Mind the Gap

September 20, 2008

London, England

Where else will you see the word "whilst" on a sign?

Well my first full day in London had me starting at a familiar place……Starbucks. Yes there is a Starbucks right next to the hotel so it was quick stop there on the way to the Tube. There of course will be many differences between London and the other large cities I have visited and the Tube is certainly one of them. It is very extensive, very good and there are not very many places you can’t get to. Of course there are also all the buses (including all those double deckers). A big difference……no air conditioning. The trains in both New York and DC are air conditioned so are very pleasant to ride…..even in the middle of a humid summer. The metro in DC however is the cleanest subway I have been on. They do not allow any food or drinks on the trains (it could cost you a $200 fine). Here in London that is certainly not the case. Everyone seems to be eating and drinking in the train and when they are done…the garbage just goes where ever. I must say I got use to very clean subway cars. I hear that they are planning to have air conditioned subway cars here in London by 2010. Until then I understand people avoid the tube unless they HAVE to in the summer.

Anyway, so after Starbucks I headed to the Tube station. I had my trip all mapped out, I knew exactly where I was going. …..and then they closed the train line I was on due to a track fire. So I quickly consulted my trusty pocket Tube map and found myself a new route. When I finally did get to my location my next thing to practice was reading the map, which I do pretty well, however I had to figure out where they label the streets (it’s on the side of the buildings in case you are ever looking.) My plan today was to take a double decker bus tour but it turns out that there was a march going on that was affecting the bus route. Sunday is Freewheel day where large portions of the city will be traffic free so that people can ride their bikes so I have decided to wait until Monday and do it then.

I passed this statue on the way to the London Eye....I realized later this is a real person. Best live statue I have ever seen.

So I decided to walk down along the river and decide where to head first. A lot of the things I want to hit are along the river so it was a good bet. The first place I visited was the London Eye. You cannot miss it as this is the giant Ferris wheel that gives you a 360 degree view of the city. It really is a great view on the way up, at the top and even on its way back down. You can pretty much see the entire city and I could pick out most things but it certainly helped that there were a few locals on my flight (that’s what it is called……a flight). The London Eye takes you 135m into the air and the whole thing takes about 20 minutes. It was a nice view to start my day.

Near the middle of my flight.

Big Ben and the British Parliment

Looking down the Thames River

On the way down.

I then made my way along the river to my next stop which would be Tate Modern. On the way I passed a book sale and some human statues and some street musicians and all kinds of fun stuff. Tate Modern is a museum that holds international modern and contemporary art. Like the Smithsonian museums, it is free to enter (and I won’t be saying that very much) however unlike the Smithsonian I couldn’t take any pictures but I will try to describe a couple pieces. The museum is full of art of Picasso and Monet and many others. It also has a few learning zones where you can play games on computers that help you recognize art patterns and artists and years pieces were done and that kind of thing. It was great. One piece that I liked was 480x10x10 by Miroslaw Balkwa. This piece was a string of new and used bars of soap attached to each other by a string of metal and hung from the ceiling. Another piece also involved stuff hung from the ceiling. Cornelia Parker had 1000 pieces of silver flattened with a steam roller, set them in 30 place settings and hung them from the ceiling about an inch from the floor. She called in “30 pieces of Silver”. It was all very neat to see.

Tate Modern. It lookes that way it does because it is an old power plant. It is one of the only buildings that the Queen has opened twice, first as a power plant and then later as the museum.

From there I headed across The Millennium Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral.

St Paul's from the London Eye.

I never made it inside here the last time I was here so of course I took the chance. Once again there was fee to get in (apparently it costs about 7 million pounds to maintain the Cathedral and they use the funds raised from tourists to do this.) but I was not going to let that stop me from seeing it. Of course the place is amazing inside and of course I could not take pictures so I cannot share that with you but I could take some pictures once I wandered up the galleries.

St. Paul's.

The first gallery I hit was the Whispering gallery. It is 30 metres from the Cathedral floor and it takes 257 steps to get there. These steps were nice and wide and recently redone so no worries there. Not sure why it is called the Whispering Gallery but I think it has something to do with the way sound travels when you are up there. It basically part way up the dome. Another 119 steps up you will find the Stone Gallery. It is 53 metres from the cathedral floor and gives you a nice view of the city. However, the stairs to the Stone gallery are much narrower, made of stone and not a great trip up.

The construction going on next to St. Paul's. There is so much construction going on in the city. Tearing down the old...putting up new.

Another 152 steps from there you will find the golden gallery. It is 85 metres from the cathedral floor.

Yes I went all the way up.

To get here you had to climb up some metal spiral stair cases but the view was worth it. It case you were not counting that is a total of 528 steps.

This is the view looking down the centre of the church just before you climb that last 10 steps to the golden gallery. The small hole I took this picture through is right in the middle of the dome. You can actually see it when you stand on the cathedral floor.

Getting down should have been easier but those spiral stairs did give me some trouble. I am not so good with the heights.

The Tower Bridge from the Golden Gallery

From there I checked out the rest of the cathedral including the crypt. In St. Paul’s crypt you will find the tombs of many figures important to British history including The Duke of Wellington and Florence Nightingale, who of course I know a lot about. There is also a chapel down there where someone was actually getting married the day I was there. I think I would have found that a little creepy as the wedding guests sit on top of tombs in the floor. Weird.

My last stop was at the Clink Prison Museum. This was a cute and interesting little place. It is on the site of the original Clink Prison (although not the actual prison). The Clink, as it was known, housed inmates from priests to prostitutes to debtors. Women were often incarcerated with their children and conditions were terrible. (There are records of one women entering with her five children. There is no record of them ever leaving). It was an active prison from the 12th century until its destruction in 1780. The museum told many stories about early justice and incarceration including torture techniques.

Don't worry...he's not real....and he is glad he isn't. How long could you hang out here?

Originally inmates were expected to pay for their own incarceration; after all, they had brought this on themselves. Prisoners were often starved and would catch and eat rats and mice to survive. Sometimes they would even keep them caged and fatten them up before eating. The beds in the prison were usually raised off the ground to protect the beds during floods. Prison cells were usually in basement vaults and would flood with dirty water and sewage often.

Here is what a cell would probably look like. The cage has a little rat in it.

The raised beds really did not save prisoners from the wetness and sickness that would come with it however.

Here are few interesting notes. Some funny English laws: It is illegal to be drunk while in possession of a cow (1558-1603), Anyone found breaking a boiled egg at the sharp end will be sentenced to 24 hours in the village stocks (1547-1553); Anyone caught trying to commit suicide shall be hanged for such an offence (1313) and Excluding Sundays it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a Bow and arrow (York, never removed from law).

During the time of Henry the Second, accused persons were put through ordeals to confirm guilt or innocence. There were 3 ordeals, By fire, by water and by combat. Ordeal by water meant a person was tied up and thrown in the water. If they floated they were guilty, if they sank, they were innocent. Ordeal by fire saw accusers hold red hot iron bars and walk 3 paces. Their hands were then bandaged and left for 3 days. If after 3 days their wounds improved they are guilty, if they did not.....innocent. Ordeal by combat was used for noblemen when accused of a crime. The nobleman would fight their accuser and whoever won was right. Whoever lost.......was usually dead.

Seriously, I just walked around the corner and there it was....a pirate ship. This is a replica of a ship that use to be in the monarch's fleet.

Not sure what this means but found it funny. What is the proper manner?

Julie