Day 28: Braving the Rain

Ethan and I both purchased London Passes, a tourist pass that gives access to over 60 attractions in and around London.  They can be purchased for multiple days and allow you to go to £90 worth of sights each day.  We bought two-day passes and made a list of our top sights, although some proved too impractical to do within the two-day window.  However, today we tackled the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace, Westminster Abbey, Royal Albert Hall, and Kensington Palace.

We picked up our Passes in Trafalgar Square and, as we headed to our first stop, we stopped into St. Martin-in-the-Fields.  I was very excited to visit the church as it has a very strong music history.  Most notably to me is the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, a conductorless string orchestra.  The group is named for its first performance in the church.  Since then, they have achieved musically and professionally.  You may have heard them without knowing, as they recorded the soundtracks to Amadeus and The English Patient.  I know them from a recording of Mozart's Requiem in D minor that is one of my most listened to pieces of music.  Below is the gorgeous organ in the church.

Ethan and I then headed to the Banqueting Hall.  The Hall was once part of Europe's largest palace complex, larger than Versailles or the Vatican.  The Palace, designed by Inigo Jones, was built for Henry VIII and was constantly expanding; the palace was made up of more than 1,500 rooms.  Sadly, the vast majority of the palace was destroyed in 1698 by a massive fire and only the Banqueting Hall survived.

In 1635, Charles I commissioned Peter Paul Rubens to decorate the massive ceiling of the Banqueting Hall.  The central painting of the nine shows the apotheosis of James I, the father of Charles I.  The paintings focus on the accomplishments of James I and his rule, which Charles had depicted was being full of wisdom and good virtue.  The central painting shows James I being brought to heaven by virtues such as Justice, Faith, Religion, along with the goddess of wisdom, Minerva.  Other paintings show James uniting England and Scotland and allegories for temperance and abundance.  They are massive masterpieces by Rubens and the only ceiling paintings by the artist still in situ.

The Banqueting Hall was used for masques until the Rubens paintings were added.  After that point, the room was used by the kings of England for official purposes, especially the meeting of foreign ambassadors.  The ambassadors would have proceeded towards the king in his throne.

The Banqueting Hall also witnessed the execution of Charles I, who was beheaded just outside the building.  After his fall from power, the building saw use by Oliver Cromwell, was turned into a church for later royals, then a museum, and now stands a historic site and function venue.

On our way to Westminster Abbey, we stopped to see two members of the Blues and Royals monitoring the Horse Guards Parade.  Only the monarch is allowed to drive through the central arch, which leads to the site of the 16th century jousting tiltyard.  The site is used for major events involving the British military, such as the Trooping of the Colour.

There is no photography allowed in Westminster Abbey, so I don't have any pictures to share.  However, Ethan and I got to see the tombs of many British monarchs and notables.  There are far too many to name, but I know Ethan's favorite (even without asking him): the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I.  I think my favorite moment was accidentally coming across the tomb of Muzio Clementi, a renowned pianist and composer who wrote many delightful sonatinas.  Sadly, Westminster is hurt by its status as a tourist destination and it's nearly impossible to really enjoy or experience the Abbey.  Instead, most of the time is spent getting pushed through crowds of visitors with audioguides glued to their ears.  Still beautiful and stunning, but I think I've seen more beautiful churches on this trip.

After lunch, we headed through fairly heavy rain to Royal Albert Hall.  The building is beautiful.  At the time, it had the largest unsupported roof in the world and to this day, the roof is unsupported and has been in place since it was installed.

Sadly, we were not supposed to take pictures for most of the tour (I accidentally took some in an area that I thought was okay, but apparently not).  However, Ethan and I had an hour long, informative tour through the building.  We got to listen to part of a rehearsal for Proms, which is ongoing, see the royal box, and the private room for the royal family.  We also went up into the gallery at the top of the theatre, which gave great views of the orchestra rehearsing and how they've adjusted the ceiling to be more acoustic.  All around, it was a really fascinating tour of a beautiful venue.

