Celtic Odyssey: Inspire a Generation

We had such an ambitious schedule for Saturday it wasn’t even funny. Go here, go there by a certain time, walk walk walk. The extensive walking from yesterday had already worn my ankles out (I blame the running around the massive airport) so I was not in good shape for our extensive schedule, but I wanted to go to as many places as we could and didn’t want to hold the group up. So I pushed through.

First stop: Westminister Abbey. I must say, I have very mixed feelings for Westminister. It is a cathedral, and yet feels like more of a museum. Gorgeous, intricate statues and memorials stand everywhere, in some places blocking the view of the predecessors. The honor kings and queens, house the remains of many of the famous monarchs like Elizabeth I, there are monuments to nobles, lords, to famous war generals, and to other prominent English citizens. Most are of high standing, but there is even a room for famous artists, poets, even Handel (who I’m pretty sure is German) and there is a monument to FDR. Churchill has a massive stone in the center near the main entrance, right below their equivalent of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The statues were beautiful, the stained glass depicted famous battles, the tombs honor people who have done great things. Yet I was so uneasy because this did not seem right. I’ve been to quite a few catholic churches, studied them in an architecture class, and this was set-up much like one, with the different chambers coming off. All of the ones I’ve been in, if there are monuments like these, they are for Saints, people who have died for Jesus. The purpose of the radiating chambers is to hold artifacts of those saints, something for the pilgrim to ponder on and grow closer to God. But what I found here was a showcase of British history, or more specifically that of the wealthy. Whomever could afford to have their memorial placed in such a prestigious Church. The fact that some monuments would obscure the view of others and the unplanned, cramped way of shoving memorials into whatever cranny was left told me that it was more about having your memorial here than it was for people to meditate on it. Plus, I don’t think I saw one to a common citizen or even to a great priest. Instead, they were all just wealthy people. Now don’t get me wrong, they did great things, but it wasn’t for the church necessarily. What seems to confirm my suspicion is the fact that there were two 8.5x11 portraits of Mary and one portrait of Jesus in the entire church. I mean, honestly, the only angels depicted were ones in monuments to show whatever the person did and how the angels were over them. While they did ask everyone to stop for a minute prayer on the hour (and that was pretty cool), I just found myself constantly asking where Christ was in this Church. Nothing there inherently led my thoughts to Jesus, which is the purpose of the Church. Was it cool? Yes, absolutely. I was next to the graves of Kings and Queens. But Westminister was more a display of British history via sculpture than a House of God. So I have mixed feelings.

After Westminister, we headed for the royal palace to get a good space on the fence to watch the Changing of the Guard. We got there really early, but that was a good thing as we managed to get right on the fence in a pretty good area to view everything. It was really a cool ceremony. The guards came out of the sides of the castle and marched to the center. I must say, their arm swings are ridiculous – they must go 12” forward, though they do have good alignment (haha the ROTC cadet in me couldn’t refrain myself from evaluating their marching). Once there, they awaited the other guards from outside the gates. They came in two waves, each doing the same thing. They marched from the guardhouse (a building a little ways away from the palace) with a mounted guard leading the way, then the band, and then the platoon. Once inside the gates, they marched toward each other, stopped and switched commanders. The guards who were standing watch just outside the palace doors were relieved and then one of the new platoons took the place of the one that just had watch and marched into the side entrance of the palace. Then the ban played more, then they all left the same way they’d come in. It was really cool and I think they were playing their national anthem, but I honestly don’t have England’s memorized to tell you for sure. I was recording it, then my camera decided it’s memory card was full – annoying because it certainly wasn’t and that meant I had to use my phone for the rest of the day. Oh well. We headed over to a market to get lunch. It was an interesting way to have a market – a two story space with the upper story mostly open so you can see below and lots of shops (we were expecting tents in rows and stuff). We got some amazing pies and Julia and I split some delicious fudge. There was a group of musicians performing some difficult classical pieces and doing a fabulous job – it was really cool.

