Oh, no! I have been so busy with activities that I have neglected the blog. Will it be possible to cover a week's worth of activities? Perhaps I will have to be more succinct.
Let's start with Monday, May 4. Peter and I met his old roommates Liz and Richard at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, below the hilltop where the National Observatory is located and near the River Thames. We spent a couple hours visiting galleries which depicts the history of Britain at sea with charts, ship models, navigational instruments and other items. There are galleries devoted to Tudor and Stuart seafarers, polar exploration, warships, models and Admiral Nelson as well as exploration and trade in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans and the development of the British Empire. There was also a small area displaying several stained glass windows designed by English artist John Dudley Forsyth which were installed over a staircase at the Baltic Exchange in London in 1922 as a memorial to the members and staff who killed while serving in WWI. Damaged by an IRA bomb in 1992, the windows were restored an moved in 2005 to the Maritime Museum.
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| Baltic Exchange windows |
After a couple hours there, we walked to the waterfront and had lunch at the Cutty Sark Pub, joined by Richard's wife Kate. Seated in a bay window on the second floor (first floor in Europe), we had a good view of the Thames while we enjoyed our meals and pleasant conversation.
On Tuesday, May 5, I stayed on the boat in the morning, mostly reading two different books for two different book clubs. After lunch, I abandoned Peter to his work and set off to explore Southwark and visit the Tate Modern. After passing a kilted bagpipe player by the Tower of London, I took the District Line a few stops. As it turned out, I never crossed the Thames. I walked along the embankment on the north side of the river. Serendipitously, I passed by the three-acre Inner Temple Gardens, which was open to the public until 3 p.m. Of course, I wandered in and found a beautiful grounds with mature plane trees in full leaf, their branches creating a expansive canopy around the open, meadow-like lawns. Large portions of the lawns are not mown and offer bucolic areas of blooming wildflowers and bulbs. The west, north and east sides of the garden are enclosed by lovely 18th and 19th century buildings of red brick and white stone.
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| Inner Temple Gardens |
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| Wild angelica |
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| Succulent greenhouse at the Inner Temple Gardens |
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| Inner Temple Gardens |
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| Inner Temple Gardens |
The area was an orchard and then a garden since the early 1300s, prior to the founding of the Inner Temple Inn, one of the four Inns of Court, a professional association for barristers and judges. The pathways and general design date to 1601, when the gardens used to have riverfront, but the current layout dates to the construction of Joseph Bazalgette's Victoria Embankment.
Bazalgette was the Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works who was asked, after the Great Stink of 1858, to solve the city's disease-spreading sewage issues. The Great Stink occurred when hot, dry summer weather lowered the level of the river, leaving deposits of human and industrial effluent of up to six feet deep on the banks. was the last straw for Londoners who had put up with human filth running in the street and in the rivers (including the Fleet and the Tyburn, which are now hidden underground). By 1875, the result of Bazalgette's efforts was a network of brick-lined tunnels and pumping stations that funneled the waste far downstream. At the time they were built, the steam engines at the pumping stations were the largest in the world. The Victorian brick-lined tunnels are still part of London's sewer system.
Large embankments were built along the north and south banks of the Thames to hold the sewage pipes as well as an underground Tube line. Victoria Embankment was formally opened in July 1870. The wall, railings and carriage gates which still mark the southern edge of the Inner Temple Garden were designed by Bazalgette.
After leaving the Inner Temple Gardens, I strolled through the Victoria Embankment Garden, which is not as lush. Multiple beds had contained displays of tulips earlier in the spring, but when I was there, gardeners were digging up most of the bulbs in preparation for summer plantings.
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| Victoria Embankment Gardens |
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| Victoria Embankment Gardens |
I then walked along the Thames to Cleopatra's Needle, an Egyptian obelisk created around 1450 BC in Heliopolis, carved from red granite with inscriptions by Pharaohs Thutmose III and Ramesses II. Taken from the Caesareum of Alexandria (where it had been for over 1,800 years), it was presented by the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, to the British in 1819 to commemorate victories over the French at the Battle of the Nile (1798) and the Battle of Alexandria (1801). Appreciative, the British government nonetheless would not pay to move the obelisk to London. A private citizen, Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, paid for its transport in 1877, and it was erected in 1878 in Westminster. There is a sphinx on either side, facing the obelisk; in Egyptian dynastic culture, they would have faced away, guarding the monument.
