The Carmichaels Abroad: May 27: Sunday in London: Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, National Portrait Library, Buckingham Palace

The White Tower

We left nice and early for our East Putney tube station, only to discover that the station, and in fact, the whole line south of Earl's Court, was closed. After being denied entry onto two replacement buses, and not being sure why, we took two buses to Earl's Court, then got the tube to London Tower. We saw the Tower of London, including the crown jewels, then Trafalgar Aquare, Canada House, and spent the afternoon in the National Portrait Gallery. I got very emotional looking at the original portraits of so many people I have known about for so long, including Shakespeare (his little gold earring stands out -- he was SO COOL!) and Frances Burney, who was the subject of my MA thesis. After our first real meal of the day, some really nive Italian, we walked down Pall Mall, through St. James park and to Buckingham Palace. It is all decorated for the Queen's Jubilee, and the streets were closed to traffic for some sort of security run through. We really enjoyed seeing St. James Park, which is very well used by the local people. Alanna liked a black swan in the park. We saw the Wellington Memorial -- heck, we saw hundreds of memorials! -- then began the long bus ride home.

The next three days will be long ones, since we are seeing plays on the next three evenings. Can't wait!

Unfortunately for us, our day started with our local tube station out of service. We are staying near the East Putney tube station, which is about a half hour from downtown on the District Line, under normal conditions. Since we usually leave before breakfast (which is twelve pounds in the hotel restaurant) and don’t plan to return until the evening, this is fairly convenient and makes it worth the fifty dollars or so we are saving by being outside of town in prime season. Today, however, it took us more than an hour and a half to get into town.

With our Visitor Oyster card, we can travel as much as we want to for a week in London. This was helpful this morning, as the tube train was replaced with buses, but we had no idea where to catch the bus! We walked down to the corner as directed by the guard, but ended up at the wrong stop. We took a bus to Putney Bridge, as suggested by the bus driver, but it was closed as well, and we ended up walking onto the bridge itself, where three buses marked as “replacements” stopped, but apparently weren’t the right bus for us. We finally got a different bus to another tube station, ended up walking to Earl’s Court and catching the tube to Tower Station, and arrived at the Tower of London.

London Bridge

One of the great things about London is that so many of the main tourist sites are on the River Thames, and there are lovely walks and bridges along the route. This picture of London Bridge was taken from the walls of the Tower of London.

I have been to the Tower of London twice before. The first time, in 1990, was when I was working on my thesis, and Ian and I spent a lot of money for us at that time to get into the Tower half an hour before it closed (it closed at 4:30 in January). We spent all of this time in the White Tower, being hurried through. I found it very touristy, and was upset at spending a lot of money and not being able to see it. We went again in January 2010, and got to see much more. I enjoyed it, but found it rather touristy. It does do a good job of making the history relevant (for example, there is information given on the fate of the two nephews of King Richard, and participants are asked to “vote” on whether they were murdered by the king), and the site is beautiful, but a lot of emphasis is on the macabre and sensational aspects of the Tower. Perhaps that is because it has a rather macabre and sensational history. However, Alanna had never been to London before, so a trip to the Tower of London was definitely de rigour.

The Tower Wardens' House

I really like the fact that the Tower is a "living" part of history. Wardens actually resdie in these houses. Not only are they picturesque, but a guard in a beaver hat walks back and forth on guard, and the famous ravens are usually on the lawn. There is a saying that London is safe as long as the ravens are on the Tower lawn, so the ravens were there today, wings clipped and looking a bit thirsty!

Graffiti by prisoners in the Beauchamp Tower

The Tower is named after the White Tower, and the original site was begun by William the COnquerer as a palace. Howevr, by Tudor times, the TOwer was a prison, and the site of a lot of heartache and bloodshed. This part of the Tower's history is certainly emphasized, especially here in the Beauchamp Tower and near the chapel, where executions of prisoners took place, especially of women, who were not subject to the humiliation of more public executions. The graffiti in the Beauchamp Tower is protected behind glass and there are maps showing the location of graffiti by particularly interesting or famous prisoners.

