It is a sunny if chilly morning in the heart of London, where Mantra is moored at St. Katherine's Docks just downstream from the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. She arrived on Tuesday, April 14, with Peter, his brothers Rob and Mike, and his friend Alistair having sailed (and motored) her from Gosport on the south coast of England. Peter plans to create a post for that part of Mantra's journey. I will start on Thursday, April 16, the day I arrived. I don't suffer much from jet lag, but I have needed a few naps since I arrived, and, of course, there is so much to do in London (not to mention cleaning on the boat), that I am just now getting started on the first post of the season. We are stationary until mid-May, so there will be no sailing adventures to relate until then.
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| Mantra at St. Katherine's Docks |
Peter, wonderful husband that he is, met me at London Heathrow on Tuesday morning, and we took the Tube to Tower Station and walked the few blocks to lovely St. Katherine's Docks. I unpacked most of my stuff that afternoon. Our son Matthew came over from his apartment in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and we went out to dinner at the nearby Town of Ramsgate Pub.
Friday morning (April 17), the cleaning began. Fortunately, the interior of Mantra was basically clean (just not up to my standards!), so the task was not daunting and there was little mold. Nevertheless, I must clean every surface including ceilings and wall before I will feel settled in. I only managed a complete clean of our cabin on Friday as I was also doing laundry and a bit of sight-seeing. Yesterday, I cleaned the aft cabin, where mold lurked under the mattresses, and the bathroom in the morning. There is just the saloon and galley left, and those can wait--because there is so much to do and see in London!
Peter and I went for a lunch-time organ recital at St. Stephen's Walbrook on that day. The structure, one of over 50 parish churches which Christopher Wren was commissioned to build after the Great Fire of 1666, is considered one of his best. Although the floor plan has an underlying design of the typical Latin Cross of Christian churches, this is not readily apparent in the rectangular space. Wren's parish church designs are often referred to as “auditorium churches," as he prioritized visibility and audibility in his designs. The unique clerestory windows of plain leaded glass are oval-shaped, and the entire interior style is Baroque. In this classic Wren church, positioned in the center of the sanctuary, the altar is a massive, circular piece of polished travertine marble by Henry Moore dating from 1987, reflecting a 1970s theological shift towards community-focused worship.
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| Inner dome at St. Stephen's Walbrook |
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| Organ at St. Stephen's Walbrook |
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| Interior at St. Stephen's Walbrook |
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| Altar at St. Stephens Walbrook |
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| St. Stephen's Walbrook exterior |
Strolling back to St. Katherine's, we admired many landmarks, including the Mansion House, the Bank of England, the Monument to the Great Fire of London, and London Tower.
On Saturday (April 18), I was wide awake at 6 a.m. and the sun was shining through the portholes and hatches. I bundled up with fleece jacket, hat and scarf and went out to explore the area unimpeded by hoards of tourists. First, I walked to the Thames to see the Tower Bridge from the vantage point of a waterfront sculpture called Girl with a Dolphin. Then I strolled around the exterior of the Tower of London.
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| Girl with a Dolphin and the Tower Bridge |
Officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, the massive historic citadel and castle sits on the north bank of the River Thames in the area known as the Pool. William the Conqueror established his castle’s keep here. The original tower, the White Tower, was built for him around 1078. It has served as a fortress, a palace and a prison in the years since. Kings and Queens, such as Elizabeth I stayed at the Tower before they were crowned at Westminster Abbey, where William the Conqueror held the first coronation there on Christmas Day, December 25, 1066.
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| North side of the Tower of London |
In the 13th century, Kings Henry III (1216–1272) and Edward I (1272–1307) extended the castle, essentially creating it as it stands today. Henry’s defenses are now the inner walls of the Tower. The outer curtain wall was built between 1275 and 1285 under King Edward I, who also created the new, larger moat to surround the expanded fortress. While Henry III began strengthening the defenses in the 1240s, it was Edward I who completed the concentric design seen today.
