We literally drove around most of the center of London, traveling alongside the Thames to see many famous landmarks through the all-too-familiar glare-plagued windows (therefore, I apologize for all the glare-y pictures). We passed Big Ben (big is a serious understatement), Westminster Abbey (I would have killed to go inside), and other huge, imposing buildings. One of my favorites was the actual Fleet Street. In its heyday, it was Newspaper Street, and it was also the infamous home of the Barber of Fleet, Sweeney Todd himself. (I love the new movie version with Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp.)
During the trip, the very proper and friendly tour woman told us a little about the city’s history. In 1666, there was a huge fire that destroyed most of London to the West. One of the few journalists/diarists of the time recorded the event in vivid detail, providing valuable background for future historians. We also passed the site of the medieval London bridge and the current one. The original bridge was the gruesome home to the half-boiled and tarred heads of executed prisoners. The executions themselves took place in the market square, which we also rode past. We also drove through some of the most expensive neighborhoods in London, including the tree-lined street the Queen has another house at. During our rounds, I kept noticing two little cafes doting many streets – Pret a Manger and Caffe Nero. They seem to be English equivalents of Starbucks and the like.
Though I can’t remember if it was this day after lunch or another, one day we walked down a street and saw the mansion-compound Prince Charles and Camilla reside at.
We also stopped by for a short excursion to the actual Buckingham Palace, surrounded by lush landscaping and bordered by a huge military base. After sitting in the brisk weather with hundreds of other tourists, we watched the elaborate changing of the guard, with a military group coming in a on black stallions and parading up to the front of the Palace with musical accompaniment. We were quite a distance from the Palace gates proper, so we were able to take pictures with the guards who wear the tall hats, referred to as “bearskins,” referring to their original construction from bamboo wood and bearskin. I was able to take many pictures of the guards and the Union Jack-lined street. One of our group leaders told us about how certain flags are raised when the Queen is in the palace. The flag was down, meaning the Queen was out – as she was from London during our entire visit. She was evidently at some various horse racing events – she loves to breed and race stallions, even at her age.
This visit brought up some issues I have with British monarchy, though it is mostly ornamental as far as governing goes. Though the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and all the princes seem like decent people and probably don’t cause any harm, they seem to be another remnant of the colonizing, empirical, heartless age of England – the country that enslaved and murdered. I was told many times on my trip how dear they are to the English people, but I hope they realize that others might be sensitive to issues they could be construed to represent, at least conceptually. Another observation I made while contemplating the monarchy was that it was a bit hypocritical of the English to denounce Catholicism and its ritual when their whole royalty system is so painfully ceremonial.
After the tour, we were dropped off in what used to be a monolithic stone warehouse for priceless goods shipped in and out of London, including tea, spices, ivory, and silk. In the cavernous interior, King Henry VIII (a very attractive young man, I might add) held court over long benches filled with potatoes, wheat bread, and broiled turkey and vegetables. The lunch was good, but the pictures of squealing girls with the coy Henry took the cake.
After lunch we jaunted down to the Tower of London, a structure oozing with history and bloodshed. I had seen many “haunted places” Travel Channel shows about the tower, and it beat all creepy expectations. After walking through the gates, you are confronted with a raven enclosure, of all things. The dark birds, six in all, watching the tower make more sense after one of the beefeaters (the traditional guards of the tower, where royalty used to reside), specifically the raven master, explained they have always been with the tower – if they should fly away, the downfall of England shall be foretold. I’m not much for doomsday superstitions, but the atmosphere of half-forgotten and foreboding history surrounding the place like London fog was enough to make me a believer. Another very proper and very friendly guide, though a little hard to hear, graciously filling us in on the mostly-gruesome history of the tower. Seven private, royal executions occurred at the tower, including Henry VIII’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. For each execution, a new gallows was constructed near the middle of the courtyard, over the grey cobbled stones.
At the center of the courtyard is the original White Tower, constructed as a single wooden tower by William I, and later rebuilt by his son. Another building on the rounds houses a gift shop with a huge variety of English teas to being home. Elsewhere, a building resembling Fort Knox holds the Crown jewels, and there are quite a few of them in many incarnations. After entering through many sets of steel doors and passing by guards armed with machine guns and other deadly weapons, you take a self-guided tour through the museum of sorts, stopping to gape at huge jewels and golden scepters encrusted with shimmer. The largest is the Cullian I, at 530 carats of diamonds. The most interesting part of the exhibit was the coronation room, which showed video and a little background of the coronation ceremonies for the Queen and King, as well as the spoons that held coronation oil, ceremonial scepters, and more.
In the White Tower, there was an exhibit focused on King Henry VIII’s weaponry and hunting equipment, as well as other military inventions of the time. One of he objects I saw was an intricately designed and carved hunting gun, about four or five feet in length and using reloadable iron cartridges. The exhibit also featured a full set of horse armor and ostensibly the largest and smallest suits of armor ever made. Another room featured a truly ridiculous six-foot long gun. I have no idea why you would need that in any situation. Henry VIII also commissioned many new weapons to be designed and built, inventing many military breakthroughs. He also commissioned many failed contraptions, such as the multi-barrel cannon (which bore a striking similarity to the rotating cannons on Davy Jones’ ship in Pirates of the Caribbean).
Shortly after our tower excursion, we hopped on a large boat to cruise the Thames, though it was mainly another perspective on the sights we already saw on the coach tour. Despite it being freezing cold out on the water, I enjoyed the sight of the stately Parliament building and the other boats in the large, meandering river. The crew of the tour boat was very friendly and jovial, joking about the lateness of the tour and the supposed ignorance of the announcer about London’s landmarks.
After our incredible day out wearing our dress-up clothes (thankfully mine were reasonably warm, unfortunately I hade to wear sneakers all day with my beautiful skirt), we finally had a classy dinner at a rather nice restaurant/club called TigerTiger, then walked over to London’s east side, their theatre district and very akin to Broadway, I’m told (I’ve never been to New York). We saw Carousel, a wonderful musical about a young, rather troubled English couple that includes a trip to heaven. In some of the scenes, there were so many costumed couples dancing around it was hard to pick whom to watch. The show was in a wonderful old wood-paneled theatre, and we had seats at the front of the upper balcony, on the classic red velvet seats. As much as the play was a treat, driving through London at night was equally magical. You can see the London Eye all lit up, as well as many of the riverfront factories with huge neon signs, glowing out across the water. The streets we drove through were lit up with inviting lights from many pubs, into which filtered many n=men in business suits. Into the outer parts of town, the storefronts are lit up with signs advertising everything from pawnshops and Indian food to KFC.
I listened to a lot of Morrissey and the Smiths while we were England. I always loved his music, but you can really understand the mood, the lyrics, the resonance, when you’re actually in England. They grey skies give a certain overtone that the music lacks in Arizona. I spent a lot of time with this particular song:
93.3 KDKB’s New Year’s Eve countdown
MTV Hits New Year’s Countdown
Watching: Twilight Zone marathon on Syfy
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