London Day 4

Hey guys,
I still haven't worked out my camera problem yet, but hopefully I can get that working soon. The picture I had from the last post was someone else's posted on facebook that I used.

Sunday started with a coach tour that program here hosted. Early in the morning we piled onto a bus with our tour guide, Sean the Scotsman. He was a cheerful guy with a love for animals and Justin Bieber, and we rolled around town as he explained each attraction to us. We also stopped a few times to take pictures at places. Our first stop was at Buckingham Palace, the traditional house of the British royalty since 1761. Huge, elegant and stately, we watched it from behind the iron gates that covered the property. Sitting outside the gate was a gigantic fountain decorated with mermaids (a reference to Britain's historical naval power) and crowned with a statue of Victory.

Buckingham Palace, with the fountain with Victory on the left side.

The flag over the palace indicates whether or not the Queen is home. The flag of England means she is away; the royal flag is flown whenever she is home. Not aware of this, I couldn't tell if the Queen was present, but one could see the famous Queen's Guard. Wearing their bearskin hats, they stood at attention on each corner of the Palace cradling assault rifles, occasionally patrolling the area in a precise manner. It was too early for us to view the Changing of the Guard ceremony, so we would have to return to this later.

Sure, this guy could easily kill me, but it's hard to feel threatened by a guy who reminds you of a Q-tip.

Getting back on the bus, our next stop was St Paul's Cathedral. This behemoth church is the largest of England, and is of course an Anglican church. Most British Christians are not actually Catholic. As you may know, they were principally a Catholic nation until 1534. King Henry VIII was trying to have children, but could not get his wife to conceive. Blaming her for this, he asked the Pope for a divorice, as he was the only person who could give permission for such a thing. The Pope refused. But Henry wasn't one to give up so easily, and created the Church of England, establishing the ruling monarch at it's head, to ensure he could get as many divorices as he wanted. This would come in handy since he eventually have six consecutive wives, several of which he beheaded for not being able to bear his children.

Henry the VIII; doesn't take "No" for an answer.

The current St Pauls has been a landmark in London since the 17th century, but during World War II it was almost obliterated. After Hitler conquered France, Great Britain was the only Allied country left in Europe. Believing that they were no longer a threat, he ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb Britain as he mobilized his armies east for the invasion of the Soviet Union. At first they attempted to bomb the Royal Air Force's bases, but finding this ineffective, Hitler ordered them to bomb London itself. For fifty-seven days and night, the skies of London were dark with Luftwaffe bombers. One of their main targets was St. Paul's itself, and Winston Churchill ordered it to be saved at all costs. Throughout the night, firefighters worked to put out fires, and bomb disposal teams dismantled a timed-explosive that had hit the cathedral itself.

The cathedral still rises above the smoke during the Battle of Britain.

By the time was fighting, the previously surrounding buildings have been demolished into smoldering ruins, but the cathedral still stood. The cost was high though, and twelve firefighters lost their lives. However, not every church was so lucky. Throughout the city one can see the hollowed shells of churches, that have since been turned into small flower gardens.

St Paul's Cathedral today.

A garden in the remains of a bombed church.

 Even Buckingham Palace was hit by two bombs, one of which detonated near the royal family.

We continued our tour along the London Bridge, and took some pictures with the Tower Bridge in the background, before we finished our journey back at our dorm rooms.

One interesting thing Sean pointed out was the names of many streets and places. The British are very proud of some of their historical victories, so it's really common to see places named Waterloo and Trafalgar. I think we should take some of their pointers. Maybe name someplace Yorktown.

After lunch we had free time, so I decided to head to the nearby British Museum.

The front of the British Museum. It wouldn't be a proper museum if it didn't have a Hellenistic entrance.

 Filled with archaeological treasures, the British Museum has been collecting priceless artifacts for centuries. We started in a wing with objects previously found in the Royal Collection. Everything from raw gems to Roman statues to a Egyptian sarcophagus covered the center and surrounding bookcases of this building. Objects could be found from nearly every ancient culture; you could find the canopic jars of mummies, which once held their organs, next to Roman helmets or stuffed animals, or even strange, mystical oddities brought from the "Mysterious East."

Walking along, I was looking into a display case when I heard a sudden sound behind me. As I turned, more sounds joined in. Right before me was a circle of people, holding sheet music, singing a song. I had just witnessed a flash-mob choir!

My father found a video of the exact event.

This is the best quality video, but you can't see me in it. I'm on the left on the camera person, hidden behind some singers.

This one is much lower quality but I pick myself out a few times in the far background. At 5:55 there is a singer in white with a white hat. To his left is bald man holding a camera, with a shiny belt buckle. On his left side is a blurry brown haired kid with a grey T-shirt. That's me!

The music was spectacular, the video quality cannot convey how well they actually sang, and the acoustics of that area was great. A certain crescendo was so magnificent it made us shiver. After the show, I was finishing up the display case I had been working on, while overhearing a conversation between a couple of the museum staff, who clearly had had no idea that it was going to happen. 

After this show, we decided that that was a good way to end that trip to the museum, making a point to return soon to continue where we left off.