On the west side of the Tower of London is The Lion Tower (or Lion Gate), constructed around 1275–1277 by King Edward I to serve as a secure barbican entrance. It was specifically designed to house the Royal Menagerie of lions and other wild animals, becoming a permanent home for them until the structure was demolished in the mid-19th century. Today, there is a sculpture of three metal lions atop the remains of the drawbridge, which was demolished in the 1850s.
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| Ruins of the Lion Gate and Tower |
The Tower became, in addition to being a palace, a prison in the 1100s. Between 1453 and 1941, 22 prisoners were executed inside the walls of the Tower of London, including Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, in 1536. Several hundred Tower prisoners were hanged or beheaded on Tower Hill, northwest of the Tower, including Thomas More in 1535 for refusing to recognize King Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic church. These executions were major attractions for the populace.
Edward I extended the south side of the Tower of London onto land that had previously been submerged by the River Thames. In this newly created land he built St Thomas's Tower between 1275 and 1279. The grand river entrance, originally decorated with gold window bars and painted statues, led to luxurious royal lodging on the first floor. The building was funded with heavy taxes imposed on English Jews before Edward I expelled the entire community from England in 1290.
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| St. Thomas' Tower |
The wide, arched portal with its imposing portcullis has been known as Traitors' Gate since 1543. Prisoners were brought by barge along the Thames, passing under London Bridge , where the heads of recently executed prisoners were displayed on spikes. They were conveyed upriver to the Westminster courts for trial. Notable prisoners such as Sir Thomas More entered the Tower by Traitors' Gate.
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| Traitors' Gate |
On the south side of the Tower complex, extending from Tower Bridge to the east to the base of Tower Hill to the west, is the man-made embankment initiated under Edward I and expanded under Richard II. An interesting note is that the extension of the wharf under Richard II was managed by Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous British poet, in his position as Clerk of the King's Works from 1389 to 1391. Built on the riverbank to provide secure access for supply ships during the Hundred Years' War, it also served as a fortified barrier for the castle. Historically, ships were required to moor at this wharf to unload a portion of their cargo for the Tower's Constable. Now, the wharf is a wide esplanade between the Tower wall and the River Thames.Returning from my ambling, I made breakfast for Peter and myself and did some small tasks around the boat. Mid-morning, Peter set off a post office to renew his British passport and I rode on the top level of a double-decker bus from Tower Station to Charing Cross Station and then walked to St James Piccadilly Church, another Christopher Wren parish church. In 1664, 1668 and 1670, the local inhabitants petitioned the House of Commons to become a separate parish from St. Martin in the Fields, unsuccessfully because of opposition from St. Martin. With the development of St. James Square, the request for a separate parish were finally granted, and St. James Piccadilly was erected starting in 1676 and then consecrated in 1684.
While the unassuming exterior of the church seems small among adjacent and more modern buildings, the interior is very capacious, warm and welcoming, with gorgeous stained glass windows behind the alter and dark, polished wood throughout. The carved marble font and the limewood reredos mounted on darker oak are the work of the renowned woodcarver Grinling Gibbons, often called the "Michelangelo of Wood." The intricate, crisp carvings of nature-inspired scenes delight the eye.
The church community hosts several concerts each week, and at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. that day, Los Locos Duo performed a variety of pieces of Latin music. The musicians were an acoustic guitarist/vocalist and a percussionist who played bongos and other drums, a cajón, cymbals and other instruments. Amazingly talented as individuals, they played together flawlessly and euphonically, entertaining the audience of adults and children with rhythmic songs. I attended the first concert alone. Peter met me around noon. We had lunch at the adjacent Redemption Roasters, one of twelve cafes in London with "a mission to reduce reoffending through coffee." About 20% of the staff are participants in the rehabilitation project, and the reoffending rate is 4% compared to the UK national average of 42%. The sandwiches were delicious and quickly served.
