Thursday February 14th,
Day 4 of 6 day of the LondonPass adventure. We started off the day going to the Churchhill Cabinet & War Rooms museum. The bunkers itself are located in a basement of a ministry building not too far from Downing Street. It is quite obvious what the building is because there is a giant concrete skirt around the base of the structure. Upon entering the museum you immediately descend down into “bunkers” and see the Cabinet meeting room. The room itself is still adorned with original furniture. The interesting thing about the “bunkers” is that it really isn’t a bunker from an architectural reinforcement point of view. It was basically a basement with a thick concrete reinforced ceiling, which all experts thought would collapse if the building took a direct hit. Nonetheless, the facility itself was quite neat and still in a 1940’s state. You could still walk down the halls and see signs posted above doors for prime minister’s quarters, map rooms, or communications. Not all of the bunkers were available for viewing but we were able to see a substantial amount. It seemed like one half of the bunkers had a museum dedicated to Churchill. It covered his entire life: from childhood to death and could easily take half a day to properly take in. The most amazing part of the museum was the preserved state of the map room. All the original maps were there: the ones that outlined conquered Europe and the big one that tracked all unit movements across 2/3rds of the world. There must’ve been million of push pin holes in that map. See photo. I could go on forever….so see it for yourself. Next stop…Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner. The main messages of the Apsley House were these: it is considered #1 London because if entering the city from the west in the 18th century it was the first house you saw, it is still the Duke of Wellington’s residence, and the original Duke of Wellington (Field Marshall Arthur Wellesley) bought the place and never let you forget his victory at the Battle of the Waterloo. In fact, he had annual dinners at the place to commemorate the victory. Baron Apsley originally built the house in the late 18th century. The house itself also contained a huge amount of china and table settings which were all gifts to the Duke of Wellington’s amazingly lucky triumph in the fields of battle against Napolean. The house was obviously quite spacious but never let you forget about the Field Marshall’s victory at Waterloo. Buckingham Palace was right down the way from the house so we walked over there to see the Queen’s Gallery. We stopped at a little café along the way to buy a huge jacket potato. We shared it. The Queen’s Gallery itself is inside Buckingham Palace but on the south side. To be honest I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again. It basically contains a set of 17th century commissioned paintings which I reckon are out of favor with the Queen and thus relegated to public display. That is pretty much it for the day. Thus far we are enjoying the LondonPass and all that it has to offer. Tomorrow: London Tower, London Bridge experience, Medieval Banquet and a stop by GoldCrest for me. Woot!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Day 3 – Tower Bridge Exhibition, London Transport Museum, Les Miserables
I am happy to report that we were able to get out of the apartment at a decent time this morning. This was very important because we had to fit in two museums before catching the matinee of Les Mis.
The walk over to the Tower Bridge from Tower Hill was cold to say the least. Snow was actually sticking on the ground, on my coat, and on the Tower itself. We carefully tread along the bridge as we scavenged the area for the entrance. Finally! Once inside, we continued walking up I don’t know how many flights of stairs to find an informational video. Oh good. The exhibition continued on the enclosed upper walkway of the bridge. Thank goodness it was enclosed! As we walked from one tower to the next, we read about how ideas for the bridge were developed and why a new bridge was needed. There were plaques displaying the drawbridge workings, what other forms of transport have jumped the gap while the drawbridge was raised (a double-decker bus for instance), and how this bridge compares to others throughout the world. Definitely worth the trip and all very interesting, but we had to hurry over to the Transport Museum.
We took the Tube over to the museum area. Then we searched and searched, walking around nearly the full “block” before finding the entrance. It was one of those times when you can see into the windows of the place, but you can’t find the door into it (think Ghostbusters when Louis is being chased by the dog and can’t get into the restaurant). Finally, we found the entrance just to the left of where we started. Obviously, we should have gone left rather than going right. Once inside, we were led up a long ramp to an elevator and taken to the second floor (3rd floor in US terms) – although the elevator counter said the early 1800s. Nice. The reason I decided to schedule the Transport museum on this day was because I thought it would be quick. Not even close! Every incredible detail of the development of public transportation in London is displayed, explained, and demonstrated. It was quite amazing. This is definitely a place we’d like to revisit when we have more time.