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| Cleopatra's Needle |
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| Cleopatra's Needle |
I then remembered that I wanted to see the new Bansky sculpture at Waterloo Place in St. James, an area designed to celebrate imperialism and military dominance in the 1800s. It was installed in the early hours of April 29. The statue depicts a man in a suit holding a large flag in front of himself as it blows back in his face, obscuring his vision, as he steps off the plinth on which he is standing. Obviously satirical, the art is open to interpretation. Perhaps the flag, a symbol of national pride, suggests that nationalistic fervor and devotion can lead to being politically blind. The figure may represent bureaucrats, politicians or business leaders, who are blinded by ideology. The step off the edge may hint at the impending danger created by blindness. Certainly, it is food for thought.
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| Artist painting Banksy sculpture |
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| Banksy sculpture in front of Crimean War monument |
Then I walked through the streets of Soho, which has become gentrified in the last 10 to 20 years. Golden Square has flower beds in colorful bloom. There are murals to appreciate and contemplate. A historical highlight of the area is the place where Dr. John Snow determined that cholera was not an airborne disease transmitted but waterborne, in opposition to the then-dominant miasma theory. A severe and sudden outbreak of cholera in 1854 killed thousands. He theorized that it was caused by the water that the residents were drinking. Mapping the deaths, he found they were clustered around a public water pump on Broad Street and noted that a nearby workhouse with its own water supply had few cases. Based on his proof, on September 8, 1854, the local authorities removed the handle of the Broad Street pump, which was connected to a well that had been dug only three feet from an old cesspit which stopped the outbreak. Snow's experiments and epidemiological research inspired fundamental changes in the water and waste systems of London that were replicated around the world. (Snow also made significant contributions to the development of anesthesiology.)
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| Mural in Soho |
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| Golden Square |
I met Peter at the Barbican Center early for a Guildhall performance in the recital hall, the final round for the bassoon and oboe prizes. We bought pastries and sat in the fountain courtyard since we had the time.
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| Barbican Center |
Three musicians for each instrument, all women, played three pieces selected by them either with or without accompaniment. All six of them were amazing, as were their friends and classmates who played with them. As the two judges made their final decision after the music, Peter and I selected our winners. We were in agreement with the judge for the oboe, and we were uncertain about whether to choose the second or third bassoonist and hadn't decided when the judge announced her choice of the third. Once again, we were awed by another evening of free performance. There are no lack of opportunities as London has, by most accounts, three of the top music schools in the world.
Afterwards, we walked back to St. Katherine Docks as it was a mild evening.
On Wednesday, May 6 (which would have been the 98th birthday of my wonderful mom), I did things on the boat, as did Peter, of course. In the evening, we walked along the Thames Path to Limehouse Basin, delighting in the swans and cygnets, tufted ducks, moorhens, coots and herons who made the canal their home. We joined other members of the local Cruising Association for dinner at the club. (We just joined a couple weeks ago.) The facility is wonderful and it was a pleasure to enjoy the company of other members while eating the delicious food from the restaurant. After the dinner, two members took us around the building, telling us of the history of the association, which was founded in 1908 by sailors who were more interested in cruising than racing. From the beginning, members donated books about sailing and the sea to form a library. In 1990, some of the rarest and most fragile parts of the collection, including on of Captain James Cook's logbooks, were sold to Cambridge University Library, and the current headquarters was built with the proceeds.
On Thursday, May 7, Peter and I met Matthew and Liz at the Aldwych Theatre for a performance of Shadowlands, starring Hugh Bonneville. The play is based on the eight year period of C.S. Lewis's life when he met, developed a friendship with, and then married (first civilly so she could remain in England and then in a Christian ceremony) a bright and well-educated American poet and novelist, Joy Davidman. The Christian ceremony was performed in the hospital after she was diagnosed with incurable cancer. All of the performers were excellent, and the set changes blended seamlessly into the actions in the play so that there were no real breaks in the development. We all loved it.
