Richard Halverstadt: June 18, 2011: London Day 1

June 18, 2011: My trip to London on June 17th went without a hitch -- my host, Bernie, met me at London Heathrow Airport and we returned to his house to meet Julie, his wife. I had not seen Bernie or Julie since 1977 when we were all living in Seoul, Korea, me as an English instructor at Kyung Hee University, and Bernie as a student of acupuncture at the same university. Although we first met in the spring of 1977, our friendship grew over the year and as a result, when I met them in London, we just picked up where we had left off. My primary purpose in going to London was to meet them and catch up on old times. That we did, but they also proved to be outstanding host/hostess by showing me the sites in London.

While Julie was getting ready in the morning, Bernie and I went to Harrow on the Hill where he showed me the school that Winston Churchill attended. On the way, we passed a store that seemed to be what I always picture England to look like:

At Harrow on the Hill, the students were wandering through the campus all dressed up in suits, ties, and wearing the straw hats that are part of the uniform of that school (Actually, many of the boys we saw preferred to carry their straw hat rather than wear it -- I wonder why?)

St. Mary Harrow on the Hill consecrated 1094

St Mary Harrow on the Hill consecrated 1094

Harrow on the Hill - note student carrying straw hat

Harrow on the Hill

It turns out that Lord Byron sat on this hill to write his poetry. He is also buried on the hill.

Lord Byron's grave

After returning home to get Julie, we continued our morning by taking the tube to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. Julie is an artist herself and particularly enjoys the modern media, so she was quite excited to show me "her" museum. As we approached the museum, we passed a lot of construction going on. Construction is going on all over London in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

The Tate Modern Museum had quite a few outstanding modern exhibits and I enjoyed going through the several floors of paintings and sculptures. Here are some of the things I saw:

What amazed me about this sculpture was the engineering on how to hang it

Picasso

The Kiss

This "sculpture" was suspended from the ceiling

After the Tate, we walked onto the balcony to see St. Paul's in the distance and a view of "the pickle".

St. Paul's Cathedral

Skyline including the pickle - can you find it?

We left the museum and found a cafe to have lunch and then walked along the Thames passing by the London Eye:

London Eye

Walking past the London Eye, I could see Big Ben and the Parliament across the river.

The Parliament and Big Ben

Shortly we reached a bridge going across the Thames. Here are the statues that adorn each side of the bridge:

South Bank Lion

Boadicea

On the bridge were several men talented at challenging passersby to select which of the three cups had the bean under it (for money) -- just like in Budapest.

Once we crossed the bridge, I got closer pictures of the Parliament and Big Ben.

Big Ben

Parliament

Big Ben

Parliament

Big Ben with London Eye in background

Around the corner from Parliament is Westminster Cathedral and St. Margaret's Church.

Julie and Bernie in front of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

St. Margaret's Church consecrated 1523

From Westminster, we passed some more interesting buildings and eventually took a bus to the British Museum.

Typical two level British bus

The bus drove us by Trafalgar Square:

Trafalgar Square

Lion at Trafalgar Square

After getting off the bus, we passed an art store that had anything that an artist could need for his/her oil paintings. Julie just had to go in to take a look.

Art store

As for the British Museum, it has to be one of the most impressive museums I've ever visited. One could spend more than one day visiting this museum because there's so much to see. And it's free!

British Museum

I particularly wanted to go to the museum to see the Rosetta Stone. It did not disappoint. The Rosetta Stone is what enabled archaeologists to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. There are three languages on the stone that provided the key to these translations: Greek, Egyptian, and Demotic Egyptian.

Rosetta Stone

In the exhibits in nearby rooms were incredible artifacts from Egypt and Asyria.

Egypt Pharaoh Amenhotep III - 1400 B.C.

Another area of the museum displayed a statue from the Easter Islands.

Easter Island statue

Julie wanted to visit Ginger, the 3400 b.c. body that was found in Egypt. The man is called "Ginger" because his hair is still on his head and is the color of ginger.

Ginger - 3400 BC male body found in Egypt

As we exited the museum, there were some more interesting exhibits, the last one containing the oldest artifact in the British Museum, a 1.8 million year stone piece.