Now, hurry; eat a quick sandwich from Pret and walk quickly toward the Queen’s Theatre! This theatre was rather small and certainly didn’t remind me a bit of Pantages in Toronto where I had seen Phantom. The small size did allow for a good viewing though, but then again there was a skimpy orchestra. Overall, the musical was well done. My only real dissatisfaction came in the voice of Marius. It wasn’t that he was bad, truly. It was just very distracting and kind of took me out of the overall feeling of his scenes. Nothing’s perfect, I suppose. We did have a great time, enjoyed a little chocolate ice cream at intermission, and had a lovely stroll back to the apartment – in the misty rain. Oh, and there’s always a pub along on the way!
The walk over to the Tower Bridge from Tower Hill was cold to say the least. Snow was actually sticking on the ground, on my coat, and on the Tower itself. We carefully tread along the bridge as we scavenged the area for the entrance. Finally! Once inside, we continued walking up I don’t know how many flights of stairs to find an informational video. Oh good. The exhibition continued on the enclosed upper walkway of the bridge. Thank goodness it was enclosed! As we walked from one tower to the next, we read about how ideas for the bridge were developed and why a new bridge was needed. There were plaques displaying the drawbridge workings, what other forms of transport have jumped the gap while the drawbridge was raised (a double-decker bus for instance), and how this bridge compares to others throughout the world. Definitely worth the trip and all very interesting, but we had to hurry over to the Transport Museum.
We took the Tube over to the museum area. Then we searched and searched, walking around nearly the full “block” before finding the entrance. It was one of those times when you can see into the windows of the place, but you can’t find the door into it (think Ghostbusters when Louis is being chased by the dog and can’t get into the restaurant). Finally, we found the entrance just to the left of where we started. Obviously, we should have gone left rather than going right. Once inside, we were led up a long ramp to an elevator and taken to the second floor (3rd floor in US terms) – although the elevator counter said the early 1800s. Nice. The reason I decided to schedule the Transport museum on this day was because I thought it would be quick. Not even close! Every incredible detail of the development of public transportation in London is displayed, explained, and demonstrated. It was quite amazing. This is definitely a place we’d like to revisit when we have more time.
Now, hurry; eat a quick sandwich from Pret and walk quickly toward the Queen’s Theatre! This theatre was rather small and certainly didn’t remind me a bit of Pantages in Toronto where I had seen Phantom. The small size did allow for a good viewing though, but then again there was a skimpy orchestra. Overall, the musical was well done. My only real dissatisfaction came in the voice of Marius. It wasn’t that he was bad, truly. It was just very distracting and kind of took me out of the overall feeling of his scenes. Nothing’s perfect, I suppose. We did have a great time, enjoyed a little chocolate ice cream at intermission, and had a lovely stroll back to the apartment – in the misty rain. Oh, and there’s always a pub along on the way!
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Day 2 – Royal Albert Hall and Kensington Palace
Well, we got off to a late start once again. Hoping to make the bus over to RAH, we nearly sprinted to the stop… just in time to miss it. Although the next bus was due within 8-12 minutes, we waited for more than 20. Needless to say, we missed the tour time we were planning to take. We ended up buying tickets for a later one and went for a short walk down Kensington Road (RAH is off of this road which borders Hyde Park). We saw the huge statue/monument of Prince Albert (Queen Victoria’s husband). It’s made out of granite, other stone, and metal. The figure and some other areas our covered with two coats of 24k gold leaf. The statue is so heavy, it is supported by 80+ brick arches beneath it (underground).
The Hall was fabulous. Our guide was very knowledgeable – remarking on the origination of the idea, funding, building, and renovations. Some interesting facts:
- Prince Albert was the mastermind behind the Great Exhibition of 1851 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Exhibition); the major attraction being the Crystal Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace).
- Proceeds from the Great Exhibition were used to buy the land for the Hall. Unfortunately, the Prince died and Queen Victoria used most of the money to build that huge statue mentioned earlier. She ran out of money before the hall could be built (insert: eye roll).
- Interestingly, they raised money to build by selling seats to wealthy families. For 100 GBP, people could by a permanent seat in the hall with a lease of 999 years. To this day, there are about 1,000 seats that have been passed down through families. These people can see whatever show at whatever time they like – for free, for life!
We learned many interesting bits of information during the 1-hour tour. We sat in the box next to the Queen’s, stood in her private reception room, and spied her private entrance and staircase. As I’ve mentioned before, I always find it incredible to envision the history that went on in these places, the people that tread where we were standing at that moment.