From Royal Albert Hall, we went to Kensington Palace, the home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.  The palace has been a residence for British royalty since the 17th century, with its purchase by William III and Mary.  Now the palace is part private residence to the royals and part museum focusing on the history of the royals and their connections to the house.

One exhibit of the palace focuses on the fashion of the royal women, by looking at pieces worn by Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, the Queen's late sister, and Diana, Princess of Wales.  The dress above was worn by Queen Elizabeth in the 1950s on a diplomatic trip.

This Indian inspired gown was worn by Princess Margaret to a fancy dress party in the 1970s.

Diana, Princess of Wales, wore this red dress during a royal tour of Saudi Arabia in 1986.

Other portions of the museum were dedicated to earlier monarchs, especially King George II and Queen Caroline, the ruling royals to live in Kensington Palace.  The house served both public and private functions, all in a wonderfully decadent style worthy of the British royal family.  In one room, used for balls, projectors played dancing men and women against some of the walls.

The King's Gallery had commanding views of Kensington Gardens, but the art might have distracted from the view.  Paintings by the likes of Tintoretto and Vasari covered walls throughout the palace, and the King's gallery had two massive Tintorettos.

The queen's portion of the palace was equally stunning, although in possibly a less grand way.  It felt more homely, if a palace can ever be described in that way.  This makes sense, as the rooms were much more private than those of the kings.  The Queen's Bedroom was the probably the sight of at least the death of two British Queens, Mary and Anne.

The largest portion of the palace is dedicated to the life of Queen Victoria, who was born and grew up in Kensington Palace.  It was even here where she was told she was queen and held her first privy council meeting.  The dress above is from Victoria's early reign, when she had just been happily married and had her first of nine children.

Much of the exhibit is dedicated to the relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  Both were accomplished pianists and singers and Albert seemed to enjoy composing a great deal.  He wrote quite a few pieces dedicated to and about Queen Victoria, including the one pictured above.  Victoria loved to hear him sing them to her.

This is a locket, very much in style during Victoria's reign.  It contains photographs of Victoria and Albert and lockets of their hair.  Often the lockets of hair are symbols of mourning, which dominated much of Victoria's life and reign.  Albert died twenty-four years into Victoria's sixty-three year reign and she never recovered.

It is often said that Victoria only wore black after the death of Albert.  Though this is probably not true, almost all depictions of her show here in almost all black attire.  This portrait of Victoria at age 80 shows her still in mourning clothes and looking rather forlorn.  However, it was one of her favorite depictions of herself, stating that the artist had never painted a better portrait of her.

Queen Victoria was interested in arts beyond music.  She started painting when she was young and here are some watercolor sketches of a sunset she painted.  Quite a multitalented queen.

Although we didn't get to meet any royals, Kensington was truly fascinating and beautiful.  Sadly, we got drenched going there and leaving.  As we made our way back to our hotel on the tube, we heard increasing announcements about platforms shutting down due to flooding.  It seems we picked one of the heaviest days of rain London has seen in a while to do lots of sightseeing.  But what a successful day we had!

Day 27: Finding the Greatest Books

Much of what Ethan and I saw today did not allow photography, so the images here will not be a full record of the day.

Our plan for the day was to go explore the British Library and the British Museum.  We walked through central London, stopping in a few areas that piqued our interest.  This brought us to the Royal Opera House and Covent Garden.  Covent Garden reminds me of a greatly improved Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market area.  There are many shops, cafes, and open areas to walk and talk.

Like much of London, there was a great deal of music in Covent Garden.  We listened to a quartet of two flautists, a violist, and a cellist play a variety of Celtic folk songs, pop medleys, and classical tunes for a few minutes and as we walked by the shops.  We've also heard lots of great music around Southbank with the many buskers and even saw some acts at a busking festival outside the National Portrait Gallery yesterday.