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| Foyer of the Aldwych Theatre |
Afterwards, we went to Covent Garden and had pastries and afternoon tea. After that, Peter and Matthew went off to do some shopping, and Liz and I strolled around the streets, admiring sculptures and historic architecture, including statues of a reclining Oscar Wilde. We were particularly delighted to stumble across Goodwin's Court, where the bow-fronted windows of the Georgian buildings caught our eye. This alleyway was built around 1690, and it still features street lamps powered by gas.
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| Liz, Goodwin's Court |
Near the Embankment Station, Liz showed me the carved and decorated tripartite York Watergate, built of Portland stone, which is by the Strand and used to provide access to the River Thames before Bazalgette built the embankment. It was erected in 1626 as an entrance from the river to York House, one of the many mansions that lined the Strand. The pediment over the central arch displays the arms of the owner of the house, George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham.
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| York Watergate |
We took the Tube to Wapping where we joined members of the Wapping Book Club at a table overlooking the river at the Captain Kidd Pub, named after the famous pirate who was executed near there. Opinions about the non-fiction choice for this month, Promised a Miracle: Why 1980-82 Made Modern Britain by Andy Beckett, were mixed, with most agreeing that it would have been better if it had provided information about what England was like in the 1970s, if the chapters had been more interconnected and if it had been written more chronologically. I had not quite finished the book because London itself is just too enticing, but I found it challenging in ways that the locals did not because of my total lack of knowledge of most of the people and events.
On Friday, May 8, after helping Peter a bit with the new bimini, which is proving to be quite a challenge, I left him to it and took the DLR to Limehouse to visit St. Anne's Church, one of Nicholas Hawksmoor's six Baroque churches in the East End and the City of London. Hawksmoor became an apprentice to Christopher Wren in the late 17th century and emerged as a major architectural personality by 1700. His work is characterized by heavy geometric forms, dramatic towers and a blend of Classical, Gothic and eclectic styles. The dramatic east window of St. Anne's is not stained glass but enamel painted on clear glass. The upper galleries contained an exhibit about Limehouse's vibrant Chinese history before Chinatown moved to Soho, and I took my time to learn about this.
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| Eastern window behind the altar |
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| Organ and baroque decorations |
As I was leaving the church, I encountered Jeremy, one of our hosts at the Cruising Association, who is a member of the parish. We were delighted to see each other again and had a pleasant conversation as we walked through the churchyard.
My next stop was Greenwich Market, where I enjoyed the lively and colorful atmosphere and discovered the nearby Vintage Market, where I purchased some gifts. I also walked around St. Alfege Church, another Hawksmoor imposing structure which was, unfortunately, not open. The church is medieval in it origin but was rebuilt in 1712-14 to Hawksmoor's design.
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| Greenwich Market |
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| St. Alfege Church |
I was returning to the boat via the Tube to London Bridge Station and a short walk across Tower Bridge, I was was delayed by the bridge opening, as it does occasionally. It was fun to watch.
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| Tower Bridge closing |
Peter and I had a quick meal and then traveled to the Royal Academy of Music for symphony orchestra performance in the stately Duke's Hall by students featuring Mozart's Violin Concerto in D Major and Beethoven's Symphony No. 2.
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| Duke's Hall, Royal College of Music |
After the concert, Peter and I strolled around in Regent's Park as the sun was setting. Queen Mary's Gardens abound with many varieties of colorful roses, all in various stages of bloom. Plants of different shapes and sizes were blooming in both the Japanese Garden and the desert area. I always like the arrangements around the Triton and Dryad's Fountain. On the way back to the Tube Station, we passed the statue of Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street.
The next morning, Saturday, May 9, I did laundry and grocery shopping and cleaning while Peter worked on the bimini construction and other jobs. That evening, we went to Wendy and Don's house in East Finchley for dinner, and Matthew joined us. Both their front and back gardens are colorful and welcoming. We enjoyed chatting and drinking wine in the backyard before going inside for a scrumptious dinner. We arrived home to our boat quite late.
