London 2

Gentle Visitor--Pause awhile, where you stand

Death cut away the light of many days.

Here jeweled names were broken from the vivid thread of life.

May they rest in peace

while we walk the generations around their strife

and courage under these restless skies.

And now...the Tower of London!

My mum and I woke up ready to go on the Saturday of our whirlwind London holiday. We bundled up in our jumpers and took the lift to the lobby. (And yes, I am writing this in a British accent.)

After a tasty breakfast at Paul's, (ironically) a French establishment with a delightful outpost in the Marylebone train and Tube station right by our hotel, we headed out.

I had done a tiny interview the day before. My, those English papers are fast!

Actually, Mr. Cameron is a politician. My interview won't come out until next week.

We boarded the tube at the Baker Street station. Yes, that Baker Street. Although 221B, Sherlock Holmes' flat, never actually existed. There is no 221B. But there is a statue of the tall, lanky, oddball criminal-catching genius. All the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels are available for free on Amazon (hurray for copyright expirations!) and I read them all one after the other in September. So I was excited to see Sherlock.
It is interesting how the hyper-observant, romantically uninvolved-outsider who solves crimes that no one else can remains so popular. Patrick Jane (so cute) on "The Mentalist," Sean on "Psych," Monk on "Monk," Gibbs on "NCIS"...are all just reincarnations of Sherlock, and their sidekicks (Lisbon, Gus, Natalie/the Captain, and Gibbs' team) are basically Watson. Maybe that will be my dissertation. Probably not.

And now...really to the Tower of London!

Beware of sculptural archers!
As true in most of London, the very old and the very new butt up against each other in extraordinary contradictions. I took this picture from inside the Tower of London complex. The stone walls on the right hand side are very old bits of a moat.
I was aghast at the expensive ticket prices, but it turns out that the ticket includes entry to the complex, a tour from a Yeoman warder, and entrance into the various museums and exhibits. Okay, then.

Here is where you enter. You can barely see the Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater, in his red outfit at the center of the group. Our guide was fantastic. Funny, informative, entertaining. All yeoman warders are former English military with excellent records. It is an honor to be asked to interview for the position, and since the appointment is a lifetime one, you have to wait for a warder to die or retire before a slot opens up.

I thought the tower was really just a tower. It was very picturesque and sort of Wuthering Heights in my imagination--a lone and lonely spire in the moors in the middle of London. Not true, though. It is really a small town with several buildings surrounded by a double ring of moats and walls. The Thames used to run right through it and filled up the moats, but not anymore.

Thank you, Wikipedia for this image. We did not go on a helicopter ride.

Here is a water gate, called Traitor's Gate, that no longer blocks a boat's entrance. They dammed up that finger of the Thames. How eerie, though, to be brought to the Tower, especially as a prisoner, in a rowboat in the middle of the night, and to have those gates swing silently open...I think that is how Queen Elizabeth I was brought there when she was accused of treason against that sweet, lovely Bloody Mary. It is called Traitor's Gate because people accused of treason, like Queen Anne Boleyn, and Sir Thomas More, were apparently brought to the Tower through this entrance.
The architecture is so English. Love it. This portion is right above the water gate.
I really had no idea how old the Tower is. The White Tower, which I had always thought was the Tower, was built in 1078 by William the Conquerer. Although it has been added to and reconstructed and changed over the intervening millennium.

I suppose I had always heard of the Tower in connection with the Tudors, but it has been much more than a prison for Henry's wives and daughters. (What a barbarian he was!)

The Tower of London has been a fortress, a palace for the monarchs, (the White Tower), a prison (often for the monarchs and their relatives), an execution ground, an armory, the treasury, the Royal Mint, and most sparkly, the home of the Crown Jewels since 1303.

The tour brought us across the dry moat and into the central courtyard. Then we went into the Royal Chapel of St. Peter in Chains. A church has stood on that spot since the Norman conquest, but this particular chapel dates from the 16th century. It is an active parish church with a beautiful, simple interior of stone. It is famous because some of the most infamous prisoners and executionees (is that a word?) of the Tower are buried there. Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, and Sir Thomas More rest in the chapel.