We visited St. Paul's Church, just off Covent Garden, which is known as the "actor's church."  As we went in, we passed people working on painting sets for Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice to be used later this summer.  The church was built in 1631 and designed by Inigo Jones, who was inspired by the writings of Vitruvius and designed Covent Garden and the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall.

We found very cute (and very sleepy) cat taking a nap in St. Paul's.  Cats are traditionally kept in churches to help catch mice, but this one seems to be slacking on the job.  But the cat was quite soft and a pleasant surprise! 

From Covent Garden we went to the British Library, not quite sure what to expect.  We went in and followed a sign to the highlights of the library.  There we were greeted by many and diverse wonders.  We saw the musical notations of Purcell, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, and so many other composers.  My personal favorite piece we saw was a notebook Mozart kept with the names and opening bars of all his compositions.  We saw the original brainstorms for the lyrics of Beatles hits like "Help!" and "Hard Day's Night."  We saw sacred texts from every major religion, including Ethan's favorite items of the day: the Codex Sinaiticus and William Tyndale's English translation of the New Testament.  We saw personal letters from Anne Boleyn, Horatio Nelson, Winston Churchill, Michelangelo, and more.  I'll stop listing now, but if you ever have the chance, go see the highlights in the British Library.

Below is pictured of the large bronze sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi that greets those entering the library.

We were unable to enter any of the reading rooms of the library, since we did not have the proper documents to get a reading pass (we're planning on getting these in order and coming back another day).  We wandered around some of the publicly accessible parts of the building, which mostly focused around the King's Library.  The collection of 65,000 volumes was collected by King George III and donated to the British people by King George IV.  It is contained in a specially built gallery that was completed in 1997.  The collection focuses on the Age of the Enlightenment.

We spent much more time in the British Library than we had intended, so Ethan and I decided to go get a late lunch.  We passed through Russell Square and saw the Hotel Russell.  The architect of the hotel, Charles Fitzroy Doll, was influenced by the Château Madrid, a lost château built for Francis I of France.  The decoration of the exterior includes life-size sculptures of British queens and and the coats of arms from around the world in 1898, the time of construction.

Although there are double-decker buses everywhere in London, we saw an older model still being used.  It reminds me of a model car I played with often as a kid.

After lunch, we decided we didn't have the time to dedicated to the British Museum as we were planning to go to the evensong service at Westminster Abbey.  We walked through central London again, seeing many buildings used for the United Kingdom's government.  The Somerset House below is used both to house some government offices and facilities for King's College London.

As we were almost back to our hotel, I spotted a strange installation at Hayward Gallery.  It seemed like some sort of training for paragliding that had participants harnessed into a contraption that swung them in a circle.  Still not sure what was happening here, but there was quite a line to participate!

W

After a quick shower and shave, Ethan and I headed to Westminster Abbey for evensong service.  The service was just over forty-five minutes long and featured music mostly from the 17th century.  This included a piece by Thomas Tallis, titled "If ye love me," which I sang seven years ago with a choir (and I still know the tenor part very well).  It was truly a pleasure to hear (although both Ethan and I were not exceptionally impressed by the choir, which was not the Abbey choir).  Ethan was a bit disappointed by how we were shepherded in and out of the Abbey and not allowed to really see the interior.

We are remedying this tomorrow!  We've found a package deal that allows access to many sites around London, so we're trying that tomorrow.  I'll give an update of how the London Pass is tomorrow.

Fun Fact #27: Charles Fitzroy Doll, the architect of the Hotel Russell, was also the designer of the dining room on the RMS Titanic.  Supposedly, the restaurant in the Hotel Russell is almost an exact replica of the dining room on the Titanic.  I wonder if they serve any of the same dishes!

Day 25: Taking the Train to London

After a wonderful stay in Bath, Ethan and I headed to the train station this morning.  The weather was beautiful as we left Bath and we got some lovely views of the city as the train pulled out of the station.

