Lear, Law, Lots of Climbing -- Oh, and Sausages and Spamalot!

I continue to fall in love with London – its people, its food, and its history.  The weather has not charmed me as much, but I still adore this city.  My feet are so sore from walking so much (I have lost several toenails as a result of the pounding my feet have taken), and my already weak ankles are taking a beating.  Despite the fact that Tony and I are enjoying the food, ice cream and beer as much as possible, it is evident to me that I am losing some serious weight because all of my pants are literally falling off of me, and all my shirts are much bigger on my.  Win-win!

Monday was another day of vigorous exercise and site seeing.  First on our agenda was St. Paul’s Cathedral.  St. Paul’s is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London.  It is dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle and was originally dedicated in 604 A.D.  It was the tallest building in London until 1962, and its dome is among the highest in the world.  St. Paul’s is one of the many buildings in London designed by Sir Christopher Wren.  The funerals for Lord Horatio Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher were all held here.  Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married here.  

When visiting the cathedral, you can climb to three different levels.  The first level is the Whispering Gallery, which runs around the inside of the dome.  Tony and I both climbed to that level.  The Stone Gallery encircles the outside of the dome, and the Golden Gallery runs around the highest point of the outer dome.

After tour the rest of St. Paul’s (including the crypt), Tony and I ventured back to the Westminster area of London to visit the UK Supreme Court.  This court is the supreme court in all matters until English and Welsh law, Northern Irish law, and Scottish law.  Everyone we met here was just so nice to us, and they answered all of our questions about how the court operated.  Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court where the hearings last just one hour, and each party gets 30 minutes to argue his/her case, and that is pretty much it.  The case is what is in the brief submitted to the court and the 30-minute argument.  One of the bailiff-type people at the UK Supreme Court told us that cases can sometimes go one for days, and that sometimes things get very animated in the hearing.  He chuckled as he told us this, perhaps remembering certain incidents.  I remember attending some hearings in the U.S. Supreme Court where people could get thrown out for simply dozing off.  What a difference!

After our great visit to the UK Supreme Court, we took a tour of St. Margaret’s Church next to Westminster Abbey.  It is an Anglican Church that is the parish church of the House of Commons (the lower house of Parliament).  It is named for St. Margaret of Antioch (also known as St. Margaret the Virgin).  Of note (at least to Tudor fans like me), is the east window of 1509 Flemish stained glass that was created to commemorate the betrothal of Catherine of Aragon to Henry VIII (later to be King Henry VIII).  Other windows commemorate Sir Walter Raleigh and poet John Milton.  

Monday night, our entire group was lucky enough to have tickets to opening night of “King Lear” at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.  Beyond the fact that the play wonderful, and our seats were fantastic, I think my favorite part of the evening was all of the students’ excitement as realizing the role of King Lear himself was played by Joseph Marcell – the guy who played the English butler Geoffrey on “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”  Good to know they are paying attention to what is important.  :-)

Today we slept in a bit then headed to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard.  We had plans to find Sarah Gardner, Emilee Cutright, Kyle Marcum, Dacey Fisher and Kristen Stanfill amongst the crowds because we had a long-standing promise to treat Sarah to lunch.  Despite the masses of humanity there (and no one’s cell phones working) we managed to find them!  We watched the changing of the guard (in the cold London drizzle), and then snagged Sarah to find another pub on our list.

One of the “Top 10” lists we discovered listed Zeitgeist as one of the best.  The site declares:  “A German gastro pub, with German beers, German football and German staff. Quite a gamble in the back streets of Lambeth, yet Zeitgeist does a fine job of attracting locals and non-locals of every nationality. The selection is unrivalled, with 16 German beers on draught and 32 bottled. The kitchen serves well-portioned Teutonic favourites such as schnitzel, currywurst and schweinebraten. Things can still get "interesting" during Anglo-German sporting fixtures, but this convivial venue is a true wunder-bar.”  It was quite a hike from the Tube, but it was well worth the walk. (We even met some goats along the way!!!) The food was great, and the beer was even better.  The proprietor is from Cologne, Germany, and we loved him.  He even took a photo with us.  Magnificent experience in every way!

After the German pub, we visited the British Museum.  It has about 8 million pieces in its permanent collection, and it is one of the largest collections of its kinds that documents human culture.  Among the pieces we saw were some extraordinary artifacts from Egypt and the Rosetta Stone!  Very cool.  

 

We indulged in a taxi ride back to the hotel (me with my ice cream, Tony with his coffee and Sarah with her honey peanuts from a street vendor), and rested a bit before going out again to see “Spamalot.”  Tony and I bought tickets before we came, and tonight was our night to see the show.  We had fourth row seats, and the show was outstanding.  The cast was brilliant, and the actor who played King Arthur was perfect for the role.  We had a wonderful time.  

The students are all having a good time, but I imagine they will get home at the end of the week completely worn out.  I will write more reflections on our trip tomorrow.

Joanie (and Tony)