After that, we headed over to the Tower of London. We’d bought a London day pass yesterday and that let us into lots of things for 24 hours once activated and there were quite a few places we wanted to hit. We took the Tube, London’s underground, over. I must admit, though it makes me feel a bit foolish, but I never really realized that London had a castle, or at least the remnants of a castle. The Tower of London is a royal courtyard, encircled by high medieval walls, some older structures and a Tower in the middle (much like how Ross castle was really a tower – large, but not really a ‘castle’). We walked along part of the wall, saw some of the village and then headed into the Tower. It now houses all of the cool things from London’s centuries of armories. So that means all of the armor of all of the Kings, their horses, their weapons, other weapons used, etc. Most of the armor was really cool, I will say Henry VIII’s was inappropriate, but then again he obviously didn’t care what anyone thought about his actions. After we saw the tour, we went to go see the Crown Jewels. The had a video of the Queen’s coronation, which was really cool to watch because I’d never seen it before and it is amazing to think of how young she was when she was crowned. We passed a room with all of their scepters, studded in gold and precious jewels and then entered a room of things made of gold you would never use. Like a soup serving dish that I could literally fit inside in fetal position. Among other things, intricately ornate dishes and other luxuries that really serve no purpose other than being beautiful. Then we entered a room with all the previous crowns. It’s funny, they put you on a moving walkway so you can’t just stand there and gape at them. As you pass by them, you see that while they’re all ornate and gorgeous, they each have to have their distinctions and later on try to start outdoing their predecessors. Haha, larger gems, bigger crosses around the ends, more fur, more expensive dyes in the velvet. But all beautiful. The very last attraction was the Queen’s crown itself. It has a diamond that’s a 2x2” square (= MASSIVE) and a ruby in the front just below the diamond that’s the size of a small egg. There’s a sapphire the same size on the back of the crown. Just holy crap. I could never wear something like that for fear that a slight movement would cause it to fall and break something. It must also be really heavy, but no one seems to talk about the weight of these things. Anyways, it was still really cool to see a real crown.

Right next to the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge, the really famous one when you think of London, with the two supports and the drawbridge that opens. Right now, the Olympic Rings hang from it, which is pretty awesome. We got to go up inside and walk across, getting great panoramic views of London. They also played a really cool video showing the sketching and creation of the bridge. After we saw the bridge, we needed to get to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre before it closed at 5 and it was almost 4. Unfortunately, none of the Tube’s stops were near enough to get us there quickly or save us from walking. By this point, I was in a lot of pain, but I really wanted to see the Globe and didn’t want them to miss it because of me. By God’s grace, we made it with enough time to see it. They had lots of exhibits, including some original clothes and props – like the caskets from Merchant of Venice (one of my favorites!). They had a demo going on where they were dressing a girl up as Ophelia would have been dressed, explaining all the layers and intricacies of how she would distinguish herself by showing off her wealth with her corset, shiny thread rimming the edge of her skirts, the designs of her petticoats, etc. A little obnoxious, really, but that’s how they dressed back then. Still, it was cool to watch and to see how much effort went into the costumes and honestly, the normal dress back then. Also, it was easy to see how a guy could play a girl – the many layers essentially created a womanly figure even if you didn’t have much of one in the first place. I will say, being in the Globe, and really London itself – so full of history, and much that I’ve learned about, is really weird.

After that, we headed on over to the Olympic Village. We had to catch the Tube and ride it for at least 20 minutes. London is HUGE – it has 9 radiating districts and we were only going to number 5. Once we got to the stop, we found that you had to go through this brand-spanking new, ridiculously large mall in order to access the Village. Oh capitalism, you never cease to amaze me. Really, it’s brilliant if you’re trying to make money, but it’s also somewhat amusing. It’s 4 stories in a long curve. There are two lookout points where you can see the Village, the best is at the other end at the back of the official store for the Olympics. There’s a large structure that supposed to represent the Olympics for this year. It kind of reminds me of a roller coaster, with the loops and the way the tracks are made. I have no idea what it stands for. Also, ‘Inspire a Generation’ is the catch phrase for the Olympics this year – I thought it was appropriate for the title here as London certainly has influenced many a generation over the years.

Once we saw the Olympic Village (or as much as we could from afar), we headed over to Abbey Road (you know, the ones the Beatles famously crossed) because Kelsey really wanted to go there. The weather actually cleared up and when we arrived, we knew we were in the right place because there was a group of tourists on either side of the road waiting to dash into the middle of the street for their 5 second photo. It was actually kind of hilarious. If there weren’t so many people, I might have got a photo, but I don’t really care that much. I did walk across it so I can say I did that, but there were already enough other people holding up traffic to get a photo that I didn’t need to add to the craziness. Then, we headed over to the next Tube stop to meet Melina, one of my best friends from elementary school. She’s interning in London and I hadn’t seen her in over a year, so it was great to see her. She’s doing two journalism internships (one is more like a blog) and she’d just found out she will be interning with Vogue magazine next year after she graduates– which is a dream come true for her – she’s always been interested in fashion and you can’t really top that! We all went to a Chipotle, and then we had to make a special stop because we could. That’s right, we found Platform 9 ¾ in King’s Cross Station. Then headed back to the Tower Bridge and Big Ben/Parliament to get photos at night (which honestly are more gorgeous). Amazingly, somehow, we did everything we had planned to do today – which even now (over a week later), I still can’t believe we actually made it (especially as I was in pain and limping for most of it). Praise Jesus.