Here is the central courtyard. The brick house on the right is where Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned before she was killed.

Here is a view of a grassy spot in the central courtyard with Tower Bridge in the background. And now I shall return to the quote and the image that began this post. The thing inside the black metal fence is a sculpture of a cushion on a glass disk with the poem engraved on it.

Here is the poem again so you don't have to scroll up:

Gentle Visitor--Pause awhile, where you stand

Death cut away the light of many days.

Here jeweled names were broken from the vivid thread of life.

May they rest in peace

while we walk the generations around their strife

and courage under these restless skies.

My mom and I thought it was a beautiful memorial. Only the "jewelled names" were executed near this spot inside the Tower. More "common" "criminals" were beheaded outside of the Tower on the nearby hill. A Tube station (Tower Hill) is there now, but there is a memorial to all the people who were executed there.

This memorial was nearby on the grass.

Remembrance Day in Britain, when they remember all those who died in wars, is November 11. That day in 1918 was when the Armistice was signed ending World War I. My mom and I were in London November 6-9, but ceremonies marking Remembrance Day were happening all weekend. Poppies are the symbol of the day because poppies grew and grow in some of the fields in France where horribly bloody fighting occurred in both World Wars. Poppies can lie dormant beneath the soil for years and then start to grow when the soil is disturbed. That is why poppies suddenly sprang up in fields of soldiers' graves. There are some poems about "Flanders Fields" and the poppies growing where men died, which is why the poppy remains the symbol of soldiers lost in wars. I think that is a beautiful and tragic and powerful symbol and I wish it was a tradition in the United States.

It seems to me that in recent years the wars that the US is fighting have become too politicized. One end of the political spectrum has sort of claimed the right to remember the fallen while denying that to the other end. If you don't support the war then you somehow also don't support the soldiers. Not true. It sometimes feels like a patriotism contest--I have more yellow ribbons than you, therefore I am "more" American...I think we can take a lesson from England. The war in Afghanistan is not popular there, but rather than argue over whether they should be there or whatever, everyone seemed to put that aside for a while and unite in remembering the people who died for their country. No political fighting, just respectful remembrance. I don't want to go more into this, though I would be interested in hearing if you agree or disagree.

All weekend my mom and I saw paper poppies pinned in people's lapels and on hats. Poppy wreaths and bouquets were in the churches and on the street. The ground surrounding Westminster Abbey was the main area for Remembrance Day. Small wooden crosses with poppies and the names of soldiers who died, like the ones in the above picture, covered the grass by the Abbey.

Obviously England suffered horribly in both World Wars, and they have recently lost soldiers in Afghanistan, which added some poignancy to Remembrance Day.

Seeing the names of 19 year old soldiers who were killed last week in Afghanistan next to the names of men who died in France 65 years ago...well, it does something to you.

Now, though it feels a bit inappropriate, let us move to diamonds.

There are real soldiers on guard all the time to protect the Crown Jewels.
Funny, funny hats. The museum of the Crown Jewels is very well set-up. They are three or so rooms of big walls of screens playing various moments of the monarchy that feature the crown jewels. Each room has Disney World rope dividers so you snake back and forth in front of the video of Queen Elizabeth's coronation or Jubilee or opening Parliament or whatever. Very smart of them to do that. It keeps the line moving and gives you something to look at. Also, very cool to see the crowns and scepters being used since you then get to see them in their cases!

Some of the stuff is so silly. The ceremonial mace and scepter and gold plates...beyond anachronistic but very important to the Master of Protocol, I suppose. I think I liked Queen Victoria's little (relatively speaking) white diamond tiara the best.

The crown jewels can never leave England, so when a monarch goes somewhere else and needs a crown, the Royal Jewelers have to make a new one. There was a crown there that Queen Elizabeth II's father? wore to India for his coronation as Emperor or something. They made it especially for the trip, since he couldn't take his other crowns out of England. And it has never been worn since. He wrote in his diary that the crown was very hot and heavy to wear during the four hour ceremony in the Indian sun. Poor baby.