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| Los Locos Duo at St. James Piccadilly |
The second performance featured a different set of numbers, which both of us loved. Afterwards, we strolled around the area, peeking in shop windows and stopping in the amazing Hatchards on Piccadilly, London's oldest bookshop, founded in 1797, to purchase a book that I will read in order to attend a meeting of the Wapping Book Club with our good friend Liz. The beautiful interior spans five floors. We also admired a statue of Beau Brummell on Jermyn Street in the heart of area brimming with the finest tailored and bespoke clothing.
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| Interior of the 5-story Hatchard's Bookshop |
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| Royal Warrant Display Plaque at Harchard's |
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| Beau Brummell statue |
After a light dinner that evening, Peter and I took a walk across the Tower Bridge and around the Tower of London, which is illuminated beautifully at night. The area was humming with tourists and locals. Expensive perfumes wafted from well-dressed women out on the town for the night.
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| Tower Bridge at Night |
The next day, Sunday, April 19, after chores in the morning, Peter and I walked to Liz's flat. She was hosting a celebratory luncheon in honor of her partial retirement. She has reduced her hours to 80% at Queen Mary University in London and will continue to decrease them to almost nothing over the next year. Matthew joined us and other guests included two Greek classicists, an engineer whom Peter also knew at Oxford and her husband, who is a barrister specializing in tax law. The conversations were lively and varied and the food, as always at Liz/s, was perfectly prepared and presented and utterly delectable. We all enjoyed ourselves so much that it was well after 5 p.m. before we dispersed.
On Monday morning, April 20, Peter and I joined members of the Ocean Cruising Club who are currently on their boats at St. Katherine's at a local coffee shop for hot beverages. Peter particularly enjoyed sharing stories and insights with Gus, who, along with his wife Helen, spends several weeks in Tanzania each year. Afterwards, we took the tube and the Southeastern Railway to Hampton Court to visit the palace and its annual Tulip festival. At various places throughout the extensive grounds, we were captivated by a multitude of tulips with bright and contrasting hues. Over 100,000 bulbs are planted, with attention to color schemes and contrast, in the autumn and, in the spring, create a spectacular display of blooms small and quite large.
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| Tulips in Base Court in the Tudor section of the Palace |
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| Variegated tulips |
When we first arrived at noon, we joined an hour-long (and slow-paced) History of the Gardens tour, learning about which monarchs had built and designed the various gardens, with particular emphasis on Queen Mary II, and, of course, the work of the famous British landscape architect and gardener Lancelot "Capability" Brown.
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| Great Fountain Garden |
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| 300-year-old screen of the Privy Garden designed by Jean Tijou |
Leaving the east garden, Peter and I picked up the audio guide to learn more about the palace itself. Construction was begun in 1514 by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who at the time was chief minister to Henry VIII. After failing to negotiate an annulment of Henry's 24-year-long marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Wolsey fell from favor. Henry had two motivations for annulment. Catherine had produced no sons who had survived infancy, and Henry believed that the people would only accept a male successor, not his daughter Mary. In addition, he had become infatuated and begun an affair with the Anne Boleyn. Not getting the Catholic Church to agree to the annulment, Henry VIII passed legislation that severed England and Ireland from the Roman_Catholic_Church" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-radius: 2px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;" title="Roman Catholic Church" and established the monarch as Supreme_Head_of_the_Church_of_England" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-radius: 2px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;" title="Supreme Head of the Church of England">Supreme Head of the Church of England. He and Anne Boleyn, pregnant with the future Queen Elizabeth I, were soon after married.In 1529, in attempt to avoid punishment, Wolsey gave the palace to Henry, and it became his favorite residence. The king's apartments(even the kitchens) are massive with extremely high ceilings. The king's chambers are magnificent. The Great Room, with its hammer beam roof, was used for formal occasions (when the tapestries were displayed) and for feeding over a thousand members of court two meals each day. The ornately carved and painted ceiling soars over the huge hall. We learned more about how Henry governed by meeting daily with his advisors in the Council Chamber. Then we admired the Great Watching Chamber, another large room where courtiers waited outside the private rooms for the royalty to emerge and especially for news of the issue of a royal offspring by Henry's third (and favorite) wife, Jane Seymour, who died 12 days after the birth of a son who later became King Edward VI. From the Royal Pew, we looked down on (and up at the intricate ceiling of) the Chapel Royal.
