Westminster Abbey

I've shown you pix of Westminster Abbey before, but I hadn't ever taken a tour of it, and since you can't take photos inside...umm...here you go:

According to tradition the abbey was first founded in 616 on the present site, then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island); based on a late 'tradition' that a fisherman called ' Aldrich ' on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to be quoted to justify the presents of salmon from the Thames fishermen that the Abbey received in later years. The proven origins are that in the 960s or early 970s, Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, planted a community of Benedictine monks here. A stone Abbey was built around 1045–1050 by King Edward the Confessor as part of his palace there: it was consecrated on December 28, 1065,[1] only a week before the Confessor's death and subsequent funeral and burial. It was the site of the last coronation prior to the Norman Invasion, that of his successor King Harold. It was later rebuilt by Henry III from 1245, who had selected the site for his burial."

And many a person is buried here! 'Bloody' Mary; Elizabeth I; Mary Queen of Scots; Laurence Olivier; Charles Dickens; Issac Newton; Chaucer; etc.!

King Edward's Chair
Since the coronations in 1066 of both King Harold and William the Conqueror, all English and British monarchs (except Edward V and Edward VIII, who did not have coronations) have been crowned in the Abbey.[1] Henry III was unable to be crowned in London when he first came to the throne because Prince Louis of France had taken control of the city, and so was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral, but this coronation was deemed by the Pope to be improper, and a further coronation was held in the Abbey on 17 May 1220.[5] Lady Jane Grey, whose reign lasted just nine days, and was of doubtful legality was also never crowned. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the traditional cleric in the coronation ceremony. King Edward's Chair (or St Edward's Chair), the throne on which British sovereigns are seated at the moment of coronation, is housed within the Abbey and has been used at every coronation since 1308; from 1301 to 1996 the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon which the kings of Scotland are crowned, but pending another coronation the Stone is now kept in Scotland.

Some views of the 'cloisters' outside...

The cloisters 'house' a lot of memorial plaques, I thought this was interesting...

This was the 'Collegiate Garden', I think...there's Parliament in the background...

These are administrative buildings of Westminster Abbey. I thought it was interesting how this guy is trying to 'get out'...

Westminster Palace, aka Parliament....

'Our daughters' daughters will adore us and they'll sing in grateful chorus! FEAR NOT! Sister Suffragette!"

I hadn't seen these before (it amazes me at either how blind I am or how much London has to offer!) on the lawn near Parliament.

Way to go Sistuh! (Can you believe that they were literally handcuffed, jailed and I even heard of instances in the States of Suffragettes being 'tortured' UGH!)

I like this pic, and I'll let you read the explanation - "The Burghers of Calais (Les Bourgeois de Calais) is one of the most famous sculptures by Auguste Rodin, completed in 1888. It serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, an important French port on the English Channel, was under siege by the English for over a year.
The story goes that England's Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais and Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender. Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded that they walk out almost naked and wearing nooses around their necks and be carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first and five other burghers soon followed suit and they stripped down to their breeches. Saint Pierre led this envoy of emaciated volunteers to the city gates and it is this moment and this poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice and the facing of imminent death that Rodin captures in these figures, which are scaled somewhat larger than life.
In history, though the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen, Philippa of Hainault, who persuaded her husband by saying it would be a bad omen for her unborn child."

'Meow...' Just some deco from the walls of Westminster Palace aka Parliament....

And to end, I just thought this was a cute picture, all the school kids eating their lunch below a statue of George V (Elizabeth II's grandfather)...

London School Trip in January - The Thea-tuh and the Mob'

I was in London-town for a University workshop and a historical conference (I had to present! AHH! :)

So, when the 'work day' was done, i.e. around 6pm, I would head off to the Thea-tuh. As I've explained in past posts, since I have a student status right now I am trying to see all the shows I can while I can still get the student discount.

Here I am with my 'Buddy Holly' glasses. Yes, there is a Buddy Holly musical (I didn't know that) and it was 'fun' and overall 'ok'.

(I am already planning on giving my 'musicals review' in a future blog, so plan on it)

Then I went to 'Sunset Boulevard'. I didn't appreciate the language and the play at times...nah yah...anyway, a positive point was that it makes me want to watch Billy Wilder movie it's based on.

(Of course my only 'connection' to this show/movie is Carol Burnett, 'I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille...' Heelarious!)

Then I decided to go see something that I was sure wouldn't be 'bad' ;) Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap'. It has been running for 57 years! Craziness!!

During the intermission I decided to go outside and finish my Subway sandwich I had bought earlier, only to be met by...

'FREE PALESTINE!' people, chanting, wearing facemasks and yeah...not looking too peaceful (I am such a moth 'drawn to the flame' - ooh...this looks interesting! Ouch! ;)

Speaking of Subway sandwiches, this is what some of the demonstrators did to a Subway store window...

Then came the coppers - they all marched like Storm Troops out of 'Star Wars', it was 'strange'....

I went back to the show and was sworn to secrecy by the cast as to who done it, so I guess you'll just have to go see it.