Kensington Palace was next. There were a few exhibits going on: The Last Debutantes, Princess Diana’s dress exhibit, and an exhibit demonstrating the fashion over time within the Royal household. We were also able to walk through the State apartments (specifically noting William and Mary and Queen Victoria). Again, I loved envisioning the past as I walked through the preserved rooms with their velvet wallpaper, carved marble fireplaces, and secret doors noticeable only by the key-shaped hole in the wall.
Following our walk through the Palace, we had a little tea at The Orangery (a separate building near the Palace once used to house the orange trees and other winter-unfriendly plants during the colder months). Now, it’s a nice little restaurant. Luckily, it was much easier to catch a bus back to the apartment.
To find out more about Prince Albert, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/albert_prince.shtml
To find out more about Royal Albert Hall, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall
To read more about Kensington Palace, go to:
http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/stories.aspx
The Hall was fabulous. Our guide was very knowledgeable – remarking on the origination of the idea, funding, building, and renovations. Some interesting facts:
- Prince Albert was the mastermind behind the Great Exhibition of 1851 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Exhibition); the major attraction being the Crystal Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace).
- Proceeds from the Great Exhibition were used to buy the land for the Hall. Unfortunately, the Prince died and Queen Victoria used most of the money to build that huge statue mentioned earlier. She ran out of money before the hall could be built (insert: eye roll).
- Interestingly, they raised money to build by selling seats to wealthy families. For 100 GBP, people could by a permanent seat in the hall with a lease of 999 years. To this day, there are about 1,000 seats that have been passed down through families. These people can see whatever show at whatever time they like – for free, for life!
We learned many interesting bits of information during the 1-hour tour. We sat in the box next to the Queen’s, stood in her private reception room, and spied her private entrance and staircase. As I’ve mentioned before, I always find it incredible to envision the history that went on in these places, the people that tread where we were standing at that moment.
Kensington Palace was next. There were a few exhibits going on: The Last Debutantes, Princess Diana’s dress exhibit, and an exhibit demonstrating the fashion over time within the Royal household. We were also able to walk through the State apartments (specifically noting William and Mary and Queen Victoria). Again, I loved envisioning the past as I walked through the preserved rooms with their velvet wallpaper, carved marble fireplaces, and secret doors noticeable only by the key-shaped hole in the wall.
Following our walk through the Palace, we had a little tea at The Orangery (a separate building near the Palace once used to house the orange trees and other winter-unfriendly plants during the colder months). Now, it’s a nice little restaurant. Luckily, it was much easier to catch a bus back to the apartment.
To find out more about Prince Albert, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/albert_prince.shtml
To find out more about Royal Albert Hall, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall
To read more about Kensington Palace, go to:
http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/stories.aspx
Monday, 11 January 2010
Sight-seeing, Day 1 – Planned: Ben Franklin House and the Banqueting House; Revised: The Banqueting House, Jewel Tower and St. Paul’s Cathedral
Our first of six consecutive days of sight-seeing with the London Pass.
Well, we started the day a little later than we hoped, getting out of the apartment close to eleven. We headed over to the Banqueting House first. We had such difficulty actually finding the building along the street, we didn’t enter until noon. It is just a single, relatively small building; the remains of a grand palace which burned down in 1698. The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of monarchs from 1530 until its destruction and was larger than both the Vatican and Versailles. The Banqueting House was designed by Inigo Jones, a well-known 17th century architect and surveyor to King James I. It was a building primarily used for many parties and masquerades. However, I thought the most interesting bit was that it was the place where Charles I was executed by Oliver Cromwell, et al. He walked out of one of the windows onto a platform and was publically beheaded. It is amazing to walk upon the same stones as so many historic figures (not just Charles, but James I, etc). The stones themselves have those slight worn impressions of history. Amazing.
Since the Banqueting House was relatively small (it’s really just one huge room with a throne and a really nice ceiling), we walked down Whitehall Road to Jewel Tower. This building was also small and just remaining bit of a larger palace (Palace of Westminster). It was built in 1365 as the King’s Privy Wardrobe to house Edward III’s treasures (but not the Crown jewels). One of only two surviving buildings from the fire of 1834, it has been used to house the historic records of the House of Lords, as the calibration area for the Ministry of Weights and Measures, and is now a museum with exhibitions on Parliament. Once again, it was amazing to walk through this 645 year-old building with its original stonework, treading up the spiral staircase uneven from consistent use. Now, it’s over to the London home of Benjamin Franklin for some more, though not as old, history.