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| Pewter storage room of kitchen |
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| Cauldrons on wood-fired stoves in kitchen |
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| Preparation room in the kitchen |
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| Stained glass window and hammer beam ceiling in the Great Hall |
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| Tapestries and windows in Great Hall |
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| Ceiling of the Chapel Royal |
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| Chapel Royal |
We enjoyed a lovely spinach and mushroom pie and a bowl of soup at the Privy Kitchen Cafe before continuing our audio tour. We moved from the Tudor style of architecture of the original structure, a third to a half of which was destroyed during massive rebuilding and expansion, to the Baroque as we entered the part of the palace built in the late 1690s by William III and Mary II intended to rival the Palace of Versailles. We entered through the columnated Clock Court and spent time appreciating the details of the King's Staircase with its grand ceiling painted by the Italian artist Antonio Verrio, depicting allegorical and mythological themes. King William's chambers start with the King's Guard Chamber in which an assortment of pristine, polished arms from swords to guns, are arranged high on the walls in geometric, artistic patterns. From there, we strolled through and listened to the audio about the various receiving and privy chambers, most of which the king was disinclined to use, not being a very social being.
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| King's Staircase |
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| King's Guard Chamber |
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| King's Guard Chamber |
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| Grinling Gibbons carving |
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| King's Receiving Room |
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| The Great Bed Chamber |
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| Part of Mary II's china displayed on the mantle |
The rest of the day there was spent strolling the grounds, where curated clusters of tulips brightened the spring green grass and foliage.
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| Tulip display |
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| One of the formal gardens |
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| Wisteria |
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| Tulips in the kitchen garden |
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| Tulips in the kitchen garden |
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| Bluebells in the Wilderness |
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| Formal garden |
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| The Tiltyard where jousting exhibitions were held |
Yesterday (Tuesday, April 21) was spent with various tasks. Peter worked on his design and selection of materials for the new bimini, and I did laundry, went grocery shopping and did other chores. While we were at home on the boat, two journalists for The Observer stopped by and asked if they could use our deck to photograph deck shoes for a fashion piece that will appear next month in the newspaper. We were happy to oblige. But I must say that the gorgeous, vibrantly dyed shoes they were showing would in no way be appropriate for serious sailing.
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| Sam and Helen shooting on our boat |
The evening featured two free concerts at Milton Hall at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. I attended the first one by myself. All the student performances were diverting, but the classical musicians were surpassed in terms of evoking awe by the final two performers, two percussionists on drums and marimbas. Their synchronicity was truly amazing as was the beauty of the music they created.
Peter met me after the first performance, and we had dinner across the street at the Barbican Kitchen Cafe. Intending to have a light meal, we ended up with servings of delicious vegetarian Wellington with two sides. The second concert was as admirable as the first. The hall was less than half full, and I am amazed that at the churches and concert halls where free, professional concerts are offered daily (so many, it is sometimes difficult to choose which to attend) that they do not have to turn people away. Free, high quality music is one of the things I love about London.
Unfortunately, I have been dealing with cold symptoms since Monday morning, but I have not let them slow me down (although I am sleeping more than usual). Since I arrived, the weather has been mostly sunny or partly cloudy, which is wonderful, but the air is chilly and requires at least two and sometimes three layers (at least for me; a few people are dressed in shorts!). I must go shopping this afternoon for a new, heavier dress to wear for a formal event this evening as the summer dresses I brought would be totally inadequate. My new foulie jacket would keep me warm, but I don't think serious sailing gear would be appropriate.