Here is a little tally....seriously!

23 THOUSAND performances?!!

And then outside the theater is one of those historical plaques you find all over Europe...

Funny Quote from my Email Account

Funny Quote of the Day - Henny Youngman



"If at first you don't succeed... so much for skydiving."

Oh come on, admit it! You laughed! ;)

Just in case you didnt' know...

So my sister and sister in lawr sent me this graph and I thought it was funny. If you were around when this song was a 'hit' I dare you to try and stop the song from playing in your head! ;)



*If this graph is copyrighted, please do not sue me - I didn't know! ;)

Star-crossed lovers... ;)

A friend of mine found this story and I just thought it was so cute/scary (if you're a parent)! I just love how kids think 'why not? This is what we want?' No rules, no thinking 'no, I can't, cuz of this and that...' Kids are great!

German lovers – aged six and five – try to elope to Africa
Mika and his girlfriend Anna-Bell found on way to airport with lilo, swimming trunks and a witness for the wedding in tow
Kate Connolly in Berlin
guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 January 2009 17.40 GMT
Article history

Anna-Bell, Anna-Lena and Mika at the police post at the main railway station in Hanover, central Germany, after being caught heading for the airport so Anna-Bell and Mika could 'get married in Africa'. Photograph: /AFP/Getty Images
It is a dream that has been shared by lovers across the centuries – the chance to elope to exotic lands. But few would have been as bold and spontaneous as six-year-old Mika and his five-year-old sweetheart Anna-Bell who, after mulling over their options in secret, packed their suitcases on New Year's Eve and set off from the German city of Hanover to tie the knot under the heat of the African sun.
The children left their homes at dawn while their unwitting parents were apparently sleeping, and took along Mika's seven-year-old sister, Anna-Lena, as a witness to the wedding.
Donning sunglasses, swimming armbands and dragging a pink blow-up lilo and suitcases on wheels packed with summer clothes, cuddly toys and a few provisions, they walked a kilometre up the road, boarded a tram to Hanover train station and got as far as the express train that would take them to the airport before a suspicious station guard alerted police.
"What struck us was that the little ones were completely on their own and that they had lots of swimming gear with them," said Holger Jureczko, a police spokesman. He described Mika and Anna-Bell as "sweethearts" who had "decided to get married in Africa where it is warm, taking with them as a witness Mika's sister".
Anna-Bell told the German television station RTL: "We wanted to get married and so we just thought: 'Let's go there.' "
Mika said: "We wanted to take the train to the airport, then we wanted to get on a plane and when we arrived we wanted to unpack the summer things and then we wanted to go for a bit of a stroll in the sun."
Mika and Anna-Lena's mother, who was not identified, said she had known nothing of her children's plan. "I'm still in a state of shock. I thought 'I'm playing a part in a bad movie.' When we realised the kids were missing we went looking for them." But only when the police called did they realise what had happened.
Asked why they failed to let their parents know, the children said they thought they would not be gone for long.
Mika told police he instigated the plan having been inspired by a winter holiday with his family in Italy. "Based on this the children began to make plans for the future," Jureczko said.
To allay their disappointment at being caught, Hanover police gave them a tour of the police headquarters. Jureczko said: "They'll have the chance to put their plan into action at a later date".

New Year's in Berliner-land...

So this was not taken New Year's Eve, however, I just felt it a good 'ciao 2008!' kind of a photo.

'So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen'...actually, we won't see you again 2008 and seeing as how I lost millions in my hedge funds, GOOD RIDDANCE!! ;)

So my friend Patrick and his wife Katie took me up to Teufelsberg (Devil's Hill - made from WWII ruins) to watch the fireworks over Berlin.

Here is the requisite 'Mormon' champagne, i.e. Martinelli's ;)

Here is an 'indexed' photo of a video I took of the fireworks.

It was nice and pretty for a while, but there were SO many people lighting off their own fireworks = LOTS OF SMOKE! We couldn't even really see the city down below :(

It's funny (it seems like this should fit into a Sunday talk or something ;) it was so dark that you didn't really know that the air was this BAD! I took a picture and was like 'Patrick, Katie, you don't want to see what we're breathing in right now!' ;)

We went to the top of my dorm and looked out over my Theodor Heuss Platz - the hoodlums were out, blowing up everything in sight! The smoke is...it really was that smokey! It'll be interesting to see how many people 20 years from now die of lung cancer :(

We then had hot chocolate and 'Pfannkuchen', i.e. Jelly Doughnuts, i.e. 'Berliners' as everyone else EXCEPT people from Berlin call them ;)

I'm putting this in as a 'Momma pic to know that I am alive and well' - thanks Katie.

The 'warfare' outside died down and Patrick and Katie went home.

I awoke to snow!

Happy New Year everybody! Even with all the junk going on in the world (banks, Israel (what else is new?), etc.) hopefully we can all feel the peace in our hearts that we've been promised in these trying times.

Take care and Happy 2009!