo or two – the one of Cal has a trebuchet is in the background – cool.

Eventually “Steve” turned up and gave us a very interesting tour. We both agree that Steve was far more entertaining that our tour guide of 11 years ago . . . “Derek” was a bit pompous. The tour was much the same – which is hardly surprising given that the tow-er has been there since the late 11th century – so why would it change in the last 11 years ☺.

    

Typical sights including the various towers, accommodations and the water gate – with the same lame joke about England having a Water Gate well before the Americans.

This time we had a quest – a chance to see the tomb of Lady Jane Grey – the uncrowned queen of nine days in July of 1553. She is buried in the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula ("St. Peter in chains") – which is the parish church of the Tower of London. It is situated within the Tower's Inner Ward and dates from 1520. We also saw the tombs of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the second wife, and fifth wife of Henry VIII, respectively. After all, having legally executed one wife, why not do it again? It was quite something to stand near where the executions happened – there is now a beautiful glass memorial at the site – as well as seeing the places where they were buried.

The White Tower dominates the precinct, and the view of tower bridge is quite something.

Opposite the White Tower is the Waterloo Block – in which the Crowned Jewels are kept. We didn’t go in on this visit – we’ll need to do it before the summer tourist hoards turn up (and may need to look at a weekday. The queue on this cold (albeit sunny) winter day was still quite something.

Along the way we found a bear who couldn’t resist playing up – not only in the cannon, but also sitting on an ancient privy in the White tower. There was also another one of the sculptures, but with Cal’s knees the way they are it was not possible for her to climb the stairs to get there.

We did, however, find a memorial of sorts to the place where Edward V was reputedly found, along with Richard his brother – the Princes in the tower. It’s a fascinating story of Royal intrigue and murder.

Following King Edward IV’s death, when Edward V was 12 year old, Richard (King Edward IV’s brother) was nominated as Protector during the minority of the Kings son. King Edward V and his brother Richard were taken to the Tower for their protection, but the coronation was repeatedly postponed.

Shortly after taking up residence in the tower, “evidence” was presented (in a sermon - so it must be true . . . right Jeff?) that Edward IV’s marriage was invalid, thus making Edward V illegitimate – and, following an act of parliament, Richard was declared to be the legitimate king and was crowned three days later. After Richard III's accession, the princes were gradually seen less and less within the Tower, and within a few months they had disappeared from public view altogether. Their fate remains unknown, but it is generally believed that they were murdered – and the principle suspect was King Richard III himself.

Of course, the visit to the White Tower would be incomplete without a visit to the armoury, which includes the armour of Henry VIII, ceremonial Japanese armour for James I, the armour of Charles I and James II. The crowing glory was the pride of Henry VIII.

      

There was also the ten 17th century carved and painted wooden horses on view in the White Tower. They were commissioned by the Crown and on show during Victorian times when the display was known as “The Line of Kings”. The Line of Kings exhibit was re-established at the White Tower in 1997.

What armoury would be complete without an artistic display of weapons – and here is one made into a sculpture of a dragon. The picture of the “dwarf and the giant” is actually armour thought to be made for Prince Charles (before he became Charles I) and that of a tall German man, given as a diplomatic gift to the drown. The small armour is 95 cm tall, and the giant armour is 205 cm tall – they breed them big in Brunswick Germany (so don’t invade them).

This is supposedly the axe that killed Anne Boleyn – it was out of the glass cabinet when we visited in 2002.

Also on display was a pound. During the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509), a coin was issued with a value of one pound (also called a Sovereign). One gold Sovereign = one pound = 240 silver pennies.

The following pictures are of scenes in and around the Tower.