Sadly, the air conditioning in our car was not functioning particularly well and soon we were all baking on the way to London.  The combination of some of the warmest weather of the trip and the solid dose of humidity made for a sticky trip.

We arrived in Paddington Station, greeted by a statue of Paddington Bear.  We took the Bakerloo line straight from Padding to Waterloo, right where our hotel is located.  We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get from the station to our hotel, as there were multiple levels of roadways around Waterloo.  Once we made it out of the right exit, our hotel was just across the street from the station.

We checked in and crashed in our room.  After a busy last night in Bath, we were both pretty tired, so we decided to take a little nap before exploring some of the area round our hotel.  We woke up a bit more rejuvenated and made our way to the banks of the Thames.

Our location is fantastic, with the riverfront just about a ten minute walk away.  We made our way through massive crowds by the London Eye as we headed towards the Westminster area.  We both thought that while the views from the London Eye would be fantastic, the waiting in line for a ticket, then waiting in line to get on the Eye, and the slow process of going around would not be worth it.  Don't think that the Eye will make it on our itinerary.

From Westminster Bridge, we had a full view of the London Eye and the promenade full of shops and cafes on the Queen's Walk.

After we had crossed the Thames we immediately came to the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place for Parliament of the United Kingdom.  The Parliament consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.  The Palace has been home to Parliament since the 13th century, but was a Royal residence from the 11th to 16th century.

The present building was built between 1840 and 1870 after a fire ravaged the earlier buildings.  The winner of redesigning the Palace, Charles Barry, made the new buildings in a Gothic-Revival style, specifically influenced by the English Perpendicular Gothic which is present on parts of Westminster Abbey.

The Palace is also home to probably the most famous clocktower in the world, Big Ben.  The tower, known as Elizabeth Tower since Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee in 2012, is 315 feet high, has clock faces 23 feet in diameter, 9 foot long hour hands, and 14 foot long minute hands.  The name Big Ben comes from the nickname for the clocktower's great bell.  The first bell cast for the tower was 16 tons and took sixteen horses to pull to the base of the tower.  Unfortunately, while being tested, the bell cracked beyond repair.  The second bell cast for the tower, a 13 ton bell, took 18 hours to raise into the tower and it also cracked early in its service.  Luckily, it was able to be repaired and still rings the hours in the clocktower.

A shot of the Union Jack flying over Victoria Tower, part of the Palace of Westminster.  The Union Jack is a combination of three national flags from the British Isles.  It combines the St. Andrew's Cross, the flag of Scotland (the blue background with a white x), Saint Patrick's Saltire, the flag of Ireland (the red x on a white background), and St. George's Cross, the flag of England (the red cross on a white background).  The design was adapted in 1801.  Sadly, there's no representation of Wales.

I found it quite amusing to see a curtain billowing through a window of the Palace of Westminster.  Seems like an MP might have forgotten to shut the window!

We then walked around the outside of Westminster Abbey, as it was already closed.  I, personally, found the main facade unimpressive compared to some of the other churches I've seen on my trip.  That being said, I'm very excited to see inside.

We then headed back to our hotel, as we decided it was dinner time.  Here's a shot of Big Ben in the evening sun.

We've spent most of our evening trying to figure out what we want to see in London and how to save money (this was spurred by realizing that admission to Westminster Abbey was £17.80).  We've come up with a good list of free and admissions only sites and maybe some ways to see them for less money!  Let the London adventure begin!

Fun Fact #25: A division bell is a bell rung to alert members of Parliament to return for a vote.  The bells are mostly of the past, but some local establishments around the Palace of Westminster have division bells still.  So if an MP decided to step out for a pint at the local pub, they would know when it was time to down the beer and run back to work.  Apparently, they're great for startling tourists, who often mistake the bells for fire alarms.  Seeing an MP run out probably doesn't help that illusion.