4 days in London

For those who are curious I am back in afghan land. I arrived in an Afghan winter, its cold here and yes colder then Ottawa. To compound the issues almost none of the buildings here have isolation so it’s time to throw on the winter jackets. Other then the winter not much has changed from when I left.

For those don’t know I spent 4 days in London on my way back in. This was adventures with its ups and downs. The flight in was ok and I stayed at a little hotel near Paddington station called the Royal Norfolk. The room was small, It’s was a small bedroom with a small single bed and a shower stall that someone left a toilet in it, I think this was the bathroom. I really didn’t care as I wasn’t there for the hotel.

London Day One: the Tower of London. This got bumped up to the top of my list when I found out they were hosting an exhibit of all of Henry VIII surviving armor. It was amazing to see the Cloth of Gold harness in person. The only frustration was not able to take pictures. The rest of the tower I was free to take pictures. This almost got me in trouble as I set off a hidden security alarm trying to get a picture of the underside of an Edward I Hutch Chest.

London Day Two: Portsmouth. I have to admit the transit system in England is amazing. So down to Portsmouth I went to go and see the Mary Rose exhibit. This is part of the Portsmouth Harbor Museum that also has the HMS Victory and HMS Warrior. The Mary Rose is worth seeing and I can see why they are going to expand it in 2012. Now they’re showing about 6% of the artifacts and the new building will show about 65%. Best part was I could take pictures so I walked away with about 300 pics. Not all came out as no flash was allowed and I was taking pictures threw glass and dependent on the display case lighting. When I got to the harbor my ticket has a time for a tour of the HMS Victory, well I spent so much time at the Rose that I was two min late. So I was refused to go on the tour that time or any others that are run every 10 min. You can defiantly tell what was run by the Royal Navy nostalgic on 19th century glories verses the civilian archaeologists and historians at the Rose.

London Day Three: British Museum. This was just a day of me drooling over the collections. You read and see photos of the peaces but to get to see it in person is totally different. It’s left me with lots to think about as for Art projects to work on when I get home. I may try my hand at boxwood or Ivory carving. Again I was allowed to take pictures so tack on almost another thousand images. Same issues I was having at the Mary Rose so only about half are worth using. I had to limit myself to photos of the medieval and dark age items as the total collection is huge. Not to say I didn’t spend the day wondering around to them all.

London Day Four: Wallace Collection, St Paul’s, and the Globe Theater. The Wallace collection is a massive arts collection that includes 16th and 17th century art, Armor, and Weaponry. It’s amazing collection and I was drooling the whole time, but this is frustrating as no pictures allowed. Worst still the only book with good images was over prices and limited to a few chose items from this very large collection. Then over to the Globe Theater and the closes underground station had me appear in front of St Paul’s Cathedral so I decided to take a look. The size of the great cathedrals to ones perception is awesome. Just the amount of space they hold and the detail that was put into every inch. The only thing my experience can compare is to aircraft hangers which are larger but give the impression of flimsiness compared to the stone of the Cathedral. The Globe was a reminder of why I like that ambience of Tudor architecture. It’s Warm and friendly, cozy.

I’ve made it a point if I can to go back to London for a few days on my return trip and see some of the sites I missed like Victoria and Albert Museum and the Templar Temple. I’ll have another long list when I get back.