There was an exhibition about Henry VIII and his suits of armor entitled "Dressed to Kill." Before he expanded so grotesquely, he was quite the athlete. An excellent hunter and warrior. Interesting, though after a while every suit of armor begins to look the same. I like looking at the horses' outfits more than the men's. I was very impressed with the museums and tours at the Tower of London. A must-see that is worth it.

Here I am in the central courtyard by some cute blue doors.
Before heading off to our next stop, my mom and I posed in front of the Tower Bridge.It was a bit brisk but a beautiful day!

I shall endeavor to get a post about the rest of our jam-packed day up soon. I really ought to work on graduate school applications...but perhaps I will just watch my laundry spin around in the washing machine instead...

Movie of the Week XVI

The Happiest Millionaire (1967)

I watched this musical when I was but a wee child and then rediscovered it a few years ago thanks to Netflix. It was actually one of the first movies I watched at Duke, which is fitting as the movie is actually about members of the Duke family! The movie is based on a true story--the life of Philadelphia millionaire Anthony J. Drexel Biddle. The screenplay is based on a play that is based on a book that Biddle's daughter wrote, entitled My Philadelphia Father. That daughter is Cordelia Drexel Biddle who became Cordelia Drexel Biddle Duke when she married Angier Buchanan Duke. Biddle Music Building, anyone? That is from this family. Oddly enough, one of Cordelia's brothers married Angier's sister, making a Duke Biddle instead of a Biddle Duke. That pair are the parents of Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans. Lots of names!

Abbreviated Duke family tree: Angier was one of Benjamin Duke's children, (who was the son of Washington Duke and the brother of James B. Duke, the one who endowed Duke University in 1924). Angier was the cousin of Doris Duke. There is an Angier Buchanan Duke scholarship, the AB Duke, and a BN Duke in honor of his father. I believe Angier drowned in 1923.

Hopefully that was not totally boring for non-Duke people. I found it rather amazing when I realized that the Duke boy in the movie and the Cordelia he courts are those Dukes and Biddles! Especially since I was watching the movie in my dorm room at Duke, right across the quad from the Biddle Music Building and the statue of B.N. Duke seated in his arm-chair.

So...about the movie! It is a Disney film, so it has the same fun feeling as Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Pollyanna (1960), and Mary Poppins (1964). Trivia: The Happiest Millionaire happens to be the last live-action film that Walt Disney actually produced. It was the last movie he worked on, and he died before it was released.

The movie is about the Drexel Biddles, especially Mr. Biddle, but it veers off into a romance between Cordelia and Angier Duke. (As you can see in this poster, the emphasis is on Cordelia and Angier, compared to the alligator/butler/Mr. Biddle of the poster at the beginning of this post.)

The narrator of the film is an Irish butler who arrives at the mansion in Philadelphia and is immediately overwhelmed and yet intrigued by the craziness.

Mr. Biddle (Fred MacMurray) teaches a Boxing and Bible school in the stable and keeps alligators in the conservatory. He is delightfully unconventional. I love him in 1930s screwball comedies, and he is good in this, too. Thirty years later.

Mrs. Biddle (Greer Garson) mainly smiles at his antics. Garson was a marvelous and marvelously popular actress in the 1940s (especially in WWII movies.) She played a great Elizabeth Bennett opposite Laurence Olivier's Darcy in a 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice, and she won a Best Actress Oscar for Mrs. Miniver in 1942.

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Biddle. A bit unfair to put this picture next to their more youthful ones...

When we meet Cordelia (Lesley Ann Warren) she is quite the tomboy. To remedy the situation she is reluctantly sent to boarding school to grow up and be "finished."

Her trashy blonde roommate teaches her how to flirt in a "Bye-yum-pum-pum" number involving plenty of strutting, hip shaking, mysterious glances, and references to Theda Bara, the sort of scary silent film star "vamp" who was popular in the teens. This movie takes place in 1917, by the way.

Cordelia goes to a party, armed with her new flirtation techniques, and guess who she meets? A dashing boy by the name of Duke! Angier (John Davidson) is adorable and really wants to go to Detroit and get involved in automobiles instead of going into that little family business of tobacco. Cordelia and Angier fall in love...awww.

