Loverly London

Apologies for the long delay in posting. The "study" part of "study abroad" got in the way. I did, however, find time to spend a day in London, which I have determined is one of my favorite major cities. It's a beautiful city, and it doesn't have the claustrophobic feel that plagues so many of them.


Above, views of the front and side of Westminster Abbey, where pretty much everyone who was anyone in England is buried. Every monarch between Henry III and George II (1272-1760) is buried there except Henry VIII and Charles I, who were buried at Windsor Castle. A few other names include Darwin, Newton, Henry Purcell, Charles Dickens, Chaucer, and Handel, to name a few. We didn't have time to go in, but hopefully I'll be doing that with my family in a few weeks.


Big Ben and the London Eye.


This is the famous statue of Boudica, the East Anglian warrior queen that I mentioned in my previous post who gave the Romans a run for their money. The statue was built by Thomas Thornycroft, started in 1856, completed in 1885, and erected by Westminster Bridge in 1902. Rather embarassingly, the Victorians spelled her name incorrectly on the statue: Boadicea. And she most certainly didn't look like a young Queen Victoria in Roman garb. But we'll let that slide--it's still a pretty statue.



View of Parliament and the Thames over Westminster Bridge.



A second view of Parliament and Big Ben over Westminster Bridge.



Monet's view of Parliament over Westminster Bridge.

Inside of Westminster Hall, the entrance to the Houses of Parliament, a.k.a. Westminster Palace. It was built in 1097 and is the oldest building in Parliament. The rest were built in the 19th century after a fire in 1834 destroyed most of the original medieval buildings. There are 100 staircases and over 1,100 rooms in Westminster Palace!

Westminster Hall has been the site of a number of famous trials. Here are some floor plaques commemorating a few of the biggest ones:

"In this hall Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, Speaker of the House of Commons, author of Utopia, was condemned to death 1 July 1535." Thomas refused to acknowledge the annulment of the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon and accept Anne Boleyn as the new queen. Henry had to work really hard at it, but after a few foiled plans, false accusations, and botched forgeries of supposedly incriminating documents, finally managed to have Thomas condemned to death. The Catholic Church responded by promptly making him a saint.

"This tablet marks the spot where Charles Stuart, King of England stood before the court [...] when the sentence of death was pronounced upon the king." Charles I was charged with treason against the realm and executed. Then followed a period of ten years in which the monarchy was abolished and the country was led by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and, for a brief period after his death, by his son Richard. The monarchy was restored in 1659 when Charles II came to the throne. Cromwell was originally interred in Westminster Abbey, but Charles II had his body exhumed, put on trial (three years after his death--eew!) and posthumously hanged.


Near this spot, a the the King's Bench at the south end of the hall, took place the trial of Sir William Wallace the Scottish patriot on Monday, 23rd August 1305." William Wallace was then hanged, drawn, and quartered, a popular death sentence at the time. The person is hung by the neck until nearly dead, but not quite ("He's only mostly dead"). Then his entrails and genitalia were cut out and burned before his eyes. His body was then cut apart and sent to the far corners of the kingdom. It gives new meaning to the term "overkill."



One of the entrances into Parliament from Westminster Hall. It only gets more opulent from here. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photographs inside of Parliament. However, there is a virtual tour available at http://www.parliament.uk/visiting/onlinetours/virtualtours/commons-tour/index.htm.


Here is the entrance to the Royal Academy of Arts museum, where we saw the Vincent van Gogh exhibit. It was a combination of his sketches, paintings, and letters to his brother Theo. He often wrote to his brother about his paintings, and would include thumbnail sketches of the works-in-progress and notes about how he wanted the finished product to be. The exhibit paired up the letters with their corresponding finished artworks. They also had a variety of pieces from the beginning of his artistic endeavors to his final famous pieces. You could see how his skills developed over time. Also on display was the letter to his brother found on him when he committed suicide, complete with blood spots. He wrote two copies of the letter. The first one, the one found on his person, was unfinished, trailing into despairing thoughts. The second was one he actually mailed to his brother a couple of days before, that started off the same, but then remained deliberately positive and evasive. It was really touching to read both versions.


A glimpse of Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives.

Admiral Nelson's Pillar in Trafalgar Square. It's really tall.

A "loverly" view of Covent Garden. It is here that Audrey Hepburn sings and sells flowers as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.


Notice the building with the pillars on the right side of the screen. It's the same building as the second and fourth ones in from the right in my photo above.

A somewhat distant view of Piccadilly Circus. Piccadilly Circus wasn't at all what I expected it to be. I'm actually not really sure what I expected, but I suppose something a bit more chaotic.

Overall, a lovely, 'loverly' city.

Next up: Oxford!