AoC - Day the Second: in which I take a cruise and see (indications of) dead people

It was actually sunny when I arrived on the 4th, but on the 5th, the rain decided it wasn't worth holding out any longer. No matter, I had a zip-up hoodie jacket AND an umbrella.

Another mode of transport around London is the ferry. If you're going to have a river cut through the middle of your city, you may as well make use of it. I got on the ferry at Westminster Pier, and although it was raining, I climbed up to the open-air seats on top of the boat for a better view while we cruised down the Thames.

Here's the London Eye, which now costs about 17 pounds (about $27 as of this writing) to get a long view of London. It used to be a lot less expensive. It's made of British steel, Dutch engineering, and Czech, German, French, and Italian parts. Some people refer to it as the London Eyesore.



Here's the old Scotland Yard headquarters:

New Scotland Yard was deliberately set up in a crime-ridden area near St. James Park. Consequently, crime was greatly reduced in that area.


Here are the Houses of Parliament and the clocktower that holds Big Ben (which is actually the bell inside the tower). The clock tower was 150 years old this past May.



I have no idea what these buildings are. I just liked the architecture.



Sorry, Joe. I couldn't avoid the London fog.



The Tate Modern (also known as the love-it-or-hate-it art museum).



The Globe Theater, although not on its original site (more about that in another post).



Reports of this bridge's demise have been greatly exaggerated.



This is Tower Bridge. A lot of people mistakenly think it's London Bridge.



I got off the ferry at Tower Pier to go see this place:

The Tower of London. Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Gray were executed here. Elizabeth I was imprisoned here by her sister Mary (Bloody Mary), and then Mary died, which made Elizabeth I the new queen. Apparently, in its 900-year history, 8500 people were imprisoned here, and only 120 of them were executed - of those, only 6 were executed inside the complex.

Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside most of the buildings, but the architecture is interesting too. Bear with me while I describe things more than show them.

William the Conqueror built the White Tower, which is in the center of the complex. The other buildings were added later. The current exhibit in the White Tower features Henry VIII's suit of armor (he was a stocky fellow) and...a lot of other armor and weapons.



The Crown Jewels are displayed in this building:

It's an impressive collection that includes a 12-century coronation spoon, scepters, robes, trumpets, swords, and several crowns. St Edwards Crown is put on the head of every new monarch on his or her coronation day and worn for about 20 minutes. It weighs about 5 pounds and contains 443 precious and semiprecious stones. Queen Victoria's small diamond crown only weighs 4 ounces (she suffered from migraines). She personally paid for this crown, which was made in 1870. I assume it's the same one you see in the pictures of her. The crown of the Queen Mother (the current queen's late mother) has a 106-carat Koh-I-Noor diamond in it. The Imperial State Crown is worn for coronations and the opening of Parliament (YouTube has some great clips of the opening of Parliament). It has 3733 jewels in it as well as Edward the Confessor's ring, which contains a sapphire.

The Yeoman Warders (the Beefeaters) actually live in the Tower complex with their families. I think these are some of the living quarters:



There was one place in which you could take pictures - a chapel. I took this one purely because it was nice to see some color in an otherwise dreary place (excepting the lovely green grass and blue doors in the above picture).



Here's a close-up of the plaque on the floor. It reads: "By tradition, Henry VI died here May 21 1471"



I spent the afternoon at Westminster Abbey - another place in which you're not allowed to take pictures, so more description and architectural photos. Sorry.


Monks used to live and work and worship here, but Henry VIII kicked them out when he broke with the Catholic church and made himself head of the Church of England when the Pope wouldn't grant him a divorce. Kings and queens have been crowned and buried here since 1066. It contains 3000 tombs, 29 of which contain said kings and queens. There are also hundreds of memorials to poets and writers, musicians, scientists, politicians, and military heroes. You can't help but walk on the stone slabs that tell you who is buried beneath them. The exception is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. No one, not even the Queen, walks over that one out of respect. It is surrounded by poppies, which are said to be the first flower (it's actually a weed, believe it or not) that grew on the battlefields after WWI. You see them mostly around Remembrance Day (November 11 - Veterans Day in the US).

There is a 12-pound fee to get in (about $19 as of this writing). You can come and hear Evensong for free every weekday at 5 pm or on the weekend at 3 pm. The choir was rehearsing while I was taking the tour. I paid 50p and lit a candle for you in the nave.

The north transcept is Statesmen's Corner, and features memorials to and tombs of Prime Ministers. Winston Churchill asked not to be buried here as there were many neighbors he wouldn't get along with.

There's also Scientist's Corner, which includes memorials to Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.

The raised area behind the altar contains the tomb of Edward the Confessor. He had wanted to visit St Peter's Basilica in Rome, but the politics of the time made that too dangerous a trip. So he built the Abbey and dedicated it to St Peter.

Elizabeth I and Mary I (Bloody Mary) are buried together in one tomb, although only Elizabeth's effigy is on top of it. The face of the effigy was based on her death mask, and therefore is quite an accurate depiction of her.

Elizabeth's rival for the crown, Mary, Queen of Scots, is also buried here, across from Elizabeth's and Bloody Mary's tomb. Are you keeping track of all these people?

The Coronation Chair is displayed behind the altar. It's exactly what it says it is - the chair newly crowned monarchs sit on during their coronation. It's quite beat up and worn-looking. Bloody Mary refused to sit on it because as a Catholic, she would not sit on any chair that her brother, Edward VI, a Protestant, had sat on.

Poet's Corner is in the south transept. There are tombs of and memorials for quite a few people, including Jane Austen, William Blake, the Bronte sisters, Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Lewis Carroll, Chaucer, Dickens, George Eliot, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Johnson (thank him for dictionaries), Ben Johnson (buried standing up, at his request, so as to take up less room), Kipling, Laurence Olivier, Lord Tennyson, Henry James, Keats, Longfellow, Marlowe, Milton, Shakespeare, Shelley, Thackeray, Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, and William Wordsworth.

No one else can be buried in the Abbey now - there's no room. Memorials are still allowed though.

After all that, I was hungry, so I had fish and chips and a side of peas for dinner. Yummy!