There are some sweet songs then the requisite barriers to their love appear. Mr. Biddle doesn't want his little girl to leave (she is only 17!) and Mrs. Duke is not sure the Biddles are good enough for her son. Then Angier gets pushed into giving up on his dreams of Detroit and Cordelia gets tired of the social pressure, and the alligators escape...you know, the usual.

There aren't any fabulous songs that have become part of the classics catalog, but they are fun. The characters are wacky and the setting of the film is unusual and fun, too. If the romance doesn't grab you, there are lots of other things going on. The alligators' escape is rather amusing, and quite terrifying (to me), and the butler is a fun character. There is a nice bar brawl, too.

Sarah Duke, Angier's mother, comes off just terribly in this movie. She is snobby and rude and uptight, and she almost prevents true love! But she can't have been that bad in real life since the Duke Gardens are named after her.

Angier was also not quite as adorable as he is in the movie. This is his portrait.

I do not know if Angier really did want to go to Detroit or how accurate any of this is, beyond the fact that Cordelia and Angier did get married in real life. But it is interesting to ponder.

The Happiest Millionaire is fun and light like coconut cake. Yum. It becomes more interesting if you are at all into the Duke family or Duke University. There aren't a lot of (or any) other musical comedies based on the founders of my alma mater, so I think the movie is pretty cool. Great actors (though Lesley Ann Warren's spineless Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella bugs me) and Oscar nominated costumes and a lovely mansion crawling with reptiles.

So if you are a Dukie, or are not that lucky but enjoyed The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), The Parent Trap (1961), The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968) (love it!) or were totally creeped out by The Three Lives of Thomasina (1964) (thanks a lot, Mom) you might enjoy The Happiest Millionaire.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

As it is an American holiday there are no pilgrim hats, Squanto feathers, or turkeys for me today.

But I am thinking about my family and friends and hoping that

everyone has a lovely holiday!

I miss you!

London Town

I met my mom in London rather spontaneously a few weekends ago. It was awesome to see her in the hotel lobby! Awesome because I hadn't seen her in a long time, and also awesome because we had flown into different London airports, and we both had to find our way to the hotel alone. Fortunately we made it without too much trouble. Once I arrived (my flight got in later in the morning than my mom's) we put our bags away and then headed out on the town. Only three days in London and lots to do!

But the first thing to do was get some food. We found a pub and went in with dreams of fish 'n chips dancing in our heads. My mom got the "English breakfast" which was a crazy combination...baked beans, a tomato, an egg, ham, french fries, mushrooms, a sausage, and toast. Wowsers. Here is the proof:

Nice introduction to London, right? (I had a tasty and not so weird fish 'n chips.)

We planned to take a walking tour at 4pm so we leisurely headed in the direction of the pick-up point, stopping once in a while for photos of important cultural and historical monuments.

Yup.

We went by Trafalgar Square. There is Nelson on his column guarded by four gigantic lions.

In this one you can see Big Ben in the distance:

And in this one you can see Big Cam.
Trafalgar Square is the fourth most popular tourist destination in the world. It is much bigger than I thought. The National Museum faces the square, St. Martin in the Fields is a neighbor, and the National Portrait Gallery is a few blocks away. There used to be lots and lots of pigeons, like the flying rats infesting Piazza San Marco in Venice, but a few years ago they started lacing the pigeon's food with birth control because the population was out of control. It seems to be working--we didn't see any pigeons.

I usually stick to the timeline of my travels, but I will go ahead and show you the night-time images of Trafalgar Square. Here is the museum, which we did not enter:

And here is a Trafalgar Square fountain with the new LED lighting. A bit garish for my taste, and I am not sure why purple is the color of choice. But there you go.
We continued on our stroll towards Wellington Arch* in Hyde Park. We passed this lovely embassy, which made us chuckle.

Oh, Texas!

We did go in the National Portrait Gallery. All museums in London are free to enter, which is fantastic. (They make up for it in exorbitant ticket prices at churches.) Although we would have paid to see the National Portrait Gallery. It was worth the trip just to see the Tudor room. I had seen the portraits of Queen Elizabeth I in books but it was so cool to see them in person. My mom and I were also excited to see Sir Francis Walsingham, who was Elizabeth's spy-master. I wrote a paper on Walsingham and spies when I was in 9th grade, and ever since then we have been fascinated by him. Plus, Geoffrey Rush, who played him in the recent Elizabeth movies, looks exactly like the portrait! Well done, casting director!

