Time is Flying By

Big Ben & Parliament

We've finished up our third and final day in London and the time has absolutely flown by. We had a lengthy list of possibilities knowing in advance we wouldn't do everything on the list.  We managed to visit most of the places we wanted to and had very full days without feeling rushed at all. The major highlights:

Westminster

Inside St. Margaret's Church

We spent an afternoon in Westminster, seeing Parliament and Big Ben and snapping photos as tours were unavailable.  We toured Westminster Abbey and saw many memorials and burial sites in addition to the beautiful stained glass and worship space.  One of the most recent internments was that of renowned British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking who died

Westminster Abbey

in 2018. While we were waiting to get in to the Abbey, I was able to see the lovely St. Margaret's Church that is next door.

Churchill War Rooms

The Churchill War Rooms are part of the larger Imperial War Museum.  They were the headquarters for Prime Minister Churchill during WWII and were located in the fortified basement area of Whitehall, the government office building next to Parliament.  It was here that Churchill and his military and government leaders led the war effort against Germany.

British Library

Gutenberg Bible

Housing centuries worth of original documents with a rotating display of "treasures, we saw a Gutenberg Bible, one of the original hand-written copies of the Magna Carta, original music scores of Handel and Mozart, and drawings by Michelangelo.

Kensington Palace

St. James's Palace

We saw Kensington Palace and walked through both Kensington Park and Hyde Park.  We also saw St. James's Palace, built by King Henry VIII in the 1530s and still used today for some royal functions.

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Home of the Crown Jewels, the Tower of London has served as a fortress, a palace, and a prison -- sometimes concurrently.  We saw the Crown Jewels, climbed several towers and along the wall, and had great views of Tower Bridge.

The Painted Hall -- Royal Naval College

Greenwich

We did make it to Greenwich where we visited the Royal Naval College and saw the famous painted hall that includes murals of William and Mary, and we also saw the Queen's House and the Cutty Sark.

Museum of the Docklands

This area of the City is now called Canary Wharf, but it is the historic docklands that were built here that contributed to Britain being a global empire and a center of maritime industry.  The museum did an excellent job of recounting the history of the creation of the docklands and as the headquarters of the East India Company.

Wren's Legacy

As it so happens, 2023 is the 300th anniversary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren, the preeminent architect of his day whose many designs still grace the world stage including St. Paul's Cathedral in London and the Royal Naval College in nearby Greenwich.  He also happened to design his namesake Wren Building at the College of William and Mary where Wendy and I first met way back in 1989.

Our day today started with a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral with its striking dome that dominates the neighborhood skyline.  The medieval cathedral (consecrated in 1240) referred to as "Old St. Paul's" was destroyed in the Great London Fire of 1666.  Wren was appointed to rebuild St. Paul's in 1668 and the cathedral was officially deemed complete on Christmas Day 1711.  Wren was able to oversee the entire project from beginning to end and he is buried in the Cathedral crypt where his son later added a sign with a Latin inscription that says, "Reader, if you seek a monument, look about you."

St. Paul's is the seat of the Bishop of London and was the site of the royal wedding between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.  However, Westminster Abbey seems to have more cachet and fame and is the burial site of numerous royals.  While both are magnificent cathedrals, I believe I prefer the architecture and grandness of St. Paul's over that of Westminster Abbey.

Because of the anniversary, there was a special exhibit titled Wren 300 that chronicled the life of Chirstopher Wren and the building of St. Paul's.  As it happens, I was in the Tercentenary Class (300th) of graduates from William & Mary, making this feel like an extra-special connection to Wren and St Paul's.  Hopefully, we'll make it to Greenwich and celebrate more Wren 300 while we're here.

Exploring the British Museum

The Great Court

We arrived safely at Heathrow and it was a very smooth process to go through passport control, pick up our luggage, and catch the Tube into the city.  We're staying near Russell Square around the corner from the British Museum.

Rosetta Stone

The British Museum is simply fascinating.  Its collection of artifacts come from around the world and includes such diverse items as the Rosetta Stone and a Moai statue from Easter Island.  Being a global empire enabled the museum to establish such a vast collection, but more recently groups are requesting artifacts be returned.  It will be interesting to see over time if any of these items -- especially its Greek and Egyptian artifacts as well as the Moai statue -- are returned or remain as part of the collection.

One of the most interesting items we saw were the famous Lewis Chessman.  These chess pieces were discovered on the Isle of Lewis, part of the western islands of Scotland, in 1831.  These medieval ornate chess pieces date back to the 12th century and are carved out of walrus ivory.

Maoi statue

Lewis chessman

Off to London

I'm off to London with our good friend Wendy who we've known for over 30 years (!) since our college days at William and Mary.  Mona was gracious enough to let me travel without her.  We will be in the UK for 11 days, spending most of our time exploring the countryside of Wales and Cornwall after three days in London.  Looking forward to seeing some familiar sites in London and all new exploration in as we travel westward.  We've got a loaded itinerary of possibilities, and while we certainly aren't able to -- or even trying -- to visit every place on our list, we are looking forward to the adventure of exploration.  Cheers for good weather and fun adventures.