After breakfast on Sunday, May 10, Peter and I walked the short distance to the Tower of London, which you can enter for free if you are attending church. We went to the 11:15 service at the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula. The pastor and parish members were welcoming and the service was lovely (although I do not understand why Christianity focuses so much on the sinfulness of humans and so little on their goodness, as was apparent in the scriptures read and the hymns sung). The small but professional choir was extraordinary.
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| Chapel Royal organ |
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| Chapel Royal |
After the service, we took advantage of the window of time we were allowed to stay on the grounds to admire the sculptures and architecture. Since the last time we visited years ago, sculptures made of compressed chicken wire representative of the animals in the royal menagerie had been placed in various places. The menagerie, which existed from the 1200s until 1835, housed a collection of exotic animals presented as diplomatic gifts. The first animals three lions gifted to Henry III in 1235 by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. A polar bear, from the King of Norway, arrived in 1252 and an African elephant, from the King of France, in 1255. Near Jewel House are seven baboons and the head of an elephant pokes out from an archway near Lanthorn Tower.
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| Baboons |
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| Elephant |
Just outside the chapel, on the Tower Green, there is also a relatively new memorial to over 125 people who were executed in the Tower of London between 1381 and 1780. A scaffold where some of them died is the site of the glass and stone sculpture which includes names of 29 of the most notable people.
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| Execution Memorial |
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| Peter in front of Jewel Hall |
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| Tower Green |
We left the Tower of London and walked to All Hallows Church by the Tower, which claims to be the oldest church within the boundaries of the City of London, founded in 675 AD. The building itself was expanded and rebuilt several times in the 11th and 15th century. It escaped damage from the Great Fire of 1666 but was gutted by bombs during the Blitz. The sanctuary is grand and a side chapel displays panels from a 15th century gorgeous Belgian triptych. The 1652 font is considered one of the finest works of Grinling Gibbons.
Beneath the sanctuary is the crypt, the floor of which was at ground level during Roman timees. There are sections of clay tesserae that would have been laid directly on the ground for floors in houses in the 2nd century. The current undulation of the floor fragments would have occurred during the time Romans occupied the area and caused by uplifting of the soil. Evidence of repairs can be seen. The crypt is a museum which contains artifacts from Roman and Saxon times, church plate and 16th century registers that were kept in an iron chest by the priests during wars.
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| Roman floor and archway |
In the sanctuary, one of only a few surviving items from Ernest Shackleton's ship Quest is on display in the sanctuary, a barrel that was used as a crow's nest. Carefully stitched kneelers hang from the pews and reflect the historical figures who have been associated with the parish.
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| Kneelers |
At 2 p.m., Peter and I met Matthew at the British Library, where we looked at all the significant books, manuscripts and historical documents on display in the Treasures Gallery, including a copy of the Magna Carta from 1215; the sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf; Shakespeare's First Folio; a Gutenberg Bible; notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci; musical scores by composers such as Handel, Beethoven and Mozart; scribbled lyrics from the Beatles; religious texts from the world's major religions; literary manuscripts and letters from authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë and Virginia Woolf; and many other items. A special display featured the religious scholar William Tyndale, who translated the Bible into English from Hebrew and Greek texts during the Protestant Reformation, in direct defiance of English laws forbidding translations. He was executed for heresy. The exhibit includes a rare copy of his 1526 New Testament a well as Anne Boleyn's copy of the 1534 edition.
After Sunday dinner at a pub across the street, Peter and I separated from Matthew and returned to the boat. Peter put away his tools and parts and I finished cleaning the boat in preparation for the arrival of Mike (Peter's brother), Louise (his wife) and Hannah (their daughter), whose return flight from a week's vacation in Tuscany was delayed, keeping them from catching the last train to Nottingham. They arrived around 11 p.m., and we enjoyed chatting until we were all too tired to stay up any longer.
In the morning (Monday, May 11), after a hearty breakfast, they left at 10 a.m. to head home.
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| Louise, Hannah, Mike and Peter |