There are loads more cool portraits, including the tiny Jane Austen one painted by her sister Cassandra. It is basically a miniature and rests in its own little box with its own little light and magnifying lens. We almost missed it.

The portraits are very interesting if you A. recognize/know the people or B. are undertaking some sort of art history study. Once we stopped recognizing the faces we decided it was time to go. When we visit again, which we will, Mother! we should go through the catalog beforehand and figure out who we want to see. Otherwise it is overwhelming.

I believe we stopped for some tea and sweets--how British are we? Then we strolled through St. James Park. In the distance you can see the London Eye, a big ferris wheel.

Mother and daughter.

Our house.

Just kidding, it is Buckingham Palace. There is Queen Victoria's monument with the gold winged thing on the top. It looks like Pemberley. Or, to give a non-fictional comparison, like Chatsworth. This peaceful view is a bit deceptive, though, since the area in front of the Palace is quite busy with cars. See:

My mom is fascinated by British cabs and cabbies. So here is a picture of one of the adorable taxis. Why don't we have cute taxis in the States?

It began to get dark and a bit drizzly as we neared our tour...Maybe the New Europe company did not adjust its times to the recent Daylight Savings switch? We met by the Wellington Arch and already it was dusk.

And rather more than drizzling.

We decided to tough it out, and so did the six or so others waiting for the walking tour. Our guide was named Eliza, and instead of making a My Fair Lady joke she went with an allusion to Queen Eliza-beth II. Which really isn't the same name, and for a peroxide-white blond girl dressed in a half-Goth, half-punk hot pink and black outfit, was not a good comparison. I got a bad feeling...

We stopped by Buckingham Palace. Eliza told us that the Royal Family did not build the palace. It was built by a peer, Duke Buckingham, in 1703, and it was originally called Buckingham House. But King George III liked it a lot, and he was jealous that his palace was not as nice as Buckingham House. So he took the House and made it a palace. Queen Victoria made it the official London residence of the monarchy in 1837.

170 years later, Nicolas Gage and Diane Krueger snuck into the Queen's Office and broke into her desk. So that is cool.

The rest of the tour was rather disappointing. I have had such great New Europe walking tours and I had really built it up for my mom. But the rain, the darkness, and Eliza's rather trite information made for a lackluster walk around London. We are tough customers, though. I was more easily impressed by my guide's knowledge in Berlin or Prague since I didn't know much of that history. But my mom and I are pretty good with English history. So we wanted more than a recital of Henry VIII's wives. (And Eliza even got that wrong.) Wow I sound like a brat.

To end on a not so bratty note--a quick note on London. I LOVED being in an English speaking place! After months and months in Czech land it is such a joy (and, no, that is not too strong a word!) to understand signs and menus and the announcements on the metro. Speaking the language removes a layer of stress that I didn't even realize I was carrying around with me until I got to London. It is comforting to know that if I needed help I could ask for it, be understood, and understand the answer. Occasionally I was struck with "I can understand that sign!" or "This label is in English!" exultations which made me happy since I am so used to wandering around in a murky haze of confusion. It was a pleasure to ask a saleswoman at Harrods where a particular product was, delightful to have a conversation with our waiter, and so easy to talk to the people at the hotel desk! Never mind the awesomeness of talking to my mom for three days!

*My mom and I were both surprised at the number of "war/soldier" memorials in London. It seemed like everything was dedicated to Nelson, Wellington, or Churchill. Which I understand, those are big names. But we both expected more Shakespeare or Dickens or Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf. That could just be our bias--more into English literature than English wars.

Schloss Charlottenburg

On my last morning in Berlin I headed to Schloss Charlottenburg, or the Charlottenburg Palace. It was pretty easy to get there with the U-bahn and it was a sunny day (finally!), so it was a very pleasant visit.

The 17th century palace is the largest palace in Berlin. It has been added to throughout the centuries, but was originally built by/for Sophie Charlotte, Friedrich III's wife. He would later become the King of Prussia. Is this the same Charlotte for whom Charlotte, NC is named, and whose odd, nearly bent in half at the waist statue is outside the Charlotte airport?