Since the Ben Franklin house was on a specific tour schedule, we found a pub near the house and stopped in to have a quick bite. After a small lunch, we walked around the corner only to find the house was closed for filming. Out of L.A. and still we run into filming closures. Fabulous.
Well, we decided to rearrange our tour schedule a bit and replaced our Franklin house tour with a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The grand scale of this building is apparent as soon as you walk through the doors. Unfortunately, the Golden and Stone galleries were closed due to ice. Yikes! We did manage to climb the seemingly never-ending spiral staircase to the whispering gallery. I was actually a little dizzy by the time we reached the top. Of course, the view is spectacular, if not also a little vertigo inducing. Eventually, we made our way back down the staircase, through the vast nave and aisles embellished with chapels of golden carvings and marble statues, then down into the crypt. Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of the current cathedral itself, is buried here along with much of his family. I’ve always found the crypts interesting when they give little glimpses of the lives of those they hold. This crypt was a treasure trove! The two largest tombs were those of Lord Admiral Nelson, known for the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo (more on that later). They were each encased in masses of polished marble as big as a car in their own rooms which seemed bigger than our current apartment; definitely intimidating.
For more information on the Banqueting House, go to:
www.hrp.org.uk/banquetinghouse/
For more information on Inigo Jones:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/jones_inigo.shtml
For more information on the Palace of Whitehall, try:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Whitehall
For more information on St. Paul’s, go to:www.stpauls.co.uk
Well, we started the day a little later than we hoped, getting out of the apartment close to eleven. We headed over to the Banqueting House first. We had such difficulty actually finding the building along the street, we didn’t enter until noon. It is just a single, relatively small building; the remains of a grand palace which burned down in 1698. The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of monarchs from 1530 until its destruction and was larger than both the Vatican and Versailles. The Banqueting House was designed by Inigo Jones, a well-known 17th century architect and surveyor to King James I. It was a building primarily used for many parties and masquerades. However, I thought the most interesting bit was that it was the place where Charles I was executed by Oliver Cromwell, et al. He walked out of one of the windows onto a platform and was publically beheaded. It is amazing to walk upon the same stones as so many historic figures (not just Charles, but James I, etc). The stones themselves have those slight worn impressions of history. Amazing.
Since the Banqueting House was relatively small (it’s really just one huge room with a throne and a really nice ceiling), we walked down Whitehall Road to Jewel Tower. This building was also small and just remaining bit of a larger palace (Palace of Westminster). It was built in 1365 as the King’s Privy Wardrobe to house Edward III’s treasures (but not the Crown jewels). One of only two surviving buildings from the fire of 1834, it has been used to house the historic records of the House of Lords, as the calibration area for the Ministry of Weights and Measures, and is now a museum with exhibitions on Parliament. Once again, it was amazing to walk through this 645 year-old building with its original stonework, treading up the spiral staircase uneven from consistent use. Now, it’s over to the London home of Benjamin Franklin for some more, though not as old, history.
Since the Ben Franklin house was on a specific tour schedule, we found a pub near the house and stopped in to have a quick bite. After a small lunch, we walked around the corner only to find the house was closed for filming. Out of L.A. and still we run into filming closures. Fabulous.
Well, we decided to rearrange our tour schedule a bit and replaced our Franklin house tour with a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The grand scale of this building is apparent as soon as you walk through the doors. Unfortunately, the Golden and Stone galleries were closed due to ice. Yikes! We did manage to climb the seemingly never-ending spiral staircase to the whispering gallery. I was actually a little dizzy by the time we reached the top. Of course, the view is spectacular, if not also a little vertigo inducing. Eventually, we made our way back down the staircase, through the vast nave and aisles embellished with chapels of golden carvings and marble statues, then down into the crypt. Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of the current cathedral itself, is buried here along with much of his family. I’ve always found the crypts interesting when they give little glimpses of the lives of those they hold. This crypt was a treasure trove! The two largest tombs were those of Lord Admiral Nelson, known for the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo (more on that later). They were each encased in masses of polished marble as big as a car in their own rooms which seemed bigger than our current apartment; definitely intimidating.
For more information on the Banqueting House, go to:
www.hrp.org.uk/banquetinghouse/
For more information on Inigo Jones:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/jones_inigo.shtml
For more information on the Palace of Whitehall, try:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Whitehall
For more information on St. Paul’s, go to:www.stpauls.co.uk
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