We started out a little earlier today. Again rode a bus and the Picadilly Tube Line into London. Got off at Picadilly Circus and made our way to Trafalgar Square. Along the way, we stopped into St. Martin’s in the Field to check on the Cafe in the Crypt and check out the church and the gift shop. We wandered through Trafalgar Square, admiring the lions and the fountains and the other statues, including the one of George Washington outside the National Portrait Gallery.
Then, with the huge crowds, we headed along St. James Park to Buckingham Palace. The Changing of the Guard was meant to start at 11:30. We got to see part of the Guard head down the street and followed them to the Palace. It was packed! We watched the Horse Guard arrive and then headed back across the park. It was really just too crowded to see much. I shot a little video but was happy to head back to the park to escape the crowds.
We saw lots of wildfowl in the park: grebes, widgeons, coots, moorhens, several different types of gees, and white and black swans.
We headed back to St. Martin’s for a lovely lunch in the crypt and tried to figure out the afternoon. We decided we wanted to see the British Museum more than St. Paul’s so we hopped on the tube. Again, huge crowds greeted us. St. Giles Circus was under construction and it took us some time to get our bearings. Eventually, we made it to the museum, which was also crowded. But we sought out the Rosetta Stone, the Sutton Hoo burial objects, and the Elgin marbles. On our way to the Sutton Hoo, we saw lots of great Celtic antiquities and all those wonderful mummies and mummy cases. It’s just an amazing collection of stuff!
Of course, the Greek government has been suing to get the Elgin marbles back and there was an interesting pamphlet that made the case for keeping them at the British Museum. I’m sure Egypt would like to have the mummies, too.
We got back on the tube for a visit to St. Paul’s. We knew it would probably be closed but at least got to walk around it and even got to take a quick peek inside before the Holy Eucharist started. From there, we walked down to the Victoria Embankment and walked along the Thames to the Temple Tube Station.
My legs are tired but I feel like I’ve really seen London. It’s the same interesting mix of old and new that I’ve seen in other cities like Lucerne and Milan. When you look up you see the ornate architecture with gargoyles leering down and statues of the famous standing in crevices. When you look down, you see a multi-ethnic city. Different languages fly through the air around you. Taking public transportation really emphasized that…everyone ride the trains and buses from businessmen in suits and ties carrying briefcases to young people in grungy clothes, spiky hair and studs in their noses with ipods and backpacks to Muslim women in head scarves and long dresses with shopping bags.
