England Swings…

I arrived at Heathrow yesterday at about 12:45 PM, jet lagged to the maximum. I can never sleep on planes– the best I can manage is a sort of deep meditation that is better than nothing, but not as good as a solid snooze. Most of the way over I had an old Roger Miller song stuck in my head, thanks to a text from Don Bailey just before I left Seattle. The key lyrics are: “England swings like a pendulum do, Bobbies on bicycles two by two, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of Big Ben, the rosy red cheeks of the little children.” Ear worm! I was finally able to free myself of the tune by passing it on to Lisa Rose in an email. Ahhh…

I broke my own cardinal rule of jet lag. I arrived at the hotel and instead of going out for a long walk in the sun (and, amazingly, it was sunny yesterday!) and, in spite of my brain’s protestations, I took a nap. That would usually be a recipe for a long-lasting funk, but I got up around 7 in the evening and took a long walk around the neighborhood of the hotel, got some fish and chips, drank almost a half gallon of water, and today I woke up feeling just fine and by 10 I was out on the streets.

I’ve never been in London before (I’ve flown in and out of Heathrow a few times, but I don’t think that counts) so I was basically lost as soon as I walked out of the hotel. No worries! Since I didn’t know where I was going, it didn’t really matter where I ended up. I ebbed and flowed with the pedestrian traffic, zigged and zagged in ignorance, heading generally downhill to the south, where I was confident that, sooner or later, I’d find the Thames. First, though, I found Trafalgar Square. with its 169-foot column with Admiral Horatio Nelson’s statue on top. He died in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.      I wandered around the square for quite a while, looking at the artwork and the people. The statue is “guarded” by huge, black lions. Kids were scrambling all over them and I was envious because I wanted to. But I didn’t…

     As usual with these public spaces, there were also a few interesting characters, like this guy who can apparently levitate:

Man, I wish I could do that.

As I walked around the square I noticed a view down a street that showed me that my theory of London’s geography was being proven true. If it had been anything else I might not have recognized what I was seeing, but this was perhaps London’s most iconic sight (and site):

                   Now I had a goal in view.  On down the street, or should I say, “streets,” as I didn’t seem to be able to keep going in one direction. As I was moving I looked to my left and saw something I couldn’t identify, so I turned 90 degrees that direction and when I got to it I saw that it was a bridge over the Thames. As nearly as I can tell, it must have been Waterloo Bridge. There are several bridges over the Thames and I am only hazarding a guess on that particular one. From the bridge there is a great view up the river to Westminster. Here’s something I didn’t know: it’s officially known as Elizabeth Tower. Big Ben is only the bell of the clock. Live and learn, folks, live and learn…

   Now on the south side of the Thames I walked upstream to look at the London Eye (also known as the Millennium Wheel, and, since 2014, as the “Coca Cola London Eye”– I would suspect that a stack of money as high as the wheel changed hands to facilitate that change), a huge ferris-wheel sort of contraption with tram-cars instead of seats. It moves very slowly– my impression is that it takes most of an hour to do one revolution, but I’m just pulling that figure out of a random orifice, so… As I got closer I began to get some idea of how huge it is– it’s massive, 443 feet tall. I wanted to go on it but I had places to go and things to do. No people to see since I didn’t know anybody…

Here’s what it looks like, with a close-up of one of the cars to give some idea of its nature:

I think I’ve lived in apartments smaller than the cars…

Then I turned around and walked back downstream. I had two goals– first was to see the Globe Theatre, the replica of Shakespeare’s company theater. Like its predecessor, it’s built in the shape of an “O,” with an open roof over the middle of the floor where the “groundlings–” people who couldn’t afford a seat so they stood for the entire performance– got wet when it rained. “The Merchant of Venice” is playing now, but I didn’t stay for a performance as– you guessed it– it was raining. Imagine that, rain and clouds in London. Unthinkable.  But I took a few pictures of the exterior, and maybe I’ll come back someday to see a show. Here’s what it looks like:

That task accomplished, I moved farther downstream in search of the Tower Bridge, so named because its adjacent to the Tower of London (officially “Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London,” a name that fairly begs for shortening), which was established around 1066 after the Norman Conquest. The Tower was used as an infamous prison for a 850 years, up until 1952. It was once a royal residence. It’s been an armory, a treasury (the Crown Jewels are kept there still), and the Royal Mint. It also housed many prisoners, including even Elizabeth I before she was queen.

Just downstream from the Tower is the Tower Bridge, which is supposedly what Millionaire American Robert McCulloch thought he was buying when he purchased the old London Bridge from the City of London and had it shipped to Lake Havasu, Arizona  and reconstructed over the Colorado River. Supposedly he was very upset when he realized that he’d bought a “bridge in a poke.”  At least, that’s the legend. The real Tower Bridge is still in place over the Thames. I had heard that it is can be raised for ships to pass that are too tall to fit, and while I was watching I saw it happen. It’s undergoing some renovation, so access to it was somewhat limited. I think you used to be able to get up into the two towers, but they’re closed now. Maybe when the work is completed.

Now I was walking upstream again, but on the north side. Here were a few things worth showing you–

This is the London City Hall. I asked who the architect was, but promptly forgot. Jose Arau probably knows… It’s across the river, but is better seen from a distance.

I didn’t see any Bobbies on bicycles two by two, but there was this guy, who was a hit with the people because he stopped and let them take pictures with him.

Farther up the river there was this dragon that apparently escaped King George’s sword:

Then there was the proof that organized crime is everywhere, and in London it’s taking over the caffeine business:

Here’s further proof for Krissy Hahn that Signore Scaffoldi is still alive and working on his art projects all over Europe:

And finally, there was this display on Regent Street. I’m guessing there’s an NFL game coming, or maybe London is trying to buy a team. Raiders, anyone?

Tomorrow I leave London from Gatwick Airport and fly to Madrid for a few days before continuing on to Barcelona. I’m supposed to meet Don and Myra in Madrid tomorrow afternoon, but the last I heard they were having trouble in SF with boarding on time, so they weren’t sure they were going to make the connection in Newark, NJ. Maybe they can spend the night at Chris Christie’s house…

Look for updates soon.