No, I just found out that Charlotte is named for Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg. She was also German, though, and perhaps is related to Sophie Charlotte?

Anyway, this isn't really important. The palace is lovely, and that is what remains. Walking towards the schloss:

Hurray for blue skies and autumnal leaves!

Another lone traveler was taking pictures of the palace, so I offered to take a picture of her in front of it. She then reciprocated. I have been trying to make that offer to people who are alone. It is a nice thing to do, I think. At least, I am very grateful when people help me out in that regard.

Pretty pale yellow palace.It wasn't so pretty during and after WWII, though. Schloss Charlottenburg was bombed twice. I don't know if they were accidental bombings or if the Germans were keeping something in the palace or what. But the dome was completely obliterated, and most of the palace is a 20th century reconstruction. The inside is sumptuously decorated/restored. I don't know how much of the palace they fixed up. Maybe there are parts of the palace that are still rubble filled rooms. I don't know. The before and after pictures of various restored rooms were amazing. Most of them were charred, dripping holes. I wonder how much it cost to fix everything? I am obviously more interested in the WWII history of the palace than the Hohenzollern (Sophie Charlotte's family name) history.

An excellent audio-guide was included in the tour. I like it when the audio-guide is included in the price of the ticket. Otherwise I usually don't shell out more money to get one. It is my silly act of defiance against high ticket prices. This audioguide was in perfect English and was pretty interesting, though I don't remember much of it. Oops.

The rooms were the basic Baroque-palace-craziness. One in particular was really over the top. It was the porcelain cabinet; a large room absolutely covered in various porcelain objects. The parts of the walls that weren't crowded with jars and vases and tea cups and statues were "papered" with mirrors. The effect was quite dazzling. Chinese pottery was in vogue in Europe in the 18th century, and the Hohenzollerns certainly weren't immune to the craze. The weirdest thing was that the fresco on the ceiling became more 3-D as it reached the walls. So a bunch of painted flowers and grapes suddenly became 3-D and spilled over the border between wall and ceiling. The scariest instance of this was a deer head. Its body was painted but its head, antlers, and one hoof broke through the 2-D barrier and seemed to lean over the porcelain objects below. WEIRD. No pictures inside so I can't show it to you.

The famous Amber Room, a room entirely covered in amber and gold and mirrors, which was so spectacular it was called the 8th wonder of the world, was originally in the Schloss Charlottenburg. But Frederick William I of Prussia (Sophie Charlotte's son) gave it to Peter the Great. Nice gift! Today you can see a reconstruction of the Amber Room in the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg. I say reconstruction since the room was stolen in WWII and has never been found. Speaking of which, if you are interested in the art thefts committed by the Third Reich, or the efforts taken to save and hide various art works, or the efforts to restore buildings and paintings after the war, you should watch The Rape of Europa. It is a fantastic documentary all about the fate of art during WWII.

One of my favorite parts is when they show footage of American bombers being briefed on their targets in Florence. The train station was being used for all kinds of bad stuff and it was a "high value target." The commander shows the (so young!) pilots a map with all the priceless art and buildings marked on it--a sort of DO NOT HIT list with the train station directly in the middle of everything. There is footage taken from a plane of the bombs falling and exploding on the train station, but no stray bombs fell on anything else. Incredible. The documentary focuses on the art, but it also makes some wonderful points on the value of art compared to the value of people. Basically, should we risk human lives to protect a painting? Watch it.

After touring the inside, I headed outside to wander about in the gardens. Gorgeous!

A lake behind the palace creates a very picturesque view.

And if you like creepy dwarfs in bonnets you won't be disappointed.

The formal gardens are just behind the palace, but there are wide avenues of "wilder" gardens on either side of the lake.

And a little summer house which is now a porcelain museum! I love summer houses. And this one is adorable.
There is a mausoleum that looks like a Greek temple across from the summer house, but it was covered in tarps and scaffolding so I didn't get to see it. I was bummed.

Here is a view of the palace from across the lake.
The gardens are quite large, as you can see from how tiny the palace looks.
Lovely, lovely morning.