London Pic Spam, 2016 Edition
Flying back to Munich this afternoon, I leave you with some visual impressions of my time in London, with a brief excursion to Winchester, and to Greenwich.
I'd been in Winchester before; this time, I just went to visit an elderly friend who didn't want to face the London traffic at age 93. So I took the train to Winchester, which is just one hour, and we lunched near the cathedral, which meant I also briefly went there.
Aside from being the subject of a song, Winchester Cathedral also boasts of Jane Austen's grave (the inscription of which doesn't mention that she was a writer at all), and that of several Anglosaxon kings, including Ecbert (recently come to Magnificent Bastard fame via the tv show Vikings); not Alfred, though, Alfred's bones were transferred to Hyde Abbey, so a sign says. By far the grandest tomb belongs to one of John of Gaunt's kids, Cardinal Beaufort. I imagine there aren't many Cardinals buried in England, for obvious reasons, but this one tries to make up for it:
And here's the daughter of the Reverend Austen:
Speaking of writers, I also visited Dr. Johnson's house in Gough Square when I was back in London, which I hadn't done for over twenty years. Two most striking differences: a) considerable exhibition space is devoted to Johnson's black servant, Francis Barber, who became the principal benificiary of his will after Johnson died, and to slavery & Britain in general as well as Johnson's attitude towards same (he was against it, famously saying in his anti American Rebels pamphlet "Taxation No Tyranny", "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes?"). There's also a new biography, "The Fortunes of Francis Barber2, which I aquired and shall review here at some future point.
And b) there is a statue of Johnson's cat Hodge guarding the house from across the square outside:
On the advice of
kathyh, I also visted the round church within the Temple district where William Marshall (= most famous knight of his time, managing to survive three Plantagenet kings he served) is buried, but alas, the church is closed for the first weeks of August. Still, I admired it from outside:
I was incredibly lucky with the weather this week. I mean:
Also:
Which is why I took the boat to Greenwich one day, to visit the Royal Observatory, the Cutty Sark and the Navy Museum (located in the former palace; the fact that they have the Armada portrait there reminds me Elizabeth I was actually born at Greenwich, though only a tiny part of the old structure survives):
Greenwich Palace:
The Cutty Sark:
The largest collection of figureheads, so I'm told:
The Royal Observator:
Where they have the Meridian. I did, however, have no intent to queue for 45 minutes in order to step on it. There were other things to admire. Like a statue of Yuri Gargarin, aka the first man in space:
And what a magnificent view from the Observatory back to London!
You can get to Greenwich via the Underground, but if you take the boat, you see a lot of London, including bits of the East End river facade:
And then, of course:
I'm more familiar with the reverse view of Tower Bridge. Which I caught, among other occasions, when the bridge was actually lifted because an old sailing ship had to pass through:
And as this ship sails, I say goodbye to London for this year.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1186532.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
I'd been in Winchester before; this time, I just went to visit an elderly friend who didn't want to face the London traffic at age 93. So I took the train to Winchester, which is just one hour, and we lunched near the cathedral, which meant I also briefly went there.
Aside from being the subject of a song, Winchester Cathedral also boasts of Jane Austen's grave (the inscription of which doesn't mention that she was a writer at all), and that of several Anglosaxon kings, including Ecbert (recently come to Magnificent Bastard fame via the tv show Vikings); not Alfred, though, Alfred's bones were transferred to Hyde Abbey, so a sign says. By far the grandest tomb belongs to one of John of Gaunt's kids, Cardinal Beaufort. I imagine there aren't many Cardinals buried in England, for obvious reasons, but this one tries to make up for it:
And here's the daughter of the Reverend Austen:
Speaking of writers, I also visited Dr. Johnson's house in Gough Square when I was back in London, which I hadn't done for over twenty years. Two most striking differences: a) considerable exhibition space is devoted to Johnson's black servant, Francis Barber, who became the principal benificiary of his will after Johnson died, and to slavery & Britain in general as well as Johnson's attitude towards same (he was against it, famously saying in his anti American Rebels pamphlet "Taxation No Tyranny", "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes?"). There's also a new biography, "The Fortunes of Francis Barber2, which I aquired and shall review here at some future point.
And b) there is a statue of Johnson's cat Hodge guarding the house from across the square outside:
On the advice of
kathyh, I also visted the round church within the Temple district where William Marshall (= most famous knight of his time, managing to survive three Plantagenet kings he served) is buried, but alas, the church is closed for the first weeks of August. Still, I admired it from outside:
I was incredibly lucky with the weather this week. I mean:
Also:
Which is why I took the boat to Greenwich one day, to visit the Royal Observatory, the Cutty Sark and the Navy Museum (located in the former palace; the fact that they have the Armada portrait there reminds me Elizabeth I was actually born at Greenwich, though only a tiny part of the old structure survives):
Greenwich Palace:
The Cutty Sark:
The largest collection of figureheads, so I'm told:
The Royal Observator:
Where they have the Meridian. I did, however, have no intent to queue for 45 minutes in order to step on it. There were other things to admire. Like a statue of Yuri Gargarin, aka the first man in space:
And what a magnificent view from the Observatory back to London!
You can get to Greenwich via the Underground, but if you take the boat, you see a lot of London, including bits of the East End river facade:
And then, of course:
I'm more familiar with the reverse view of Tower Bridge. Which I caught, among other occasions, when the bridge was actually lifted because an old sailing ship had to pass through:
And as this ship sails, I say goodbye to London for this year.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1186532.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.