London

  London, United Kingdom
Saturday, July 9, 2005

Welcome to the first installment of World Travels 2005! I got started later this year than usual, and it has taken me a while to get my first posting written. Originally I had planned to do a single post from when I left through the past weekend; with the events in London, though, I have decided to do two separate blogs.

Between the end of school and the time I left I was still busy. I worked on some PowerPoint presentations with my COACH colleagues to supplement the Foreign Language Workshops we do. Some of my pictures from past trips will show up in a couple of the PowerPoints. We completely replaced the photos in the Bullfighting PowerPoint with mine and even added a couple of QuickTime movies from video I had taken at Las Ventas in Madrid last year. I even put together some iMovies and compiled an iDVD - finally. When I get back, I need to burn some DVDs and send them to those of you I promised copies of my video so long ago.

After spending the week after school doing all of that, I finally finished cleaning my room at school and handed in the keys. Then I packed. Early Thursday morning I heard the news about the bombings in London. One of them, as we now know, was on the Piccadilly Line between Russell Square and King's Cross Station. Since the hotel I had booked is on Russell Square, I wondered what I would see.

The flight from LAX to Washington Dulles was uneventful; we even arrived early. I had a short connection time, so the early arrival was nice. The departure gate was close to the arrival gate, so I simply walked a short distance and boarded the plane. (Yes, they had already begun boarding when I arrived.) Washington to London was also pleasantly uneventful. Whenever I fly I buy an "airport book" for reading in the airport and on the plane (when I'm not napping). This year it was "The Dante Club," an excellent murder mystery set in Cambridge and Boston of 1865-67. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is translating Dante's "Divine Comedy" and has asked several others to assist: Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., James Russell Lowell, George Washington Greene, and J.T. Fields (publisher at Ticknor and Fields). Holmes has dubbed this group the "Dante Club." (It later became the Dante Society of America.) When a series of murders begin, the police are baffled, but the Dante Club recognizes them as "contrapassi" (just punishments commensurate with one's sins) given by Dante in the "Inferno." With the help of one of the policemen - a true outsider on the force - they eventually solve the crimes. There are plenty of subplots and red herrings to go around. If you like murder mysteries, I recommend the book highly.

After getting my bags and going through immigration and customs, I headed for the Tube. For the first time ever I saw armed guards at the entrance to the station and on the platform. Not surprising given what had just happened. Trains were running as nearly normal as possible, but the Piccadilly Line was closed at Hyde Park Corner. The advisor at the travel center suggested I go to Goodge Street station, so I had to change to the District Line and then the Northern Line. Then I walked to Russell Square. The entire area was cordoned off, and policemen were everywhere. When I showed them my hotel reservation they showed me how to get to the hotel. Along the way I saw some flyers for people still missing after the blast. I prayed - and am still praying - that the families would find them. In the Underground, the free paper that everyone reads while commuting was full of the incident.

One thing that impressed me was how the Londoners handled the situation. Everyone was doing his or her best simply to "carry on" as normally as possible. Although some of the lines were closed: Circle Line entirely; Piccadilly, District, and a couple of other Lines partially; every effort was being made to keep the trains running - and people were riding.

At Russell Square, in addition to the police and fire personnel, there were other workers, news crews, and various relief agencies. I saw a Salvation Army truck parked near the Russell Square station. The area immediately around the station was completely closed off to everyone except work crews. I learned later that this was probably the worst blast because the Piccadilly Line uses a single tube that is less than 3.5 meters in diameter. That concentrated the blast and also hindered efforts to get to the carriage where the explosion occurred. As I watched the news, countless stories of heroism emerged along with the mounting number of casualties. While I admire the way Londoners have handled this - the Underground announcements simply referred to the "general disturbance" that had forced closures - I hope they soon apprehend those responsible, and I think it not out of hand to pray that God will "shatter the teeth of the wicked."

Anyway, after getting checked in and settled, I went out to walk around a bit. Outside of the areas directly affected by the bombings, everything looked very normal. I didn't even try to get close to Parliament. Instead, I went to one of my favorite places in London: the British Museum. (Two reasons I like to stay near Russell Square are 1) it is close to the British Museum and 2) it's on the Piccadilly Line, which is normally a straight shot to Heathrow without any changes of train and therefore convenient.) Their featured exhibition is currently Africa, and I enjoyed walking through their "Africa Garden" in front of the Great Russell Street entrance. Then it was off for a stroll through the museum: Ancient Near East
and a look at the Rosetta Stone, the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, the excavations at Ur; Greece and Rome with a look at the Parthenon Friezes (also known as the Elgin Marbles); the former Reading Room; the "Age of Discovery" section, where they have a number of scientific instruments and a copy of the Rosetta Stone with the label, "Please Touch" (so I did). In one of the display cases I saw two astrolabes, one from about 1300 and one from the mid-1700s. Despite the revolution in science from a geocentric understanding of the universe to a heliocentric understanding, the two instruments were virtually identical. Anyone want to guess why?

The next day (Saturday) I went to the Guildhall and visited the Great Hall, where meetings of the guilds and trials were held. Among the important trials were those of Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley as well as that of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Lady Jane and Lord Guildford were found guilty and beheaded at Tower Hill. Thomas Cranmer was pardoned and moved to Oxford, where he was burned at the stake 12 years later. I also saw a couple of other rooms, but they were setting up for an event, so I didn't get to see everything. Leaving the Great Hall, I went to the Clockmakers Museum. It housed a fascinating collection of time-keeping devices from the Middle Ages to today. Did you know that they had wristwatches in the late Middle Ages? They just weren't very accurate. And it took a technician to solve the problem of keeping accurate time at sea so that seafarers could keep accurate account of their longitude. The British Empire's need to "rule the waves" was the impetus for offering a significant prize to the person(s) who solved the problem.

Following the visit to the Guildhall and museum, I visited the Museum of London. It's another great museum; unfortunately, the medieval section was closed for a complete overhaul, so I didn't stay long. Instead, I returned to the British Museum. (I told you I like the place!) This time I had lunch in the Great Court, looked in at the Americas, and visited Ancient Egypt to make up for not getting to the King Tut exhibit at LACMA. Then it was back to the hotel, pick up my bags and head for the airport to go to Munich. This time I went to the Holborn station since it was actually nearer than Goodge Street as far as walking distance is concerned (though not straight-line distance) and downhill. I got off the Central Line at Notting Hill Gate, but the District Line was closed, so I got back on the Central Line and went to Ealing Broadway, switched to the District Line as far as Acton Town, and then caught the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow.

At the airport I checked in, waited for a while and then boarded the plane for Munich. I arrived about 8:15 p.m. and took the S-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. On the train I met a teacher from LA who was traveling with her dance students on their way to a competition in Salzburg. When I arrived in Munich I walked to the hotel and checked in. Further travels will have to wait until next time.

I hope this finds everyone well. As the Germans say, Es wuenscht Euch allen Gottes reichsten Segen

Robert