In the White Tower one finds presentations of armour, weaponry, and famous royal exhibits from the past. This is Henry VIII's suit of armour from 1540. It has a 51" waist! It is unlikely he took part in the jousts that year. There is also a suit of his juvenile armour, and it is a real work of art. It reminds one that even Henry VIII was once a slender young boy -- and not the heir to the throne.

Don't ask me why there is a large electric dragon in the White Tower. The Tower of London has long been used for display, from the royal beasts to some bizarre wooden horses that held depictions fo the kings -- also made of wood. They were kind of neat, and I guess this dragon is too.

Ian isn’t much for crown jewels or for waiting in line, so I hadn’t seen them before. Alanna was willing to wait in line with me, so I finally got a chance to see them. No pictures are allowed inside the display, but there are a few pictures at the Tower of London Web Page, which is at http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/, such as this one of the Imperial State Crown. Yes, that is a diamond dead centre.

The line moves quite quickly, and after about 25 minutes, we made it into the building where the jewels are on display. The de Boers diamond company has sponsored a “re-display” of the jewels. Visitors proceed down darkened hallways to galleries where audio-visual presentations give information about the history of the jewels. We soon figured out that these presentations are intended to amuse visitors as they continue to move along the lineup. Some people didn’t quite understand this, however, and thought they should stay in the galleries until the presentation had “finished”, so I joked with Alanna that what they needed were moving sidewalks. Lo and behold, when we got to the jewels themselves they were in a long case, with a moving sidewalk on either side.

Besides crowns, scepters and orbs, visitors can also see lots of other regalia, including the trumpets which play during the coronation ceremony; gold-plated vessels used in the coronation and in royal baptism services; and the ermine trimmed robe worn by Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth at her own coronation.

There are some spectacular jewels on display, and I enjoyed the exhibit. I also enjoyed getting out of the hot dark rooms and back into the May sunshine!

London Traffic

Alanna in front of the countdown clock.

We really liked being in Trafalgar Square, watching the people climb all over the Nelson Monument's Lions, and just generally enjoying the fact that all the people were there, in London, on a glorious spring day. We noticed that there are different countdowns on the Olympic clock, and wondered whether one might be for the Para Olympics.

We decided to go and see the National Portrait Gallery. I hadn't been before, and I guess I was a bit tired, because I got super emotional over the picture of Shakespeare, of all things! Photography is not permitted in the National Portrait Gallery, so these pictures are all taken from the Art on the Web website.

This is the only known picture of Shakespeare made while he was alive. I was looking at this thinking that he really was a person, obviously a genius, but with feelings and aspirations and a receding hairline to go with his hair which is a lot like mine. The next thing I knew, I was crying, while Alanna pretended not to know me, and the museum staff gave me sympathetic glances. Embarrassing!

I did my MA Thesis on Frances Burney, and although she was a friend fo Joshua Reynolds, her cousin painted this picture of her. Her life was more interesting than any of her novels, and having spent weeks reading her diaries, I felt I knew her well. So I got all emotional again as I realized that she herself must have looked at this portrait. DId she like it?

Samuel Pepys, another prolific diray keeper, looking just as I always imagined he would.

This is the picture of Queen Elizabeth (the Ditchley Portrait) that graced the cover of my Penguin Lit. textbook in University. When I saw it in realy life it was like a jolt of electricity!

And this is the coronation picture of Elizabeth. There were a few others of Elizabeth I, and they all had almost photographic realism in the clothing, but rather a bland facial expression. Sort of the same idea as early greek or Egyptian houri, I guess -- the ideal is more important.

A famour picture of King Richard II. We saw the ring he is wearing in the portrait in the York Museum!

There was a special display of pictures that were of either unknown people, or people who had been misidentified. It was rather poignant to gave into these expressive faces and realize that these people, once vital and important, were now lost to history. Alanna bought the display's guide book.

After a delicious meal of pasta at The Spaghetti House, a small chain in London, we headed out for a walk. Alanna really wanted to see some parks, and I wanted to see historic buildings, so we set out to see both.