London sightseeing
Yesterday was a big day of playing tourist, and my feet hurt, but it was worth it.
We started the day by catching the tube into King's Cross, and then changing from the Victoria to the Northern Line. I am intrigued by the underground - going from one line to another is not just a case of going up or down an escalator to the next platform as it is in Melbourne, but a journey of escalators and steps and tiled tunnels that twist and turn. It's fascinating, and I will definitely have to reread Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere when I get home.
From King's Cross we caught the service to Charing Cross and emerged into the sunlight near Trafalgar Square, where we saw Nelson on his column and the great stone lions that surround him. We walked down Whitehall, past the Horse Guards and the Cabinet Office, past the entrance to Downing St (the actual street is gated and guarded by police; Number 10 is hidden from view completely), various other political buildings, and the camps of protesters until we came to the houses of parliament themselves. We didn't go in, and nor did we pose for photographs with the submachine-gun-bearing guards, as other tourists were doing(!), but admired the architecture from outside the fence. They really are a magnificent set of buildings.
We stopped for a bite of lunch in a pub across the road, then went on to Westminster Abbey, where we queued to buy our tickets and went inside. I'm almost running out of words to describe churches, but it was the monuments and tombs rather than the church itself that really drew attention here. Some of the tombs are elaborate (that of Henry VII and his queen; of Elizabeth I and Mary Tudor; and of Mary, Queen of Scots. I wa a bit surprised, given the circumstances of her death, but of course the monarch who followed Elizabeth I was James the son of Mary, and he built a magnificent tomb for his mother. The walls are covered with sculptures and memorials to other people, presumably mostly courtiers, given the whole church a disjointed and cluttered appearance, although on looking up to the ceiling one can get a sense of the clean spaces and soaring lines that originally existed. It was interesting to see the coronation chair with the sapce underneath for the Stone of Scone that we saw in Edinburgh. In the area known as "Poet's Corner" we saw the tombs of many famous actors, playwrights, and novelists, including Laurence Olivier and Geoffrey Chaucer, and memorials to others who are buried elsewhere, such as William Shakespeare. Poet's Corner also holds Handels tomb, although most of the other musicians (Purcell, Britten, Elgar) are in the nave, along with the scientists (Newton, Faraday, Darwin).
On leaving the Abbey we walked over Westminster Bridge and alongg the river to the London Eye, and went for a flight. It was interesting, but not really worth queuing for. (And reinforced my decision not to go on the Southern Star in Melbourne, assuming it ever opens again!) We kept walking through Southbank, past the many many street performers and making a brief stop at the second hand book stall.
We found ourselves outside the replica Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and went in to see the exhibition briefly before joining a tour of the building. We heard about the history of the theatres of London, although London was only on the other side of the river in Shakespeare's time; the theatres were officially in the county of Surrey. We walked across the area in front of the stage where the groundlings stood to watch the performance, having paid their penny; and had the notion that people threw fruit and vegetables debunked - if people in those days had fruit and vegetables, they ate them and didn't waste them by throwing them at actors. Or so the guide said. We climbed the stairs and looked out from the galleries, at the stage and the thatched roof (the only one of its kind in London: they're banned due to fire regulations) with its row of sprinkler sytems silhouetted against the sky.
We walked across the Millenium footbridge to Blackfriars, peeked into St Paul's and heard a fragment of the sung Eucharist. We would have liked to stay longer, but time was getting on, so we kept walking along Fleet Street and the Strand (it's like playing live monopoly, although there's no way I'd ever be able to afford a house along here, let alone a hote!) and eventually through Covent Garden. We met my cousin at a very nice restaurant called Kettner's, and then made our way to Wyndham's Theatre to see the Donmar production of Madame de Sade, with an ensemble cast including Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike. It was fantastic. Lighting, staging, performances, music... all really good. All too soon the show was over annd we spilled out onto the foootpath with the other theatre-goers, down the stairs of Leicester Square station and home.
Today we're off to do more sightseeing and catching up with expat friends before we catch the train to Paris tomorrow.